Mobility

Ah, what a sweet thing to be able to hop in the car with minimum possessions and go across the world to wherever it is you want to live. Very sweet.

And very, very difficult.

I was mobile once. After high school, I think. I had few real possessions, if any. When I joined the Army, I took a suitcase full of clothes with some movies and some books; maybe some CDs. I lived that way for a while. I had nothing, I needed nothing, and I wanted (figuratively) nothing. And then it happened... I started buying "stuff."

I seriously got away without having a car for a couple of years. I left my old, semi-classic '67 Chrysler in the possession of my sister back in Nevada, and arrived at Fort Bragg with two feet and cab fare. That was early 1996. And despite living off-post, I didn't buy another vehicle until 1998. And it all rolled from there.

Some furniture, a home theater system that seriously rocked the apartment complex, kitchenware. Everything that someone planting so-called permanent roots would need (though I didn't buy a bed until 1999; sleeping just fine on the floor). Only I wasn't planting roots of any kind. I was just accumulating stuff. Large, heavy, volume-filling stuff.

When I went to Korea I enjoyed a "return to mobility" of sorts, only taking my laptop computer and some clothes to the East Asian country. It was nice. For an entire year, I didn't have to worry about anything. No stuff, no moving stuff, no keeping stuff safe. Nothing.

Last year, as some of you know, I embarked on my long-awaited move from North Carolina to California. Regardless, I had to move a ton of stuff. Lots of furniture. Lots of large, heavy, volume-filling stuff. And let me tell you, it wasn't cheap to do. My mobility was limited by cost, weight, and pets. And, to add insult to injury, I got stuck in Nevada.

Okay, on to the point... in a couple of days, I will be leaving Nevada for whereabouts unknown. In all likelihood, it will be a temporary return to North Carolina, but I really don't have a clue as to my final resting point. And the first thing I did (or rather, am doing)? Getting rid of all of my heavy shit. Gone will be the furniture. Gone will be the crap I don't need or want. Gone will be everything that limits my mobility. I will not, until I'm filthy rich, be anchored to a place due to money, weight, space, animals, or people ever again. Sounds simple, doesn't it? I assure you, overcoming the mental realization of not "having stuff" in such a materialistic society is anything but.

I, quite literally, am taking nothing but clothes, a cot, a chair, my cell phone, and a laptop. Okay, yes, I have my animals, but unlike last year's insane 2-people, 3-dog, 6-cat move I undertook, I'm only undertaking a 1 person, 3-dog, 2-cat move. And by the end of my journey, there will only be 2 dogs.

My intent for the rest of the year is to be cheap, lightweight, a completely and spontaneously mobile. Of course, this means the lack of any kind of social life, but I don't care... I've got a goal and I need to make it.

And if you don't think I can do it, ask anybody who knew me when I slept on the floor or when I dated my ex. I'll put up with a ton of shit before I start to cave. A ton. Literally.

I'm wired, I'm excited. Pardon the staccato formlessness of this blog entry.

Have a nice day.