Adventurous Short-Haired Greetings!

In an email I received recently, a friend wrote pointedly that it’s quite an adventure I’m on, but definitely not a vacation. I wholeheartedly agreed with him. Ever since finishing grade school, I haven’t wanted, let alone needed, vacations. What I mean is I’ve always been thoroughly drawn to the adventure of life, to the point that I’ve never wanted to disengage, or take a break from it. Full speed ahead!

My penchant for adventure goes way back, maybe much farther than I know. An early conscious decision I remember making about it resulted from reading a couple of stories in the Weekly Reader, a newspaper for young children. It was when I was in first or second grade. Particular stories made such an impression on me that I decided at that young age I would only engage long-term in things I would want to keep doing, which has meant not doing anything I would look forward to retiring from doing. Maybe this is another way of saying the influence was what I naturally felt, that conformity was not my path. It has been and continues to be quite an adventure, seeing what will happen as I move forward.

As it turns out, I’ve never really had a vacation since grade school, except for naps & sleep! (I love to get horizontal) But even with sleep, I am happy with less sleep than most people, figuring that if I need to, I’ll catch up in another life.

Something I’ve already commented on is that, in a general sense, virtually no one seems to want to live in the manner that suits me best, otherwise I would not be doing it alone so much of the time. Thank goodness I get to meet so many interesting people while out exploring, along with being immersed in the amazing nature everywhere.

My New Years Eve was a fairly quiet one, spent in the sleepy city of Nevinnomyssk. I say fairly quiet because there were odds & ends of fireworks going off around town that evening. But at midnight, all hell broke loose! More private fireworks were set off than I’ve ever before seen anywhere, with rockets blasting off from everywhere around the city, putting on a great display.

When not watching the fireworks or going for walks, I’ve processed a lot of photos during these three days in Nevinnomyssk, to the point Morocco is now completed. Here are links to the last three galleries:

https://balloonbill.smugmug.com/Other/Fes-Rabat-Essouira/

https://balloonbill.smugmug.com/Other/Essouira-Taghazout-SidiInfi/

https://balloonbill.smugmug.com/Other/SidiInfi-Dakhla-Marrakech/

While finishing up these galleries, an amusing Moroccan memory came to mind. The event took place while I was on my way back to Marrakech, near the end of my stay in Morocco. Because I was soon to be returning to France to attend a special dinner, I decided to get a haircut. I found a modern shop where the barber spoke English and I told him I just wanted a trim, to get neatened up. He repeated what I said, to only cut a little off and make it neat. Well, he did exactly that, but he kept doing it! A little here, a little there, a little more here and a little more there, until there was hardly any hair left! When I got out of the chair, he was so proud of himself that he told me I wouldn’t need a haircut for a month; it has now been two months and still there’s barely enough hair to need brushing. The good news is the haircut only cost $4! Yeah, I know, sometimes you get exactly what you pay for.

The really good news is that for two months, I’ve had a good laugh every time I look in the mirror and think of how proud the barber was. He actually did me a big favor, in that I haven’t needed to comb my hair for a long time. Maybe it’s time for another no-fuss haircut.

In a short while, I will board a train here in Nevinnomyssk and roll down the tracks for 3+ days to Novosibirsk, then go a little further east by other means of locomotion. The adventure continues.

Happy New Year!

Bill