A Brief Summary of My Adventures in 2014

It's a little early for a recap of the year, seeing as it's only early November, but after being on a ship for four days and only getting back a couple days ago I figure it's as good a time as any to talk about the adventures I had this year.

When the year started I made a resolution to myself that I had no intention of really keeping. I felt my weekends were being wasted sitting around and thinking about how boring life was, mostly because I couldn't find the wherewithal within myself to get off my ass and do much more than eat McDonald's and feel sorry for myself most of last year. I told myself I'd do my best to have some sort of adventure as many weekends as I possibly could in 2014, because spending so many days staring at the mountains while at work and never taking a day to explore them should be a sin. The ball got rolling from then on.

Hiking around Panamint Springs

Within the first month and a half of the year I went hiking around places in the Alabama Hills I'd never explored before, camped in Death Valley (well, Panamint Springs, pretty much the same damn thing) and hiked to Darwin Falls for the first time, and took a few trips to the Antelope Valley in a Jeep Cherokee that would end up bursting a fuel line and eventually completely dying. Old Red biting the bullet meant going on an adventure in the world of grown-up stuff, like loans and financing and spending large sums of money, which is how I ended up with my Nissan Versa. My dad had told me having a reliable car would open up a lot more options of places to go, and I figured I wouldn't go much further than Lancaster or Mammoth, maybe Bakersfield or whatever. But then summertime came.

During the spring and summer, between hiking around the Sierras and taking up running again and participating in my first race in about 15 years, I went to Crowley Lake for Independence Day fireworks, then down to San Diego for a friends birthday and Ventura to show off my pasty white torso on the beach. To see the Pacific Ocean twice within the span of a few weeks after not seeing the ocean for a few years was mind-blowing, and to do things I don't normally do, like go out of town for the 4th of July or getting gussied up for a night on the town (or being shirtless in public like I was in Ventura) was a fantastic way to escape my comfort zone. After summer came to a close and things started getting more serious with my significant other (also a wonderful venture out of my comfort zone) the fun stuff kept coming.

I participated in The Color Run in Ventura last month, and it being the first time I'd ever been a part of a race with that many people. Like, hundreds of people flooded the streets with a colorful cloud of dust hanging overhead. Working off of no sleep, hours of sitting in a car, and a little coffee sent me off to run a few miles while getting hit with colored chalk. By the end of it I was a rainbow mess of sweat, exhaustion, and happiness. Washing up after the fact was a sight to behold: rinsing out my hair looked like liquid Smurf, and I was blowing Technicolor crap out of my nose for a couple days.

Then, of course, came last weekend.

Leaving Los Angeles

We left the Port of Los Angeles Thursday morning. During that time my girlfriend and I went brewery hopping in Santa Barbara, enjoyed three course meals every night, had in-room caviar, got an exclusive tour of the bridge, received a full body massage, and experienced the sights and sounds of Ensanada (though, we only really ate Mexican food after getting back from Mexico, go figure). We got back to LA on Monday, took a hard nap after waking up early, then I drove back home to be at work the next day.

Compared to last year, my mood's improved, I have more energy, and I'm in a lot better shape, not necessarily because I'm travelling all over the place but because I'm actually doing stuff, and doing stuff fairly regularly. Being lazy is awesome, and I'm a fan of laying around the house with a liter of Mountain Dew, a bag of Doritos, half a dozen Hot Pockets, and a lame horror movie, but actually keeping my body and brain stimulated and doing something with my free time has done me a lot of good. Life's too short to complain about having nothing to do, and I intend to keep doing stuff for the rest of this year and for as long as I can afterward

Long story short, this year has been rad. I look forward to more adventures.