Next Chapter

TisDoney

Well, today I start my journey back up in a whole new way. I will be flying from Portland, OR to Raleigh, NC to get the truck that has been donated to me. I will have freedom again to travel the US so I can reach my goal of cuddling in all 50 states (I'm currently at 7).

I figure I am going to stay a week there before heading back to Portland to grab my belongings.

This really does mark a big moment in my life. I am so nervous but very excited. All of my projects, my vision for my future, and the opportunity to test my skills has finally come together.

Hello new chapter. Still can't believe the doors cuddling has opened up for me.

Brailleangel

Congrats on the new truck. I hope you get the opportunity to accomplish everything you want to.

Lovelight

@TisDoney I wish you a good journey. ?

@Brailleangel cool username! I am a sighted individual interested in learning different languages. One of those languages is Braile, which, I've been learning* on and off. So far, without looking: I only remember the letters A, B, C, and G. lol. I can recognize a few more visually through the learning app. As you can tell, I've a long way to go. I didn't get the physical letters, yet. Though, I am excited to get some day. ?

Brailleangel

@Lovelight Thank you. Keep up with what you are doing. Learning Braille takes great patience, but yields many rewards, and yes, I know that sounds really corny, but it's true.

@Brailleangel and @Lovelight: For one thing, it makes it a lot easier to read after lights out without your mom catching you and taking the book away.

Brailleangel

@DarrenWalker Yup, that it does. lol

Lovelight

@Brailleangel thank you! I'll keep trying. For sure, learning different skills, and languages can be quite helpful. ?

@DarrenWalker great idea, lights out will certainly help. ?

TouchIsTLC

@TisDoney Congratulations on your new horizons and continuing/rebooting your journey! I'm very happy for you and will be sending you positive vibes as you travel!

@DarrenWalker so fun and funny as always! I wish I would have learned that trick as a child, looking back I'm like WTF?!?! You're mad I'm READING?!?! I wish my kids would stay up all night READING books... I fear physical books are going the way of the dodo bird and hand written letters.

TheFunCartel

I recently donated 10,397 books to a local library. Having that many books is a byproduct of being in grad school way too long and being a book sl*t. I am still withdrawing but I was afraid of the possible fire hazard.

Lovelight

@TouchIsTLC exactly. I am actually more into reading on the computer. Reading articles about health, howtos, etc. Not so much novels, and such. Though, I occasionally challenge myself to read/listen to such books which, some times I also read/listen online. I find that when I want to read a physical book, I prefer ones with bigger fonts. For some reason, my attention just stays better with it compared to tiny sized fonts.

@FunCartel it’s really good that you donated them! ?

A while back I went to the library and they were having a sale for some books/novels. They were pretty cheap like $5.00 cdn, or $3.72 usd for a full big bag. Approximately 15 books. So, I got them.

@FunCartel: I can't imagine getting rid of any of my books, fire hazard or no. Then again, I'm only up to 857. Maybe in a few years, I'll....

Nah. Still can't picture it.

TheFunCartel

@DarrenWalker Believe me, I have a basement and it was consumed by boxes of books. Do you know how many boxes there were? Hundreds!! The donation was over a few months. I took all my theory books from grad school first, my teaching books when I taught college, and textbooks. They were received with quizzical looks at the library. They did not know what to do with theory books from Mill, Bakhtin, Foucault, Chomsky, etc.

Then I brought in books by century beginning with European 14th century and before to the present day, then American, then World Lit...thousands of them. I get treated like royalty at the library now.

@FunCartel: Whoo! That is impressive.

Okay, I can imagine it a bit better now. (And I would like to have been at that library.)

TheFunCartel

@DarrenWalker I will let you in on a book storage secret. Cookie boxes. You can’t put too many hardcover books into a box because they become too heavy and unwieldly. But I started using Snackwell case boxes that they ship to grocery stores to put them in. I branched out to Oreos, Chips Ahoy, and others. And that is the way the cookie crumbles. I did keep a few early edition books that I picked up at a rare book store that is now closed.

I hope you come by the Cleveland area. I would love to cuddle with you!

Lovelight

@DarrenWalker are you a hoarder? lol. Find it difficult to give things up or change to new things?

@FunCartel: Case boxes used for shipping cookies, huh? Noted!

@Lovelight: Hahaha. Like a dragon, I lair amongst my treasures—sparkling, magical worlds and universes that never were, the thoughts of minds which still live and of those that are long dead. My hoard is vast!

My next chapter is two fold. On personal side I'm continuing my journey of self learning and introspection. I'm choosing cuddling as an accessory pathway to building rhythms of understanding and connection with others. Through these rhythms I hope to grow better communication skills and awareness of self and others in relation to space and emotion. I am also on a mission to give back to my community. And am currently in the process of learning how to do that and pace myself as I grow in skill and strength of that arena. It's 10 year goal for me and I'm just completing year one of training and grassroots apprenticeship. As I'm in that realm of transition I'm being very choosy about the kind of people I let in my psyhic space. And so anyone who is coloring or tilting my balance in that space in any way shape or form I have zero tolerance for. So in essence I'm building my own tribe. On the professional level I'm teaching myself about the heart. Everything I can lay my hands on: online classes, on-site courses, medical journals, on the job experience. My goal is learn and grow and be able to be my own layman cardiologist if there were ever such a thing. But I'm on my journeys and I am striving. Sometimes I struggle but I will thrive in fits and spurts. And that's okay. Hopefully I'll build my own tribe of support and understanding. And I can give my cerebrum a break from constant self talk.