"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." -Henry David Thoreau, Walden

I tend to march to the beat of my own drum a steady staccato rythm which has brought me this far in life. Some would say that at a time in my past my beat was over run by the beat of others and I in turn succumbed to the patterns they laid for me. I will admit that at times this was true, but I have broken free, like I always do and have learned this pattern anew. I can only say that most of my life has been lived for others, I was thinking earlier tonight and I figured out that I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I'm 26 years old. I've been intermittently going to College since 1997 and I think I've changed majors about 4 times and colleges about the same. I've blamed my halting academic progress solely on the U.S. Military, specifically the Army of which I am a small and very minor part of. I know this is crap, to place all the blame on a single entity. I've just been covering up for my own procrastinating self. Well no longer, I freely admit that I have a problem and I'm going to attempt to solve it, I will be taking some steps to restructure my way of viewing things.

"In words as fashions the same rule will hold, Alike fantastic if too new or old: Be not the first by whome the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside." -Alexander Pope, Essay On Criticism, An

I'm two parts of a kind, on the one part there's the old fashioned me. I love to write and open doors, enjoy nature and the like. Whereas the other part of me is very new, it's controlled by my wants and desires, my repressions from my youth are manifested in my need to go crazy sometimes. to just get out there and live life and that sometimes comes through in my writing. I always have a camera, a pen and something to write on with me. so that I can attempt to record what's going on for some kind of posteritys sake. or at least when I get older I can look back and go, "Wow, I did that..." you know what I mean, but I hold tight to my past, I can't help it. it's what helped make me who I am and there's nothing wrong with that. I've got time to live my life.


"I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." -Robert Frost, Road Not Taken, The

I have taken a different path than most in my life, but I don't think there is just one path in the woods, I think there are many paths and at each junction you make a choice, sometimes your path crosses anothers and it can be good, Then you'll have someone to talk to as you walk along, hopefully they'll stay with you for a long time. but sometimes they themselves come to a crossroads and must make a decision and it takes them away from you. Some day your paths may again cross, they may not, the thing is you should be happy about having them in your life for that brief period of time and not regret what might have been. Life is beautiful as my friend Haitham likes to say.


"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep And miles to go before I sleep." -Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

well for tonight, I think I'll be stopping to rest here soon. but the journey, though not always good, has been good for the last few days, I did walk through some dark woods that were not so lovely and deep, but here and now, the branches are high and arching, the moonlight filters through the spread limbs and leaves rustling in the wind. The air is cool with the hint of winter, I think it might rain later tonight or early in the morning. I should seek shelter and bed down for the night...