Luh'vool

YOU ARE SECRETARIAT

Let's see if I can remember how to write in an engaging manner - creatively and informatively - while putting to use HTML markup for my second first major time.

I used to right alot, and I was very well at it.

But years of math and physics and engineering aren't conducive to reinforcing the skill. My writing is probably about as good as my French, and, excusez mon français, but my French sucks (hope it can carry me through Europe). Writing nothing but technical papers for six years is going to takes its toll.

I remember exactly my feeling when I flew to Louisville for the first time and started driving my rented Elantra. I was listening to Kongos and scared for my life. "Any moment now this road is going to crack open and I'm going to sink into a swamp." Growing up in the northeast, I literally thought civilization stopped at the western/southern borders of Pennsylvania and Maryland. I didn't know a soul for hundreds of miles. I had no one. Few people know that feeling. To make a perimeter, the closest I had been was Denver, Pittsburgh, and Orlando. The only personality I could pin on the south was what movies like Deliverance had impressed upon me.

And yes, I still consider Louisville to be the south, although some Louisvillians will try to claim the midwest and say they deserve better than to be affiliated with the rest of the south. I say: hop over the river to the Indiana side, and only then are you in the midwest.

Louisville is, at this point in time, my favorite city in the whole world despite the fights I got into with Kroger employees TWICE ("point eight pounds" of turkey will never be eight hundredths of a pound of turkey). I hope to return when I'm done with this adventure, if for no other reason than to pick up my small board game collection and my "Sith Lord" computer chair before Reagan toots in it too much. Being in the south isn't all bad. Southern hospitality is real. People talk to you, and smile, and laugh and hug. Hard to come by in Philadelphia or Boston. I think I fit in much better in the south.

Within a month of moving to Louisville, I said I could never move back to the northeast. How quickly an attitude can change! We'll see where life takes me, but I don't think I can bear another job on the east coast. From within the same company, I saw the whole work culture change; the difference was night and day. But of course none of this makes the city itself particularly special, just the region of the country. No, the city is special because it is home to:

• the largest annual fireworks show in North America
• the largest annual zombie walk in the world
• the largest annual Beatles festival in the world
• the largest horse race in the world

Even if you have no interest in horses or racing, the Derby is a must-attend event.

Churchill Downs

Check out the hats.

The PGA Championship came to Louisville, and I spectated for free every day.

Ah! Zombies!

There are lots of other things which I cannot quantify as "largest" but regardless add to the allure of the city, including being a hub of bourbon, boxing, basketball, alliteration pizza, UPS shipping, and performance and visual arts. The city is special because of the friends I made there in just nine months. The city is special because there is zero car traffic.

Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system in the world, about 1.5 hours south of Louisville.

Just some of my friends, who drove 12 hours each way to Wildwood to play ultimate.

And I have to say, Thunder Over Louisville (the aforementioned fireworks) is AMAZING, a whole level above any New Year's or Independence Day fireworks shows you've ever seen. I know what you're thinking: seen one fireworks show, seen 'em all. Not true. Thunder's performance is something else and my number one reason to visit Kentucky.

Thanks for reading my first blog post. For those of you unaware, I have started this because in less than a week I will begin travelling all over eastern America. Then a couple months later, I will travel around Europe and Asia. I want to document as much of it as I can. I doubt most posts will be this long. Just need a way to keep my mom up to date on how many times I've been robbed at gunpoint.

My reasons for getting up and going are numerous. I've gotten tired of my job. I've gotten tired of my current home city. I want to see America (possibly scope out the next city in which I settle). I want to see the world. I want to take part in town halls and protests, also known as democracy. At some point I will have a post with a political digression, but that will be a post separate from anything directly travel-related. I'm lucky enough to be in a position where I can drop my life, so I should take advantage of that to fight for America's disadvantaged. Because remember, it is not enough to be neutral and passive in the face of bad actors:

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

-Edmund Burke, Irish politician, philosophical founder of modern conservatism, and supporter of the American Revolution

Next up: Indianapolis, Nov. 8, 2014 - Mar. 15, 2017

Foreseeable: Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Niagara

Vague outline of path through Europe and Asia, definitely subject to change:
Spain > France > Germany > Italy > Greece > Russia > Mongolia > Korea

Hot air balloon race, part of the Kentucky Derby Festival, my preferred method to circumnavigate the world.