Appropriate disclaimer: the following is a verbatim transcription of what I've written in my journal. Posts with similar titles will contain equally guileless writing. Judge freely.
I left the store around six today and road my motorcycle up the country roads to Estacada. I stopped at a gas station and quick mart to fuel up my bike and grab some canned food for my night in the woods. Chef Boyardee ravioli and canned peaches. I've been planning on doing a solo ever since I moved out of my previous house. It was my home for a few months.
I plan on bouncing around for the next month, but my friend Cat has offered me a place to stay. Cat is nice.
Anyways, here I am, camped out next to Fish Creek, a tributary of the Clackamas River. I feel a playful, loving respect for this river. The Clackamas is fun. It's the river equivalent of your always smiling, slightly chubby (in a comfortable way) friend who's slightly older than you.
I feel like a Kerouac-esque character at the moment. Writing in my moleskin notebook by campfire light whilst my motorcycle sits patiently on the road above me, and a creek rushes a few paces below. My hammock is all set up and I'm tired. I'll only be up as long as there's enough fuel within arms reach to feed my little campfire.
I'm gradually starting to see why friends of mine are so drawn to writing. It's not about the finished product; writing helps you perceive the world in a beautiful way. Or many different ways and through different lenses. Writing because it helps illuminate things in the world. Helps you think about things in various ways. Feelings, emotions, experiences. Perhaps it's because in writing we want to show others the beauty we see in the world, but in the process find it truly for ourselves.
Now, a reflection.
It's funny how I feel sometimes about my self and my attitude towards what I do. For instance, calling myself a Kerouac-esque character. I am drawn to the lifestyle lived by characters such as Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise. But at the same time I feel my desires are so cliche. For some reason I feel cliche is bad and demonstrates a lack of originality. I'm not copying, idealizing, or romanticizing these lifestyles, but merely being inspired by them. I assume that's the way I should go about it.
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