Reboot

So.  Take 3 on 'Travel Blogging'.....

It's a bit odd, looking at my last post, from a road trip to Albuquerque that apparently ended in the middle somewhere.  By way of excusing myself, I did comment on how annoying it is to blog via smart phone.  And, at the other end of the guilt spectrum, I have already received a bit of smackdown, a dollop of snark, from a co-worker about my failure as a blogger.  My journal-writing is spectacularly inconsistent, so why should my blog be any different?

Annnd, we're moving on.  And at a pretty high rate of speed, too.  Not just because I want to get away from this ridiculous segue, but because I'm moving quickly, giddily almost, towards the Next Big Adventure.  You can almost hear my voice getting more bass from the Doppler shift.  This text color should be increasingly....red?

It's Japan.  On June 15th, I'm catching a non-stop (!!) from Portland to Tokyo, to take a one-week course in the Sendai/Fukushima area, sponsored by Portland State (PSU).  The Japanese, it seems, are intent on communicating their experiences with large earthquakes and tsunamis to the folks who need to hear it:  Portlanders.

For many of you outside the Pacific Northwest, what I've just typed makes no sense whatsoever.  What earthquake?  Why me?  Why now?  What could Portland possibly have to do with Japanese earthquakes?  Over the next few posts, I'll try to explain this piece.

But, before I do:  there's more.  Once that week is up, I'll be wandering Japan for another two weeks.  As I dig into the planning for that part of the trip....well, it's a massive rabbit-hole.  I just spent an hour comparing railpasses.  It's hard to convey how completely stoked this train nut/former travel agent is right now.  Railpasses....for bullet trains.  DUDE.   If only the maglev train would hurry up and get built!  If I do nothing but ride the train back and forth for two weeks, no one should be surprised.

Naturally, there's a lot of posting to be done and almost no time to do it.  I'm in the middle of my spring field season, treating weeds, and the weather has been....difficult.  I find myself once again scrambling and juggling the schedule, but this time with a hard deadline.  Come June 15th, whether the work is done or not, I'm out.  It's both freeing and worrisome.

I'm going to let this sit for the moment, as my (re)introduction.  In the next post, I'll explain what earthquakes have to do with me in Portland, which will, in turn, explain the class.