Baxter State Park

My last week in Boston was actually a week in Maine, backpacking through Baxter State Park with my dad. It was a great trip, cut a couple days short by Hurricane Irene (boo).

Day one was a hike up Katahdin, the last leg of the Appalachian Trail. We took Abol's Trail, the shortest and the steepest. Seven hours round trip. Breaking tree line.

I am usually unaware that places like this, places of land and tree, still exist. For a moment on this hike and a couple moments thereafter, I was aware of it. Now I'm not so sure of it. There must be a city there at this point.

Some lives are of law, some finance, sport, learning and business. This is a life of exploration.

Rocks.Top of Katahdin! In the clouds, in the wind, and twenty degrees cooler than at base.

My dad the madman cook!

"Little Niagra Falls" Hiking into Katadhin Wilderness Camp. Here we are! Us and nobody else. Everyone cancelled because of Irene. We didn't even know about Irene...we'd already been four days underway. Pua! Irene. Looks pretty good from here. There were Kayaks! My dad doing some hardcore long-distance swimming, and me keeping watch. Go Dad! Our cabin for one night. It was very nice. We had a propane stove and two propane lights. We made curry! (We just poured boiling water in a bag. The curry was already made. Still good.)

...and canoes!

Picture taken by Holly. Holly flew in on a float plane, landed on that lovely lake, told us they were closing the park down and that we had to leave Saturday morning. Sad story. We left, she flew away. We did get to see a plane take off on the water (cool), and we can say we were the last ones in Katahdin Wilderness Camp before Hurricane Irene (badass).

A wonderful trip. I dropped my camera in a river. Oops! My dad found it, the memory card still worked- incredible,- and my accident warranty means I get my camera fixed. Whew!

I then sat around Boston until Wednesday doing as close to nothing as one can do. It was depriving. But that's okay! As I left Boston and flew to Belgium I had a strong reminder of one of my most important take-away sentences from Germany two years ago: LEBEN IST TÄTIGKEIT; LEBEN IST TÄTIG SEIN.

Life is activity, life is to be active.

Spot on. :)

Now I continue exploring. Tätig sein tätig sein tätig sein. Busy Busy Busy!!

Until Bruges!

-Ben.

To Be Spoiled

It's only been six days since I last posted, but a lot sure has happened.

A few new people, a new instrument (Henry's old instrument), a trip to Taiwan and Japan, a week in Seattle, a starring role on Wisconsin's Premiere German Broadway Stage, an incredibly bland and flat looking English diploma that cries pathetic sitting next to my Latin diploma, months of Sunshine, family and friends in Boston, New Hampshire, and Maine, here I sit in the old computer room, this time with a few burnt out bulbs on my keyboard. There's the verbal conglomerate of last year. Moving forward.


ON BEING JADED:

"To change the world" is a heavy and burdensome sentiment. "Change the world? Yeah right. Hunger, aids, over population, no water, packaging, chaotic and in-congruent ethics, a million languages, a trillion opinions, wind and rain, mass media, no media, and never-ending wars? No way."
Of course not. How could one possibly address the world when the world is more than one can describe in a lifetime?
It's not in your power to re-write the world, but it is in your power to influence and affect the network in which you find yourself. Think of the world not as a platform for massive problems, each a separate and isolated entity living and dying in its own circle, but as a network of people. To change the world isn't to barricade off a problem and drown it out with aid, but to shape your own lifestyle in a positive way, such that your actions foster a better world and encourage positive behavior in the immediate circle around you. Even if the 'world' to which your actions apply is just the house you live in, that's valuable. Your house is a part of the network of friends, family, and guests that visit it, and the way you hold your house, the way you hold yourself, sets example. Change isn't an action on a target; it is a growth.
The actions you choose to make and the life you choose to lead will not eradicate any problem from this world in a week's time, but it doesn't have to! The life you lead does make a difference, even if just in the community around you, and that difference grows. There's no need to 'change the world;' don't be overwhelmed and jaded by that. All you need to do is lead an actively considerate and responsible life yourself, be a leader even if just for you and a friend, and let change spread.

Don't be jaded :).

Scatterings of a Year:

Nick, Ike, and I in Chicago for Tom Harrell, Jazz Trumpet. October/November. Thanks for the photo Anjuli :).

Taiwan. Henry and I at the Cat's Pajamas Hostel. Christmas. Taiwan with Shannon. Thanks Shannon! The Crew! Taiwan. Nick and Henry in Taiwan.

Japan! Early January.
Myself and awesome museum owner/artist man in Kyoto. Tokyo.
Bikes at the wonderful Design Festa Gallery in Tokyo (http://www.designfestagallery.com/index_en.html).

Jumping ahead!

A trip to Door County with three lovely friends. July.

Greta makes us yummy potatoes and carrots and beets. Camping trip, early August.

Anjuli!
Pick it up.

HENRY AND GRETA AT SORELLAS! (Mid August, Boston)

GRETA AND NICK ON THE COMMONS

GRETA IN THE PUBLIC GARDENS

City Feed & Supply, my favorite place to eat in Boston.

Party at the Kenyon's with friends from Wisconsion round II.

Mother, son, and daughter-in-law.APRICOTS!. Anna Zeide this photo is for you. Beautiful fresh food. :)

Mama Jone Breakfast. The best. Our global social network. See how it works? You don't have to solve the world's problems, you just have to fix the circle you live in, and then the circles fix the world.

Tada!

:)