It seems that throughout my life I've spent so little time in my home town of Southampton. I'm not portraying myself to be some jungle adventurer, though my haircuts through time may say otherwise, but I've done a fair share of travelling. It's the prospect of discovering the innumerable things the world has to offer that instills the primal urge to explore it and knowing that I'll never even scratch the surface of the planet's true expanse; I stand undeterred and remain contented with a poised, yet eager, readiness to explore when nature reveals an opportunity.
So I'm picking myself up and leaving this town, heading back to the 'New World' as the men, women and children of Christopher Columbus' days would have called it. America, USA, Los Estados Unidos...
Any which way I say it, it seeps excitement into my veins.
I'm not one for making plans, but there does appear to be a formulation of some sorts regarding the on-goings of 2011's Season of Summer...
A great friend of mine hooked me up with a job working in Lenox, at
Camp Mah-Kee-Nac, in the so called Pride of America...Massachusetts. Two months I'll spend here as a Waterfront Counsellor on Stockbridge Bowl (the name of the lake). Simply put, I'm driving a wake board boat around a lake for 6 hours a day and soaking up the rays... "sounds terrible".
Less simply put I'm specialising in towing wake boarders, water skiers and knee boarders around, driving one of the camp's 5 Malibu Wake Board boats and I'll be doing the slow motion Baywatch run as I lifeguard around the lake and pool areas. After that I'm not 100% sure of my duties, I'll find out and update you during orientation, but I do know there's actually a lot of hard work involved and I'll have a little troop of kids to take under my wing and turn in to fine young gentlemen.
"The term 'hard work' can be defined by the degree of discontent in what you're doing...if you're enjoying what you're doing, are you not just having fun" (Sanders-Rivas, S. 2011) - Write that down...
However, putting the specialities aside, I'm adamant on entering camp with 0 expectations and rely on my adaptability, happy-go-lucky nature and a big dash of my newly coined 'knowledgeable wing-it' to make it an awesome experience for all involved.
Post-camp is when the journey takes off. I have my eyes clamped on California to begin with and end up in New York for the ASP World Surf Tour Championships and my Birthday. What happens in between instigates thoughts of Vegas, Texas, the old stomping grounds of Chicago and Crystal Lake, Illinois - where once upon a time I lived for a while - and anywhere else the wind decides to take me.
Internal flights around the states cost tuppence, so it doesn't take a astrophysicist to figure out what I've got on my mind...actually it probably does. The only way you'll know is to keep coming back, stay in the loop and follow me as I embark on this voyage. But I can promise it'll be mind blowing. Don't come back if you're susceptible to going green with envy...
Every journey begins with a single step...
