A Detrimental Journey

"Delicious essence! how refreshing art thou to nature! how strongly are all its powers and all its weaknesses on thy side! how sweetly dost thou mix with the blood, and help it through the most difficult and tortuous passages to the heart!"
-Laurence Sterne, "A Sentimental Journey"

It's my understanding that, by "delicious essence," Sterne was probably referring to "flattery," but isn't it possible that he was actually speaking of a nice Grey Goose l'Orange Cosmopolitan on the rocks?

Some big developments recently! Gave notice at the jobby-job. Putting my apartment on the market. Getting rid of virtually all my worldly possessions. Planning to spend a full year traveling about South America, Australia/New Zealand, and Europe. Essentially venturing forth with no real career plan -- pretty scary!

Concurrent with letting folks know about my "walkabout" plan, I've been promising that they can stay abreast of my adventures via a blog. One colleague essentially called me a raging lameass for titling my blog with my own name. Apparently, the blog should have a catchy title -- something snappy and witty and provocative and whatnot. No pressure, of course.

I was thinking of calling it "A Detrimental Journey," as my own latter-day version of Yorick's bawdy sojourn through France and Italy. The "detrimental," of course, refers to horrendous damage I'm doing to my career. The title seemed even more fitting since, as best as I can recall from reading Sterne's novel in college, the narrator pretty much heads off on an extended trip on a whim, and is far more concerned with the people he encounters abroad than he is with monuments or museums, and he learns quite a bit more about himself in the process. I'm hoping for a similar experience for myself.

My friend Christine just forwarded me a link to a NYTimes article tonight (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/fashion/thursdaystyles/08vaca.html?ex=1150430400&en=e458166522ecdae2&ei=5070&emc=eta1), about how a fair number of Gen X-ers and Y-ers, frustrated by inadequate time off, are simply quitting so as to do something personally enriching, and then looking for another job. The article suggests this is happening because the Gen X-ers and Y-ers don't have the same job loyalty as their parents' generation, and they're optimistic of their ability to secure a new job whenever they're ready to do so.

The article certainly seems applicable to my sitch, though I'm also really looking for something more life-transformative than an extended vacation, and I'm also hoping to come across entirely new and different job opportunities altogether. I'm actually very intrigued to see how it'll all turn out, and hope you might be up for joining me for the ride.

At any rate, I apologize for the heavy-handedness and promise to be a bit more zany and slappy going forward.