Adventures and Friendships

I had a little too much fun with yesterday's Knowledge Bomb. I mean... it was sort of a knowledge bomb. I'm sure someone learned a little about Chinese history/folklore and got learn a little bit about an amazing horse. But in the end I'm not sure it actually helped anyone. Still, it was pretty fun.

And what can I say when I listen to Smash Fiction? How can I help but get riled up? The entire show is about arguing the dumbest of points on matters that most certainly are not important. But it's fun and I love those guys.

Still, I think perhaps today I should focus on something a little more serious than which fictional/historical horse is the baddest of all. I am nearing the date for my departure for China. With every day that passes I am that much closer to going on what may well be the grandest adventure I ever take. I'm leaving a lot behind. A good job with the university. The familiarity of my home. But most importantly, I'm leaving behind a lot of good friends.

As I've grown older the importance of friends has become more and more apparent. Where, as a youth, I talked a lot about friends but made little effort, now I mention it infrequently, but go quite a ways out of my way. When you have good friends that live 8 hours in opposite directions and you make plans to see both, you know they're important to you.

I wonder then, since I'm supposed to tie everything back to writing in this blog, how this reflects on my story? I have both young and older characters that play significant parts and, now, with the experience I've gained in making friends both here and abroad, I wonder what I can do with that as it pertains to my characters? With Jonathan being so young, does he still have idealistic views on friendship? With Reagan having been through so much, does he even want make new friends? What impression of friendship, of leaving people behind, of starting things anew, do all my characters have?

I hope I can adequately express this through my story. And I hope you'll come along for the ride.

​DFTBA