Where are you this year?
I'll be spending a few months at home in St. John's this year. I'm looking forward to spending some time with good friends. Seeing some of their children and all that. Being the crazy uncle and all. Eventually I need to get back to Mali, so I think I'll make a trip of it. I'll start in Ireland and work my way south over a few months.
What are you doing?
Well while I'm home, I'm hoping to write a few bits of Newfoundlandia. Just because I don't want to be known as a Newfoundland writer doesn't mean I don't want to write about (or for) Newfoundland. I've got a dinner theater concept, so I'll probably bang that out and give it to someone before I take off again.
In Europe I'll be writing and traveling. Meeting people and having adventures. My wife will likely want to take advantage of the travel to meet with artist friends both old and new.
Once we get back to Mali it will be a few months in the desert with the salt caravans again. I first went with the caravan two years ago, and I feel like I would like to write an ethnography on these people and their nomadic culture, but I didn't get enough material on my first time around.
Who are you with?
My wife of six years now. She's the adventurous, artistic sort. Exactly the kind of woman I need.
Are you happier than you were in 2010?
Maybe no happier, but certainly more fulfilled. A few moderate successes have pushed me out of my laziness. It always threatens to creep back in, but my kindred spirit of a wife and our whirlwind lifestyle means I always have new ideas and fresh inspiration.
What did you think about 2012?
A fantastic year. I wish I had visited Central America like I had planned, but I'm pleased that I spent those months in Nepal instead. Perhaps it's for the best: I'm not sure how much of those 2012 wackos I could have put up with anyhow.
What will you be doing in 2025?
My wife and I are beginning to discuss settling down ... or at least slowing the whirlwind. We'll be searching for a city where we can both live and work for a reasonable wage, and raise a few children. We've discussed Beijing, but it doesn't seem like the safest option, and while we might readily find work as English teachers, that's not exactly what either of us want. Berlin and Moscow have both come up as well, so who knows? Perhaps by 2025 we'll have a child or two. Who can tell?
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*sigh* I hope ...
This was a really fun exercise, I must say. I am quite aware that my dreams are nigh unattainable, but some days I feel better about them than others.
