Thoughts From Under A Tree: Far From Buddha-like

Currently sitting under a mango tree trying to get some thoughts out onto the screen. As I type this, I realize that typing on a computer really has little of the romantic value associated with good old pen and paper copy. Yet, I don’t know if I would ever share the thoughts I write in pen as I journal. Not that what I’m journaling is a big secret or filled with scandal, but rather my journal musings are extremely raw, unfiltered, and usually a rambling mess. My journaling is a mixture of a mind dump, a brief recap updating my life, to-do lists, and a letter to my future self. This, I don’t know what this is.

I have been writing a lot though. It has been nice to get ideas out of my head. I’ve spent a good deal of time thinking up content for my future blog and those ideas have recently hit critical mass and had to get out. I haven’t been pumping out full post but more of a sketch or framework. I’ll usually lie out the sections, write the intros and then start generating primitive ideas that I hope to develop later on. There is a lot of “look up a stat on that” and “find reference for this” littered about. I’ve got no idea if these outlines will actually be useful once I actually get the site going. I have a feeling that I’ll be returning to many of the documents and thinking, “What a rambling mess of crap.” For the time being, I find these exercises to be cathartic.

I’ve been at a loss though when it comes to actually writing blog posts for here. I have several ideas but nothing that really grabs me or I think would be of any interest to others, much like this post. I do have something that I am sort of excited about though. I enjoy photography but really haven’t done much over the past two years. My camera has spent most of its time sitting in my house. To make up for lost time, I plan on spending my day tomorrow with my camera. I want to leave my house in the early morning and pass the day walking around village and taking pictures. It will be a Sunday market day, so there will be lots of activity. At the same time, I’ll have several annoyances as people yell at me to take their picture and then demand that I have the photo printed for them. There’ll be no avoiding it so I’ll just have to smile, say no, and walk away.

I look forward to being able to share images of my village and village life in Burkina Faso. Sharing this culture is, after all, one of the three goals I’m to fill as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Here is to hoping my next post will have some awesome pictures or at the very least be a post with some more substance.

-Tyler

Posted from WordPress for Android