Walk in the Woods

Nik Curfman 1/13/23 Nik Curfman 1/13/23

Vol III: #53 Scraping Travel Plans

I woke up last week with a peaceful notion in my head and a bit of disappointment in my heart. “I’ve got to cancel my travel plans for 2023. All of them.” The thought is peaceful because my brain is now freed from the task of planning and financing my trips. And though my heart wanted to visit new places and hug old friends, I know the wise thing is to sit home for the year. Stillness has its benefits.

On the other hand, and as much as I appreciate Redding, the idea of a ‘still’ season is unappealing. The summers in particular are hot and empty. The city empties of people and life grinds to a halt under the relentless sunshine. Most locals spend the season indoors or on a lake and all the college students return home. And anyone with an extra dollar will vacation on the coast or LA. Fortunately, spring and fall are lovely which means my task will be to find a way through the that long summer stretch that lasting from June til early September. I

’ll have to a have a plan, suppose I’ll get out to hike more and maybe camp for a night or two. I’d rather be outside as it is. My scraped plans are a disappointment, but it opens new doors to explore more of the California mountains, forests, and beaches. Not a bad concession if you ask me. Not bad at all.

Nik Curfman 6/30/22 Nik Curfman 6/30/22

Vol II: #88 Focus Pinky

Every second I spend arguing with fake liberal attackers is a second I could be doing something productive. And, I have plenty to do. So, instead of debating strangers on the internet, I’m going to write and draw and watch an instructional video on perspective drawing.

I quit social media in large part because of the endless parade of political garbage. More accurately, I quit because I wanted to fight everyone who used made up facts and spread misinformation. The last two weeks are a good reminder: I best lay off the socials. While I spent most of the last six years bewildered by my fellow conservatives loyalty to an immoral jackass and bully, the liberal meltdown over the Supreme Courts recent decisions’ - abortion, freedom of religion, guns, etc - pushed me to edge earlier today. They use words like theocracy and Entho-Christian state. And, they seem to have very little self-awareness over the matter. After all, this is the same group of people who want to limit free speech, brain wash children with gender theory, and abort nearly full-term babies.

The extreme right and left of the United States appear to want to push their views on the rest of us, and I’m not about that life. Even still, I don’t want to get hung up in the debate. Every second I spend arguing with fake liberal attackers is a second I could be doing something productive. And, I have plenty to do. So, instead of debating strangers on the internet, I’m going to write and draw and watch an instructional video on perspective drawing. Like the man said:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Philippians 4:8 NASB

*For the unfamiliar, the phrase “Focus Pinky” comes from a cartoon called Pinky and the Brain. Pinky and the Brain are lab rats who are on a mission to break out of the lab and “take over the world.” Brain is obsessed with their mission and Pinky is his lovable but moronic sidekick. Whenever Pinky’s mind drifts from their goal Brain famously says “focus Pinky, focus.”