clinging to the wreckage

  I survived San Diego and the return to work, but the following weekend arrived with trepidation. I knew that Monday meant a very early start to take the train to the University of North Texas in Dallas to attend my Citizenship ceremony. I was starting a new job and knew that Wednesday brought with it a presentation that I had to give to our global legal team about artificial intelligence. Immediately after, I had to rush to apply for my passport. The day after that I was to give another presentation to an audience of around 300 people. Thursday also saw the arrival of a friend who I had not seen for a long time from New Hampshire. Therefore, it was a very exciting and active time, but it was a nerve-racking time requiring a great deal of research, organisation, patience, and determination.                     The ceremony went well and was an immensely proud moment for me. For many years, in my late teens and early twenties, I had looked to American literature, music, culture, geogra

  I type in your name to send you a note… I see that you are eight or nine months pregnant in your profile photo, and I find myself at a loss for words. There is no indication of when you were last online, of course, people tend to hide these things these days. So I don't bother to message.  I think of you often… and the night we met. The way you touched your belt buckle each time you spoke to me. When I asked why, you said it was to save your soul from being stolen by a ginger. You said it was a Spanish belief. It was wonderfully hilarious. In spite of your being Spanish, your accent sounded almost English, and I felt that you had a Scottish look. A few hours later we were kissing... kissing in the bar, kissing in the street, kissing in my hotel. We spoke about how it felt like more and like we had known each other for years. The next day I had to fly to a different part of Spain as my band was playing at a festival. Through all of the wonderful messages we were exchanging, you se

  Friday morning, 5am, I am awake. But it is not a bad thing. I am awake because I am excited. I fly to San Diego for the weekend, and yesterday I successfully passed my citizenship interview. San Diego beckons me as the place I first truly longed to be, to live, to see… and I still, to this day, would love to be self-sufficient, without the need for a physical office or company or reporting structure, to simply live and read and write whilst exploring the streets, parks, beaches, museums, and bars of the place. The world can be a better place if we can let go of old beliefs and traditions. Those traditions that put so much pressure on people. For example, everyone is raised to believe they must get married, buy a house, have children… and so people become depressed because they can’t find a partner or buy a house, or a couple can’t have children. Instead, we should be enjoying our independence, travelling, investing, enjoying life. We don’t need to buy a house… be a nomad, be free. We