Beau's Blog

Show, don’t tell. I like that idea and intend to experiment with it. It reminds me of valuing actions greater than words. Ironically, I’m typing these words. I suppose typing is action. Anyways…

There is a lot to reflect upon in the past few months. It’s been delightful. It’s been dense. It’s been intense. What does it all mean? What have I learned?

I’ll take a stab at answering those questions but first, start with a map of the places I’ve slept from early July to early October. The one “place” I’m missing is the flight from Istanbul (layover after Helsinki) to Seoul where I slept cruising over central Asia. Full Map Link

Note: It was pretty neat to generally just go east and literally go around the world. Tokyo to Tokyo in 3 months. I suppose I can kinda confirm the world is a sphere.

Top 10 Favorite Moments

Jul 1 – Swimming at Enoshima Beach, Japan

This day felt totally like me. Like who I want to be. I ran with a couple friends I had met over the prior month and also a friend of a friend on a urbanish trail run from Konandai through Kamakura to the beach at Enoshima. It rained steadily for the first couple hours, we were immediately soaked and yet, spirits were high. We made it to our destination and reveled at how it felt to relax in the ocean. Who doesn’t like swimming after getting all sweaty? Thank you Chadwick, Zach and Olivier for an awesome adventure.

---

Jul 24 – Taking in the View on top of Mt Juneau, Alaska

I had the joy of visiting my preschool-era friend Alex in Juneau four years ago. This summer, I was able to visit him again and follow through on a run he proposed last time. Doing this Juneau Ridge run is a big part of the reason I prioritized running after leaving Boulder. I had a solid reason to be in shape. If I didn’t maintain some running routine, I physically would not have been able to do this. (As it turned out, I struggled to keep up with Alex since he’s a super impressive athlete despite a recent covid bout.) Standing on top of Mt. Juneau was special. To maintain a friendship with someone far away for over 25 years and share in this experience together made us both very happy.

---

Jul 30 – Fellowship of the Ring Food & Drink Experience, Boulder, Colorado
Back in April, Kristina and I started playing with the idea of creating a Lord of the Rings experience where we’d eat and drink our way through the movies alongside the characters. After several brainstorming sessions, we made it happen! We even added a simultaneous drinking game too. The highlight of the experience was whipping out “dirt” (an oreo, pudding, gummy worm mixture) when the hobbits are hiding from the Nazgul under the roots and then seeing Jan’s reaction. He was floored. The picture is a slightly different scene.

---

Aug 19 – Groomsmanning in Saratoga, California

One of my best friends, Luc, got married this summer and I had the honor of supporting him as a groomsman. I am proud of him and over the moon for him and his wife Harriet. Standing amongst our friends and witnessing the couple begin the rest of their lives was special and a valuable reminder to surround yourself with good people. I don’t have pictures of the ceremony, but here’s one of the bride and groom practicing their vows.

---

Aug 20 – Chasing Rainbows, Highway 154 outside of Santa Barbara, California

Mom and I saw the most impressive rainbow of our lives while driving down to LA from Santa Cruz. We had been a bit nervous about driving down towards what had been forecasted as a hurricane in southern California but the terrible weather never quite materialized yet we did discover something wonderful. I was lucky to share the experience with Mom.

---

Aug 29 – Chillin at Salt Sauna, Oslo, Norway

The world feels like a small place when you’re in Tokyo at a board game Meetup, meet 3 new people all from different countries and then 3 months later everyone is together at a sauna in Oslo. That’s what happened. Thesis and Sofie who live in Oslo, hosted Zach and me. I’ve been in saunas before but this time I finally understood the appeal. It felt similar to the lovely experience of a runner’s high. To be in a foreign place with friends from far away experiencing excellent local culture was a joy.

---

Sep 8 – Tossing Carrots in a Parking Lot, Granville, France

During my two week stay in Paris, one of my joys was reconnecting with Martin. He and I used to compete against each other at unicycle events all over 10+ years ago and we hadn’t seen each other in 9 years. He and Cecile took me away from the city for an overnight adventure. We kayaked, did pizza and wine on the beach, camped, ate a ton of pain au chocolat and explored Mont Saint Michel. All of those things were wonderful but my favorite moment was hanging out in the parking lot. We were killing time waiting for our pizza to be ready when we decided to throw carrots and catch them. It was random, it was delightful. (video). The picture is from a bit before as we enjoyed the highly-anticipated post kayak ice cream.

---

Sep 13 – Strolling the Walls of Carcassonne, France

Dad and I met in Carcassonne during a rest day on his bike tour. Ever since first playing the classic board game over 10 years ago, I’ve wanted to visit this famous French walled city. Being there in person completely lived up to the hype. Having the opportunity to do so with Dad made it even sweeter. It was a perfect day. We even ended up playing the board game in town later that afternoon!

---

Sep 18 – Basking in the Presence of Tee #1 at The Beast, Nokia, Finland

For the last few years, I’ve followed the pro disc golf scene. One of the biggest tournaments each year is The European Open which takes place at an epic disc golf course in Nokia, Finland. Giaco is also a big disc golf fan – we met playing at a tournament in Boulder. We were little kids in a disc golf candy shop at the course. We were stoked to throw and walk sacred ground after years of seeing it on video coverage.

---

Sep 24 – Cruising Through the Gulf of Finland, between Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland

Rob and Giaco joined me for some disc golf and digital nomading in Finland and Estonia. It was a blast spending time together but a top highlight was actually sitting alone on the ferry, the wind in my hair, sitting and thinking. I was both filled with gratitude and felt light as a feather, confident in knowing I was right where I was meant to be in that moment. The song “ily” was playing and inspired me to make a Spotify “Breezin” playlist.

---

The biggest constants in my life over this period have been…

1. My stuff. My carry on bag and personal item have been MVPs. My belongings have changed very little. I lost my 7 year old green fleece jacket in Redwood City, CA but was able to recover when back 3 weeks later. In Oslo, I gave away a pack of cards and in Carcassonne, gained a new one. I tossed a holey pair of socks in Paris. Big shoutout to my phone and Google Fi for simply working everywhere.
2. Vimeo work. Perhaps the most concrete constant has been that I keep my work computer clock fixed on Eastern Time. I was in 6 different timezones over the last few months and this clock was the only one that stayed still. It has been helpful for me.
3. Planning a step or two ahead. At any point, I mostly knew what the next two weeks ahead would look like. The two week to two month period was always a work in progress. Where was I going, how would I get there, who would I be seeing, where would I stay? All familiar questions. I enjoy trips and planning but am happy to not answer these questions on a daily basis anymore.

Themes & Thoughts

1. My highlights nearly always involved others. This is not surprising considering I identify as a strong extrovert. That said, as part of a maturing adult, I have been working on better appreciating alone time. I’m curious to see my future favorite moments split out alone vs with others.
2. Following through on long held goals/thoughts is immensely satisfying. Living in Japan was my childhood dream. I’m here now, living my dream. I am lucky. I will do my best in life to recognize when attaining dreams is possible and make them happen instead of being distracted or assume that this cannot happen for some ill-defined reason.
3. Joy/luck/the good stuff/etc can be found anywhere. Instead, I think the key ingredients are a positive mindset, enough preparation and good people.
4. Finding an appropriate balance of planning vs spontaneity cannot be understated. I have a natural tendency towards planning. I am proud of the progress I’ve made as an adult with recognizing this and allowing myself to plan less. Of course, this summer required a lot of planning to have these experiences line up. I don’t regret that planning. The more micro-level planning is an area where I did well to lay off. As an example, by not planning lunch with Dad in Carcassonne at some fancy restaurant, we fortuitously ended up at a board game café playing Carcassonne the board game.
5. Sometimes the best things in life take lots of effort and other times, they just happen. Standing on top of Mt. Juneau with Alex was four years in the making. It also required lots of sweat on many runs this summer. That’s quite a lot of effort for a sweet payoff. Stumbling across a fairytale rainbow driving down the highway with Mom just happened. While I generally agree with the statement “the more you put in, the more you get out”, there’s surprising goodness to be found in life. I intend to deliberately set up good things for the future while remaining open to opportunity when it comes.
6. This life didn’t feel sustainable. I could’ve kept going for a couple more months but am glad I don’t have to. It is a relief to now be in one place. Seizing the moment in new locations with special people, working full time and planning the next few steps ahead is a lot to ask anyone.
7. I learned a couple of random things. Firstly, Finnish disc golf courses are no joke. I played 4 different courses and 2 were extremely humbling (& beautiful/fun). As in shooting par would easily be 1000 rated. Secondly, saunas are wonderful. Funny fact: it’s my lower back that sweats first.

Lastly, I am grateful to have the position in life where I’m able to make these adventures happen. In the beginning of 2022, I remember thinking about friends getting married, buying houses and having kids. That wasn’t me. I knew I could react in a variety of ways. I told myself I wanted to see my glass half full and take advantage of my position in life. I’m proud of myself for doing so. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and who has been a part of my summer adventures.