cougar springs in the portal land
Well, this blog post should have happened a few days ago, but didn’t – and things have really changed rapidly!
I’ve just spent 2 weeks in Portland; its quite an interesting place. I went to some nice local events: yoga, sauna houses, potluck, bars, jam sessions, art exhibits etc.
One of the high lites was a hot spring called: Cougar. Here I had an amazingly great time with 5 friends; the best hot spring experience of my life! It was just perfect.
Well, this blog post should have happened a few days ago, but didn’t – and things have really changed rapidly!
I’ve just spent 2 weeks in Portland; its quite an interesting place. I went to some nice local events: yoga, sauna houses, potluck, bars, jam sessions, art exhibits etc.
One of the high lites was a hot spring called: Cougar. Here I had an amazingly great time with 5 friends; the best hot spring experience of my life! It was just perfect.
The two weeks culminated with me buying a car, so I could road trip in the states for the next few months, and deciding on staying at a farm in Washington state on the border with Vancouver, Canada.
I did a 1 day trip to some beautiful water falls, and then I swang back into portland to pick up Aprille to go on a 3 day road trip with her first around Oregon state. We went on the road, saw some beautiful waterfalls in the mt. Hood area, landed in the high desert at an amazingly-bizarre hidden oasis called ‘smith rock’ and then, the next day: the car died – completely!
This totally changes everything, as now I can’t see myself buying a new car [that was a financial loss I feel is significant enough] – and I do sort of feel like this has happened because I need to be back in Holland sooner: by the 25th of October; instead of in December: which was more what i was aiming for in the last week.
A complete change of plan; because now I won’t be going to this tunnel party this weekend in Washington; and I am uncertain right now how I am getting down to LA.
I’d really like to rent a car now for 1-2 weeks and drive it down the coast to LA and visit all kinds of places along the way; but I am not sure yet if this will be affordable. There are hundreds of places that seem really cool to visit, so I am included to think I am going to fit the bill and go for it; but more will be decided in the next 24 hours.
Aprille and I had a really good connection. She is very sweet, loving & beautiful. After the car broke down, we managed to get a good deal on a very hardcore pickup-truck one-way drive back to Portland. So for a very reasonable price, we made it back home and drove through some beautiful mountains, lava fields, yellow-leaf autumn forests and past more hot springs before settling back here in the present. I just dropped her off a few hours ago; it was weird to say good bye; it felt like we had spent more than 3 days together; but it also felt very short.
Returning to Amsterdam in the winter doesn’t sound all that great, but I am looking forward to it for a few reasons:
1. wrap up by business activities for 2007
2. be with family/friends for the winter
3. focus on my new direction[s] for 2008
The time has come for me to make a decision, and focus my energies in a new direction. I read in a book a few weeks ago that for men they need a sense of purpose [a mission] whereas women focus more on emotional experiences… this seemed about right; especially right now in my life, as without a higher mission, things seem flat [well, my mission lately has been to find a mission/place; but thats not really a mission… even though i guess it is…].
The agricultural software I am working on is a great new area to focus on; but it will take some time before that fruits.
Other than that, I’ve been applying a new self-development technique; that is not new at all, but new for me… I’ll write about that in a new blog report.