(no subject)

[jfb]

Motivated by nostalgia, but compromised by expedience, I ended up at Borders for lunch. I, Coriander, a fairy tale or novel about a girl in seventeenth century London, looks intriguing, but it was A Field Guide to Getting Lost that really made my pulse quicken. I may have to violate my new book embargo.

Via Arthur Silber, in my head today is Edna St. Vincent Millay's Dirge without Music.

Comments

I have these fantasies

[talking-sock.livejournal.com]

Of quitting my job, and just traveling. But, you know, what would I do for money? Also, a woman alone... less than safe in some places.

Re: I have these fantasies

[jfb.livejournal.com]

I don't have anything useful on the safety question (although others must), but don't you have some money saved up? You don't have to quit forever.

I tracked my expenses during the last few years of tumultuous unemployment and travel, and, bizarrely, found that I spent less money on the road than at home. I felt certain that I'd made a math error somewhere, but there are some explanations: Friends and family give me free lodging and sometimes food; I'm more consistently aware of the need to be frugal; I'm happier and more of my time is occupied, so I'm less prone to depressive spending fits; and, probably most importantly, the rate at which I accumulate stuff drops near zero. The appeal of that new stereo component goes way down when I don't have a place to put it or time to use it. I buy books only as fast as I can read them, and CDs faster than I can absorb them only because I'm meeting so many musicians.

Some of this is just because some major necessary expenses are easier to take care of when I'm at home. For example, I just bought a notebook, which pushes my at-home burn rate way up, but since I bought it in part for travel, it should probably be amortized. Likewise, I've done all my major auto maintenance here, even though I've done most of my driving elsewhere. Still, it was interesting to discover my assumptions of what's expensive and what isn't were off the mark.

I think you and I have different things in mind when we say "travel" (and you have a mortgage), so the above isn't advice, just something interesting.

[xythian.livejournal.com]

A Field Guide to Getting Lost sounded fun.