I catch myself thinking sometimes, “If I heard someone having the conversations I’m having right now a year ago, I would hate them.”

A year ago, I worked in a cubicle (yes, this one here). Sure, I was a reporter, working at a daily paper in the remote vicinity of Los Angeles, fulfilling at least part of what I spent two of my four college years studying, but let’s be realistic. I worked in an office with fluorescent lights and name badges where they told me to wear a tie. Something about that setting just sucks the life out of you, poisons your soul and makes you want to join an overpriced gym because there’s an In & Out Burger down the street and you’ve gained 30 pounds (a 20% gain in body weight) in six months. This is not a healthy way to live and no human should endure it.

I just got off the instant messenger with a friend back in Dalian. This is how it went (in uncorrected AIM-speak):

Me: i have some loose ends to tie up in dalian, and i want to see everybody. i don’t have to teach another class until march 5 though

Her: everyone isnt here though

Me: kinda makes me want to do something irresponsible for a month

Her: they are all traveling

Her: you should go traveling

Me: a friend of mine is putting together a tibet trip. do you think it’ll be too cold?

Her: umm if the pass is open.. if they let you enter tibet

Her: itll be super cold, but if thats the only time you can go… go

Me: that’s what i’m pondering. it’s that or SE Asia. I want to go everywhere.

So, Tibet or Thailand. The Himalayas in February or tropical Southeast Asia. Getting to Tibet involves a two-day train ride from Beijing, which is itself a day from Dalian. It’s been on the list as long as I’ve had this blog.

Or I could fly to Thailand, go overland through some combination of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, then possibly take the long way back through China, stopping along the way to catch a few other sites.

Here’s the catch: I can’t do both, and summer is booked. Whichever one I don’t choose now will have to wait at least a year, unless I find a way to do this on someone else’s bank account (if there are offers available, my email is eyeseast [at] gmail.com) because that’s when I next have months of untethered time. So what do I choose? I know this is the second time I’ve asked this in a week.

I’m sorry if you work in an office. Please don’t hate me.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 24th, 2007 at 12:37 pm and is filed under roadside blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.