Thanks for all of the replies. I should say that I’m not moping about. It’s just that in spite of everything, I feel as if I’m stuck in a rut.
As I said, I’m to the point where I’m ready to just shoot! Sure, I’d wind up with a lot of film for which I’d have no good use; but it would be better than leaving it unexposed. Maybe if I carry one of my cameras with me everywhere I go, I’ll get some ideas.
I definitely need a nudge. Losing my job was just the kick in the backside I needed to finally move to the PNW. (Although the timing really could have been better. As you may remember, I was in the process of buying the house when I was laid off, and I was frantic that I wouldn’t get it.)
I’ve always wanted to explore wrecks. (What twitches on the bottom of the ocean? A nervous wreck!) Hey, congratulations on your kayak, Spiny! Shayna told me about it yesterday. If you guys come up here sometime, the bay is just down the hill. If you don’t bring your 'yak, we can probably borrow one.
Huh? Anyone who’d go into therapy should have his head examined! 
I don’t have insurance. (This is one of the things that annoys me about this country. Even before I was laid off, I believed that a person should not lose medical coverage just because he loses his job.) Anyway, I have The Straight Dope! 
Ich will Alles!
Nah. Not my style. I reckon that if it is to be, then someone will notice me doing something I like doing and we’ll meet that way.
calm kiwi: That guy you met in the hostel sounds pretty cool. I noticed a lot of Australians when I was in Europe. It sounds as if Australia has a very generous tradition of giving employees a good amount of vacation time. I assume NZ is like that as well? Here in the States, most people only get two weeks per year. (Usually you get three weeks after five or ten years, depending on the employer.) At my new job, we don’t even get traditional holidays. I’m told the boss has said, “If you’ve been President, then you get President’s Day off. If someone has shot at you in a war, then you get Veteran’s Day off…”
Two movie quotes come to mind. One was a Western, and a cowboy said he had three sets of clothes. “One on, one off, and one in the wash.” The other involved a sailor who said, “Never have any more possessions than will fit in a duffel bag.”
Man, I’d love to go on walkabout! Part of my desire to unload most of my stuff comes from the desire to be less encumbered by too much baggage. My plan is to apply any money I garner from the sale of my stuff to the priciple on my home loan. (I got my [very small] tax refunds – the first in many years – and I will apply that to my loan.) Of course, I can always sell the house and just take off in two years. My friend made 50% in two years on this house when he sold it to me. I won’t sell it, of course. It’s good to have a base of operations. One thing that I’ve thought of would be to go walkabout in 2006 and let the place out for the Vancouver Olympic Games. (I’m four miles from the border.)
Anyway, I think part of the problem is that I just need a vacation. I had been planning to go to Australia or England over Christmas, but they layoff put the stop to that. I’m hoping my car will be finished in a couple of months. (Hoping, but not hopeful.) When it’s done I can fly down to SoCal to pick it up, and have a nice drive back. It ain’t Australia, but at least I can play Mad Max through the desolation of the Central Valley.
