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06 December 2015

Youth is wasted on the young

Over the past thirty years or so, the phrase "Youth is wasted on the young" occasionally rears its head and haunts me for a bit. Fortunately, I feel I did better than most in getting the full value of my pre-30th birthday adventures—skiing; skydiving (at 17); scuba diving (alliteration unintentional); wild oat-sowing; piloting a hot air balloon; self-employment; a bit of international travel; and more.

A young couple who is doing an even better job of spending their youth well than I ever imagined is Kasia and Manu, writers of "The Clueless Abroad" blog. Their style is engaging and the photos are very good. I mentioned them in a previous post and just today started catching up on their blog. I especially like their post on Dalat, for reasons beyond the fact that they contributed to and mentioned the Helmets For Children project.


I finally found their card, too...


If you're still young—in body and/or mind—and find yourself making a bucket list, do yourself a favor... stop making lists! Get out there and DO!

Slightly shifting topics from those who don't wear ties to those who do...

“And that, by the way, is why I think men so often wear ties… because if you are going to embody disembodied Western rationality, you need a signifier. And what could be a better signifier of disembodied Western rationality than a garment that at one end is a noose and the other end points to the genitals?”—Michael Kimmel

Moving on to standardized testing in what passes for "education"...

Finally... I recently found a photo of my 2002 visit to Cincinnati to visit family.

I'm the HUGE guy in the first row... pushing 290 lbs, if I remember correctly.

For the past few years and when I left the U.S. last year, I was down to about 240 or so.

Now, after a year of living in Vietnam, eating mostly local and unprocessed foods and walking frequently, I'm pretty happy at 215 lbs...


though I'd like to get a bit lower.

I show the fat photo because I have a number of friends and acquaintances in the west who are, if photos are to be believed, a LOT heavier than they were just a few years ago. If you are one of them, please stop eating fast and processed foods—they're killing you.

Namaste...



1 comment:

  1. Thank you for mentioning us again, John! Great to hear that someone thinks we're a bit less clueless than our name indicates. :)
    It's really inspiring to see how you changed over the years, keep up the great work!
    PS. This comic strip is actually one of Manu's favorites :)

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