[travel] Last day

I'm currently deep in some part of an Illinois state forest with the Technomads, but there's just enough of a signal on our hilltop campsite to get on the cell network. I can catch up on all your lives briefly and then go for a walk by the lake before it gets too hot and muggy. Last night there were lightning bugs as well as lots of actual lightning and lots of other bugs.

I'm impressed that cats can be trained to walk on a leash and be comfortable spending hours wandering inside a moving car.

This is my last full day before I return home.

[travel] Live the incompressible life

I went on a walk this morning and found I could run through my entire trip (all 4 1/2 months of it), day by day, recalling the major highlights of what I did every day. I can say with confidence that I would not have had that ability nine months ago. Even though my job was interesting, Monday through Friday often slurred together into a big mush. I could probably have remembered the last couple of months of weekends, but that would be it. Routines make my top level of consciousness sleepy.

I've found that in general the human mind will compress experiences that are repetitive so as to store them in less space. Experiences that are not repetitive cannot be compressed as much. I value the presence of variety in my life, so I think it's a reasonable goal to live my life such that I can recall what I've done every day for the last couple of months.