Life has been a little heavy the past week or so. I'm thankful for the offset of springtime, without which I think I'd be plotting impractical escape plans, à la Greg King. But I'll save that for another time.

I had the unfortunate experience of a head-on collision with a concrete wall last week when my lightweight Yaris hit a slick in a rainstorm. I believe my feelings regarding this occurance are best reflected in Joe Pesci's reaction to Marisa Tomei in this scene from My Cousin Vinny:



Alas, these things happen. Life has a way of kicking you when you're down, inevitably, so I've found salvation and sanity in good friends and the great outdoors. Two reliable constants, luckily. I'm reading Into The Wild, as I find great reverence in environmental literature and was particularly moved by this excerpt in a letter from Chris McCandless to Ronald Franz:

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.

I feel that through and through. While I'm definitely one to take aggressions out on the open road, I think the major underlying concept here is to take things in stride, to reflect on larger constants in our environment, to realize that the bumps we encounter on our way are just that. There is so much to appreciate in life, yet our culture has increasingly shifted towards instant gratification and it's easy to lose focus in the toss up. I think you can find a changing horizon and a different sun within your own evolution by staying creative and hopeful in life. At least thats what I'm banking on.