CLAIM YOURSELF

i think it's a very important thing for people to travel.


to understand that the world is nothing but their playground. to understand that their microcasms are not soley contained within their homes, their streets, their blocks, their cities.


travelling helps one disengage from the petty bullshit surrounding them in their own lives; it elevates you to a place where you can view things objectively, knowing that although shit here may be fucked, 2000 miles away NO ONE CARES.


the thing i value most about my own life is that i have had the wonderful oppurtunity (which i seized) to travel EVERYWHERE. and by that statement, i mean EVERYWHERE. every state, pretty much every city from NYC, to LA to CHI-TOWN, to every bum fuck town in between. i have an intellectual community of friends that transcend the unneccessary ties of "growing up together on the same street" or "living next door".


when you start basing your friendships upon location rather than substance, it's a signal in your life that you need to GET THE FUCK OUT OF TOWN.


people in your life should help you better your own being, by inspiring you, helping you in times of need, loving you when you feel alone. they should be your equal, your better, not someone who serves no other purpose than to keep your couch warm when you're drinking--or to keep you from feeling like an alcoholic when you would otherwise drink alone.


the vastness of the world awaits those willing to be brave enough to explore it. brave enough to trust others to the extent of offering friendship to those not close in physical proximity, or similar in family experience, background, or culture.


my most favorite feeling is laying in bed and remembering how amazing it felt to be as free as i was when i was travelling. i had NO RENT to pay, NO bills (except my cell phone), no SHIT (really, all i owned was contained in my car), and all i did was wake up in stranger's houses, hotel rooms, hostels, couches, buses.....in this state, i truly felt more spirit than human. what makes us human, the physical trappings of a spiritual state, generally manifest themselves as traditional human folly; sloth, gree... too many THINGS, too much food, petty fights, stupid lies....all of this falls away when you boil your exsistance down to a few bags of clothes and a tank full of gas. when you have no home, you cannot buy stupid shit to clutter it. when you are in a constant, suspended state of travelling--moving forward and maintaining a constant mindset--you realize that all the stupid catty drama between people is, well catty. it somehow doesn't seem as important that andy called you a bitch when you are driving along the new york thru-way, from NYC to buffalo.


if you are as free as i was then, your spirit, your inner self, is allowed to more purely express itself. you are in an active state of absorbing new environments, meeting new people, seeing new things, being awed by the vastness of our country, that you, as an individual are less influenced and less outwardly determined by any other factors, such as your company, your work, your THINGS.


the friendships that you do form in this travelling state also prove to the most binding, true, and deep friendships that one will ever form. when you meet peole heart to heart, soul to soul instead of badge to badge or purse to purse, you will find that those you meet will be the most genuine and the most interesting and stimulating. people that will influence who you are, and who you will become by no other actions, save being themselves.


pieces and flashes of pure spirit, all mish mashed together to form the most beautiful collage of humanity.


as much as i hate the general public at large, the decisions they make, their trends, ideas, and actions--through travelling i discovered that as much as the "rest of the world" sometimes seems an overwhelming majority, each and EVERY one of those individuals has their own story, their own uniqueness, their own spirit, and many of them are more interesting than any public celebrity.


i remember an incidnet that illustrates this point brillantly. i was in escondido, ca with a few friends of mine, two i knew well, who i had originally met in chicago, and one who i didn't know at all, but who knew my friends. we were just fucking off, and needed a place to crash. so one of my friends called her brother, who called one of his friends that he knew in san diego, who then called his cousin who lived in escondido, who said we could crash with him. we got an address, and followed the appropriate streets, and eventually pulled up in front of a sterotypical west coast home in a decent neighborhood, surrounded by almost exactly the same looking abodes.


now, if you want to adhere to the "middle class suburban standard" the person living inside would be a nice couple with 2.5 kids, a dog, and a SUV. HOWEVER, the person who answered the door was this badass accupunctureist who was from india and had immgrated here with his family about 9 years ago. throughout the night he cooked us amazing food, showed us pictures of india, talked about accupuncture and various other medical tecniques of asian origin, and amazed us with his knowledge of the local bird species.


the next day, we left, stomachs full, and absolutely schooled in so many different areas.


within 24 hours, i had met, gotten to know, and become part of an absolute stranger's world, without feeling scared, upset, or weirded out. i learned SO MUCH MORE in those 24 hours about human life, the world, social interaction, accupuncuture, indian cusine and culture, and the native bird species of the west coast than i EVER WOULD HAVE, even if i had taken a college course for each of those separate topics.


i can name to you at least 50 more instances of similar situations during my travels, but i won't. my point has been made.


in essance, as humans, and for our own development and furtherment as an individual, TRAVELLING is essential. you CANNOT be a wise, experienced, or worldly person without travelling. many say i act decades older than i am, and have the perspective of an old woman, instead of a young twenty something. in response, i acknowledge that my entire collective of wisdom belongs soley to my oppuntinity and commitment to TRAVEL. TRAVEL--not to vacation, not to get drunk, not with people i knew and not for a small peroid of time. NO, my travel was OPEN, was uncointained, and it was for the sole purpose of FINDING OUT WHAT IS OUT THERE.


that is why i went, and that is what i did. i travelled for KNOWLEDGE.


i travelled just for the EXPERIENCE. i travelled because i was CURIOUS.


i travelled because i was young, and i had nothing better to do with my time.


the world is yours for the taking. leave, go claim what is yours, all of those experiences that somehow seem to randomly materialize alongside I-10 at 2 o'clock in the morning.


sit in a roadside diner and talk to the waitress. find out where the party is and go have a good time.


nothing is stopping you beyond your own limitations of what you think you should be doing.


claim yourself.


suz