Travel Blog

We oft sit in deep contemplation of our past relationships, particularly in solitude.  Last night, I sat in my iron claw bath tub surrounded by candlelights, smoking fragrant tobacco from a pipe, which I recently purchased in Brussels with the help of my Santa Barbara friends Dan and Gretchen. 

Why is it that we do not take the time for introspection to identify the repeating faults of our previous relationships?  Past relationships are by default failures.  For those of us not yet married or engaged to be married, we continue traverse through this world, meeting attractive persons of the opposite sex, and fail time and again to establish a deeper and more spiritual connection leading to an undeniable urge to get married. 

In contrast, when we play video games, we learn quickly upon the death of a player to avoid the same mistake that caused the previous death.  Mario runs up the ramp dodging wine barrels tossed down by Mr. Kong, in order to save a fair maiden.  We can make the same correlation to this analogy.  The barrels are the attractive, but not meant to be, persons of the the opposite sex that comes along.  We must learn to quickly identify them as barrels and jump over them in continuous succession in order to reach the fair maiden.  When we get hit by one, we quickly learn to not make the same mistake at the next turn.  Jump sooner perhaps or jump higher. 

Yet in real life, it is not as simple.  The next time that you go out with an attractive person, remember Donkey Kong and save yourself some time up the ramp to the fair maiden.  If by chance you begin to see all attractive persons as barrels, it is then a misfortune that I have put this imagery into your head.  And if by chance you are the type of person that does not want to find the fair maiden, then run forthwith straight into each barrel, each, hopefully, filled with delicious wine.