New Landscapes

About this time last year I cast off from America to visit my girlfriend in England. She was in the middle of her PhD studies and I was hammering out a book about space colonization (since published), doing the final edits to my book "The Fact of Evolution" (since published), working on my Introduction to Archaeology text, "Ancestors" (since published), thinking through my balloon project issues and at the same time trying to patch up my relationship with ______.

The stresses were enormous and in hindsight, it's no wonder the relationship fell apart. The stress was such that my hair was falling out and I gained 20 pounds and generally I was a nervous wreck, as they say, socially crippled and emotionally absent.

Today my hair has come back, I am back down to my 1990's 'climbing weight' of 165lb and my stress level--felt directly in my very heart--has dropped massively, particularly after spending time with my extended family this past summer (the best part being a month and a half just living with Mom and Dad every day, making breakfast or sharing dinner).

I wish that I could still have a relationship with ______, because she was, for a time, my best friend. But that is not in the cards, and I will take the punishment of obsession.

I have certainly spent plenty of time in this territory! It is a lonely land, but one of rare and beautiful scapes; sea-, and star-scapes...Visions purchased, at a steep price, with the coin of human engagement.