The Strategic Retreat

Walking The Middle Path

Monks and B man in Bangkok

I arrived in the U.S. yesterday; the flight went pretty well. Apparently, the distance from Seoul to San Francisco is exactly 1 dose of Band of Brothers. I had spent a night the previous week not moving from my chair and watching The Pacific, so it was basically the same experience. Though, last week I didn’t have a call-button to summon microwaved meals and Singapore Slings. If anything, taking a flight across the Pacific is a bit more relaxing than how I often choose to spend my downtime.

Singapore wet market

It’s been an interesting year. Unlike most years, where my experiences are mainly internal, I actually did a lot in 2013. I traveled, I interacted, I stepped way outside of my comfort zone. Although it wasn’t the best year financially, I’m holding onto the hope that I’ve saved myself thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in future shrink visits. Plus, I quit smoking. That alone has to be worth a year.

Monkey at Ubin reading the newspaper

During the last 8 months I’ve had a lot of time for thought as I did a grip of walking in Asia. Sometimes just 1 km, sometimes 40. I walked, I thought, and I walked some more. First I made sense of my present. Then I cleared my mind. Then I refilled it in a more orderly way. A bit like defragging a hard drive, I suppose. Or some early stage of obtaining mindful peace, depending on if you’re an engineer or a hippie.

spicy pot

I’m Jeff, by the way. Today I’m sharing a few photos I took recently. Later I’ll tell some stories of my travels and map out some of my best recipes. I’ll worry about a unified theme later, after I decide what’s most enjoyable to write about.

I'll miss that place.
It should be an interesting journey. There’s ups and downs and sideways; love and death and humor. And cupcakes. There will be cupcakes.

About Jeff

Jeff was born in the back of a War Game Store on the day the first Star Trek movie came out, to a computer programmer mother and a father who wrote the story for Dragon's Lair. Jeff has an MBA, a CSM, and a penchant for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.