Back in the U.S.

 

 

I’m back in the U.S.!

 

I’ve been back in Iowa for a short while now, catching up with family and some friends.  I decided to fly back home from Prague, but that city had a big impact on me for such little time I spent there.  Eastern Europe has intrigued me, and I would love to spend a few months traveling through the area.  Add it to my ever growing list of places I want to visit, I guess.

 

I figured what better way to descend back into Iowa life than to come home just as the State Fair was starting up.  I really tend to distance myself from that event; it just has never interested me.  Livestock, butter cows, deep fried Snickers on a stick, blue ribbons, and Brian just don’t seem to mix.  However, this year I’m looking forward to taking my camera for a day and getting some great “The Faces Series” shots.  The saying is true, “There is nothing else like it in the world.”  I don’t know if that is an actual saying but it sounded good in my head so I’ll keep it.

 

So what now?  Well, I’ve been adjusting, which hasn’t been too bad yet.  There have been a couple of “whoa” moments.  The first was hopping on to my mountain bike for the first time.  After a year of riding bikes that were made no later than the 1970’s I was more than pumped to have a bike that pedaled smoothly, had more than one gear, and looked brand new even though it is about 10 years old.  Seriously, I love my bike now.  I will name him George, and I will hug him, and pet him, and squeeze him.  The big mystery, though, is where my bike helmet has disappeared to.  One year ago I left it near my bike and now – poof! – it is gone.  I don’t know if it ran away to join the circus or was depressed once I left and started looking for me, but now I can’t find the dang thing.  This only slightly brings me down when I hop on my kickass bike but then I start pedaling and realize how much I love my bike now and all helmet-wearing sadness dissipates from my body.  However, I should note, if you have seen a red and black helmet that looks super cool like it should adorn the head of some awesome dude then by all means contact me or just send it to me via postage.  It doesn’t even necessarily have to be the exact same bike helmet that went missing.  You know, it could be a brand new bike helmet.  I’m just throwing ideas out here, Bike World in West Des Moines…

 

 

The bike helmet conundrum is even more suspicious because before I left I packed all of my belongings into totes, numbered the totes, and created an Excel spreadsheet online that lists each tote number and the contents of that tote.  I must say that present Brian, the here-and-now Brian, is very very happy that 1-year-ago Brian decided to do this.  I mean, that guy is a genius!  There have been a few times now where I was looking for a specific item (and not the bike helmet.  C’mon, the bike helmet is a lost cause) and I hopped onto the spreadsheet and immediately found the item I was looking for.  It was great.  I was happy.  Until I found out by accident that a few things that very suspiciously looked like mine were appearing in my older brother’s house and my younger brother’s house.  And you know what?  These weren’t marked on the spreadsheets.  C’mon brothers!  If you are going to take something of mine that is on the spreadsheet, then mark it on the spreadsheet!  Whew, got a little worked up there.  It’s a good thing my brothers and I get along.  And that I am not anal about things like this.  The takeaway: spreadsheets to keep track of items you have packed is a fantastic idea.  Unless you have brothers that take advantage of said spreadsheet to loot movies or board games or books while said brother is traveling the world and using the excuse “He’s gone!  He won’t miss them!”.

 

There has been only one instance so far where I kind of freaked out now that I’m back at home.  I was in a Target store (and seriously, I now see the absolute brilliance of these stores.  Everything, I mean EVERYTHING, is together in one place.  You don’t understand.  You can go to one side and have your pick of electronics.  Another side gives you unlimited choices in food.  Clothes, toys, medicine, appliances.  It’s ridiculous in its awesomeness.  You don’t have to spend half a day going on a mission to find motion sickness pills at different pharmacies.  You don’t have to revert to charades and then pictures to convey that you want motion sickness pills.  OK, so really the last part is a language barrier, but I wanted to slip that in there because it really happened.  In Phnom Penh right before my trip to Myanmar I was out scouting for these little buggers and the people in the pharmacy didn’t speak English.  I first charaded eating something, then putting my hand on my stomach, then throwing up.  That led to food sickness pills.  Duh.  I should have guessed that.  So then I took a pad of paper and pen and drew a bus and a plane and then charaded me throwing up.  That worked.  Motion sickness pills secured.  OK…huge tangent here…where was I? OH YES, Target stores.  Let’s just end this little parenthesis here…) and we’re back!  Boom goes the dynamite!  So yeah, Target stores!  Really, be thankful for the convenience.  I was.  Well, until I stepped into the toothpaste aisle.  I had run out of toothpaste (Crest Tartar Control, bought in Bangkok), and I just wanted a new toothpaste tube.  Nothing big.  Nothing special.  Just give me the stuff that makes the cavities disappear.  But no!  I stood and surveyed the array of toothpastes before me.  Pro Health, Tartar Control, Whitening, Pro Health Whitening, Cavity Fighting Super Agents with Whitening Ground Forces Mixed in With Tartar Control Defenses!  Seriously, a whole aisle consisting of different varieties of toothpaste!  How was I supposed to choose?  No, really, which one do you get?  Is one better over the other?  I mean, they all sound like they are forces of good.  I thought about buying about five of them, mixing them together, and creating one all-powerful toothpaste concoction.  No cavity can repel firepower of that magnitude!  In the end, I bought the Pro Health.  I hated it.  I was in Target a few days later (I mean, c’mon, I had to make another excuse to wander around the majesty of this store!) and I bought the plain old cavity fighting Tartar Control Crest.  Same one that I had bought in Bangkok.  It really was all too much for me.

 

So bike helmets and Target stores aside, I guess you can see that I’ve kept back some stories.  It’s true.  I have.  A lot of stories.  I have curtailed my writing the last four months or so and really concentrated more on pictures and photo essays.  It was due to a couple of reasons.  But I won’t bore you with them.  Wait, what?  This is my blog.  I’ll bore you with them.  I don’t think anyone is reading this anyway.  In that case, here come the juicy stories that are too hot to handle…

 

Almost had you there, didn’t I?  OK, so I really cut back on the stories because I was exhausted and consumed with traveling in and of itself (really 100% of my time), writing stories took up a lot of my time, and I wanted to enjoy my travels in and of themselves.  So I ended up buying a small journal and jotting down each day the significant things that happened so that I could easily remember them later when I read through my notes.  It really worked well for me since I could still keep the stories alive in some format but not spend copious amounts of time transferring them to a blog entry when I was moving from destination to destination.  So now I would love to recount them here on the blog or in another medium.  I still have tons of stories to relate, and I have barely scratched the surface detailing my time in a lot of these countries.  The pictures I have shared, however, I am proud of.  I am really thankful I bought a DSLR camera before I left and it has ended up being one thing that I truly have enjoyed.  I had no idea I had a passion for taking pictures and trying to improve more and more as my travels continued.  I’ve become a bit obsessed with lighting and framing lately.  It’s a weird thing and not something I would have anticipated at the start of my travels.

 

So what else…?  A lot, actually.  I’ve lost about 20 pounds and about half of my biceps since the last time I stood in this driveway one year ago.  But I think I will leave it at that for now.  Oh, and if you’ve seen my bike helmet lately, let me know.