Fortunes in American Slang

I took a break from work to hand deliver a pencil on the other side of campus this week and then decided to take a peek at the completed renovations in the bookstore. I'm happy to report that the discounted books section is still there and full of books that nobody but me wants (I'm currently working on 'Physics for the Rest of Us'). But tucked away in an obscure corner of the shelf was a book of Tarot Cards, instructions on use included. Naturally my mind wondered. Eventually it ended here>>>>Why would I want to know my future? Answer: I don't. I mean I don't want to anticipate anything. I don't want to live my life up to a moment that I know is coming. My mine progressed beyond this point into something a little more down to earth and less crazy. I thought about my five year plan. But, isn't having a five year plan kind of like telling the future. I mean in a way. Think about it, if you achieve your five year plan you told the future. You could fall short or exceed it but still you basically foretold something that hadn't happened yet. You just don't know it now. To me the only really exciting part is the exceeding part because you didn't know that you could do what you didn't plan for. However, this is in no way saying that goals are bad, in anyway. Goals are good. I have goals. But here's the difference. Goal- Get My Ph.D. Plan-Get my Ph.D. by the time I'm thirty. Problem w/ Plan- Everything I do in the next 6 years will be to obtain a doctorate. Yes, I could do things like go on trips and surf after class but i'm still working for the Ph.D.
I'm trying to prove a point, so let me present to you a very plausible situation that wold thwart my 'five year plan', and maybe yours too.
Let's say that next summer while I'm in Central America this happens. It's July and there is a storm off the Antarctic that promises surf that Gulf Coasters don't believe exists in real life. Well the Hobgood's also hear about this storm and make their way there. Pure happenstance, we end up on the same break and strike up a conversation. Next thing you know I'm on my to Indo with the Hobgood's. After a few weeks of perfection they head back to Florida but I decide to stay. But during a break between sessions, I meet Toru on the beach. Toru, like me, is a visitor, but unlike me Toru is there not for surfing, he is there for food. Toru is a emerging chef studying in Indo and his time is up and he's heading back home to Okinawa. And guess what.....I follow him. For the next four and a half months I learn to cook in his restaurant. I also have to clean tables (I have to keep this scenario realistic). One late evening (it's mid January now) while blogging I come across an opportunity to work for Heifer International delivering water buffalo to needy villages in the Horn of Africa. While I'm there I some how to manage to avoid the civil war and proceed down the Indian Ocean coast to South Africa. There I spend my time dissecting the writings of Pablo Neruda at a local, Cape Town university, led by a Chilean-Spanish professor, who has sailed from Spain to the southern tip of Africa. After the semester he offers me a ride to Europe via the ocean. When we get there, he makes a few phone calls and the next thing I know.....back in the restaurant business. It's January again, a year and a half after I left for a two week trip to Central America. But this time I work on providing sustainable fish and fresh produce through Aquaponics. Which just happen to employ a group isolated Muslims in the south of Spain. However I quickly find the crystal clear waters and paella to be a ball and chain and pick up for a train ride through Europe in the Spring. I ski in the Alps, take a ferry across Istanbul, and end up in Israel. Where i try to fish in the Sea of Galilee. July. I find the best place in the world for humus, and make plans to return home. But Guess what! Fidel died and now Cuba is free. I find a professor that is doing work protecting nearly pristine reefs, but turn him down because I want to feed people. But I still went to Cuba.

So you see why five year plans might not be this best thing? All of this could happen, or you know, I could meet a girl.






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