I’d like to say the fast-paced, new-year-new-me life renovations have been what has kept me from posting anything since the ice age, but to be honest I don’t really know why. I suppose it’s a little mix of laziness, some distraction, combined with finishing off some American novels that are so beautifully written that anything I write makes me wish I was dyslexic so at least I’d have an excuse for being so bad, and a hint of American life just being a whole lot less interesting that Haitian life. Thank god that run-on sentence is over.

Some exciting developments have taken place, however, and the world ought to know. My friends call me impulsive and my parents think I’m irrational, but I’d prefer to use the words “fast-thinking eccentric”. Within a couple of weeks, I sold the beautiful teardrop trailer I built so I could buy a new motorcycle (new only to me, it’s nearly twice my age), sold the Outback, which was at once my first car and first love, and to top it off I bought a big van that I stripped down and converted into a camper.

Once I got the idea of having a van that I could travel, camp, and store my motorcycle in, I couldn’t get it out of my head. It was a challenging project combining vehicle, woodworking, and camping. I wasn’t able to sleep and I knew that if I didn’t do it I would regret it. I wanted a project, I wanted a van. I didn’t need any of this stuff, but even if I fail at all of it, my life won’t be over, so why the heck not?

I’m going to throw some pictures in and let this be the first post of 2017, but one last thing. A lot of people said the van is a bad idea. I’m not trying to explain myself or tell you why I do the things I do. I mean, why do any of us do the things we do? I’ve never in my life quoted Tim McGraw, and I’m not sure how I feel about it now, but for a little bit I think it’s important to live like you were dying, because we kind of are. When you think of it that way, a car is just a car, money is just paper, and a motorcycle is still freakin awesome.

Happy late new year.

Song of the day: Neighbor Song // Aunt Martha