Time Out

We just got back from the Cook Islands where we stayed a week at a little cabin we'd found on Aitutaki. It's the only cabin on an island that is othewise a day trip destination for snorkelers. Apart from a few hours in the middle of the day when three boats pull up for lunch we had the island all to ourselves. Schedule: watch the sunset, watch the moonrise, sleep, wake up and watch the sunrise, circumperambulate the island, snorkel, eat, nap, swim, eat, watch the sunset... repeat. It was lovely. It reminded us what it is to live.

Also, it was really good to get out of the country. This american society has so many self-inflicted neuroses - and what's the point? Social control through manufactured fear? More and more I've come to believe it. It was nice to get away from news, from americans, from the rat race, and spend some time in a much simpler culture where worries are of a much more immediate nature and the attitude is "Everything's going to be all right" as opposed to "Everything's going to Hell."

So now we're working on another long term plan which is in essence, to flip the proportion of rat race and vacation in our lives. The goal would be to have six weeks of engagement with the RatRace, and the rest of the time feeling like Everything's going to be all right - ideally in an environment or culture that supports such feelings.