Weekend-Engagement topics. It seems a brilliant means to getting a deeper understanding of the poster by talking simply about making a choice. Guess it just goes to show how imporant those choices are that we make to position us exactly where we have chosen to be.A great post by @oceanbee came up on my thread which was her reply to this week's
Anyway, thought it may be fun to give it a go.
Choice one: A wine tasting tour or brewery tour? Which would you choose and why? Use your own photos.
If friends or family were going then whichever one they wanted to attend would be fine by me. This is because it has been 11 years since alcohol has graced my tongue, and no before you jump to the conclusion it was not because of my binge drinking. It was on doctor's orders after my surgery for cancer of the tongue those 11 years ago.
Choice two: Camping in the woods or holidaying in a city hotel? Which would you personally choose and why? Use your own photos.
Camping was a favored activity when my daughter was still young. We would even do winter camping, which with good weather and a HUGE bonfire can be very comfortable with the added benefit of being very clean and tidy.
The city hotel doesn't sound all that different from home... in fact if that were the choice it would be home. Hotel beds always creep me out. Thoughts of what a CSI Team may find tend to invade my thoughts when laying a head on a hotel pillow.
Choice three: Live in the Middle East or United States of America? (These are your only two choices) Which would you choose and why? Use your own photos.
Although not a United State's citizen, it has been my good fortune to have traveled there a number of times over a number of years.
The first meaningful one which had great influence upon me was in 1966. My Dad's father had a place in Florida and we drove down from Nova Scotia, that winter, to visit with him for Christmas.
There was an excitement of youth when passing through the more northern states. Things like them having more than one TV station on the hotel TVs! Who was this wacko guy called Captain Kangaroo anyway? Sucking up roadside billboards and their products like a sponge.
Then we hit Georgia. Segregation was in full swing. WHITE ONLY signs on most roadside restaurants we stopped at. Hey it wasn't my choice having no vote at 11.
At one stop there was a small epiphany about my older brother by 2 and a half years. My Mother and Father sitting in the booth across from us, was asked for a dime by my brother. He then took it to the jukebox dumped it into the coin slot and after pressing two buttons the Beatles started to sing Paperback Writer.
It blew me away! The guy that had been playting in a pile of dirt with dinky toys with me that summer would know anything about that machine and the records inside. Like a flash of light it came to me that my brother had taken a not so small step out of childhood.
Other visits were more my own. Chasing a girlfriend on her summer holidays to Maine in 1970. Trips to Florida on my own, once with a VW Westphalia back in the 80s.
Then Bush came along as did the Iraqi War. It actually brought me out into the street to protest. Well maybe my girlfriend at the time was some of the motivation too. You can't have peace without good relationships. 😉
There was a vow taken, and vows are not taken lightly by me, that because of the USA's actions in the Iraqi War and reinforced by their continued world aggression since that time, there has never been another visit to this date nor would there if given the option.
The middle east, itself, has not held much attraction for me mostly due to its volatile nature of the area. Many other Muslim countries have been visited by me however.
The first was Morocco in the early 70s during the Oil Crisis. It took me a number of days of being rejected entry at the crossing at Ceuta. They perhaps finally got sick of seeing me or saw me as an a-political hippie just there for their sweet blonde hash.
It was like walking back in time when strolling through the back streets of Fez of Marrakesh. At an age where ones mind is having growing insights anyway, with the added mind expansion of the daily highs; Morocco was an experience that shaped my future life to some degree.
There was also travel done in Turkey, Iran where some time was spent as an English Teacher, Afganistan, Packistan, Tunisia and Algeria.
Muslim countries tend to be refreshingly different with welcoming cultures to me.
Choice four: Professional success or personal happiness? (Assume you can only have one) - Which would you choose and why? Use your own photos.
The only reason for someone choosing professionalism over personal happyness in my eyes would be if they are suffering from some trauma of youth when not getting enough love from their Father and now trying to prove themselves to him through their professional success.
It has always been Personal Happyness with me. Not even a choice.
Choice five: Own a dog or a cat - Which would you choose and why? Use your own photos.
Definitely a dog.
One can not likely have a child and not have a household pet of some sort at some time.
We had cats, mice and birds. Since being on my own since my daughter has grown there have been no pets living with me.
Choice six: Visit an art gallery/museum or play mini-golf? - Which would you choose and why? Use your own photos.
Both seem very unappealing; yet if forced to choose the art gallery with twisted arm.
Hope you may have learned a little more than just my choices.
A chronological listing of my recent sailing posts:
https://hive.blog/sailing/@novacadian/novacadian-s-blog-index-sailing
Well, hello there, nice to see you join WE#227. To be fair, normally, only one of the options is supposed to be answered to rather go a little in-depth. However, I felt like all of these lent themselves to give a little insight to the person answering. And it certainly did.
You mentioned the procedure and tongue cancer in another comment but - wow - that is some serious wound which probably still is a pretty good scar. I hear you on the hotel pillows but sometimes that cannot be avoided. You sound like you got around quite a bit, was it work or just leisure travel? Given more than the two choices we had, I'd probably go back to Australia, of course, by now my memory of my time there is under the rosy shine of 'it has been too long'.
Not a fan of art or museums, huh?
Hi @oceanbee! Found your post to the weekend-engagement to be very inspiring.
Opps! 😁
The surgeon also was a skilled in plastic surgery so it is barely visable now.
On the first term of university in 1972 on the day that you could still get your tuition back that option was taken advantage of and then with about $300 and a year return airfare for $187 my escape was made to London, UK. The next 4 years or so were spent following my nose and finding means to finance myself along the way. That included teaching english in Iran and working on a Canadian Military base as a civilian in Germany. There were some other, allegedly, means of getting by but others claim they are just fictional short stories. You be the judge. 😉
That hippie trilogy was another interesting read. In fact, I wouldn't mind
hearingreading more stories from back then. I don't have any memories of those times, I was too young.Oh, and that surgeon of yours - he did a marvelous job!
Yeah, was hoping to continue with the Time Well Waisted series. Maybe if a place on the hard can be found for Makina in Halifax it would be fun content to contribute over the winter should the Makina Adventure be put on hold until next season.
We are so blessed to have Dr. Taylor in Halifax. When visiting me during their rounds they were affectionately referred to as my million dollar team. 🧑⚕️👩⚕️👨⚕️