Right before leaving Hanoi, I said that I’d be back to resume my trip in a month.
That didn’t exactly end up happening.
Three months and four ticket-changes later I’m still here in LA. My dad’s recovery has been slow and arduous, taking considerably longer than expected. Each time my departure date approached it just didn’t seem right to leave, so I delayed again and again and again.
Thank God my business class ticket allowed no-fee changes.
(If you’re curious: by the time he finally saw his surgeon the Monday after we got home, his foot was infected. He had to be hospitalized for a week on IV antibiotics, meaning that recovery didn’t even start until 14 days after the accident. Can you imagine tolerating a shattered ankle for so long? Then, two metal plates, eight screws, and dozens of staples later the end was still not in sight – even ten weeks after surgery the wound was still refusing to close. This meant daily cleanings, countless rounds of antibiotics to prevent a potentially disastrous infection, appointments with plastic surgeons and wound specialists and all kinds of fun little endeavors. There’s more, but I’ll spare you all the gory details. Let’s just say that I’m damn glad I was able to come home to help him.)
Anyway, so what did I do during my three months in America – other than care for my dad? Well, while it’s hard to “look on the bright side” of such a horrible situation, the (very unexpected) break from travel did give me a chance to catch up on a ton of queued up projects.
I did loads of programming. I sorted through thousands of photos from the trip. I wrote nearly fifty backlogged posts (corresponding to Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand). I finally saw a specialist for the cough that (believe it or not) still hasn’t completely gone away. And I exercised furiously to recoup lost strength from a half-year in Asia (more than 15lbs of body mass!).
But most noteworthy of all, I wrapped up a slew of DIY home improvement projects – many aimed at refining the “digital nomad resources” I use remotely while overseas. These are described in the captions of the images 🙂
So while I may’ve forfeited my 2555 tax exemption by staying in the states for so long (damnit!), all told it was an extremely productive few months.
…Which is a very good thing, because a brand new adventure is right about to begin – and it’s not a return to SE Asia. That ship has sailed, at least for this year.
No, now that Summer has arrived…I’ll be flying the other direction 😉
Note: These posts are behind realtime; the above was written in July of this year.
Fred is one tough guy. You should be proud.
Awesome wiring 🙂
Wow. Dad is tough as nails! Amazing organization. You are skilled with planning dude, it’s inspiring.
that is a lot of tech stuff!!!! You must feel better having it all done 🙂
@Peder/Allyn: He really is…even the doctor said he’s got an abnormally high threshold for pain. His response: “Of course it hurts, but whining about it won’t change anything!” 😛
@Allyn: Haha thanks – some call it obsessive, but I call it necessary 😉
@Andy: Absolutely, it feels great to cross so many items off the list (even if it is already twice as long as it was again, haha)
holy cow you did a lot at home. i like the whole “they didn’t make it with ______, so i built it myself” mentality. 🙂 nifty!
Haha yeah…DIY can be fun, and a whole lot more gratifying than just running down to the store and picking up something pre-made! 😉