I don’t even know where to begin because my whole story is kind of complicated…but I guess you can say it all started with my motorcycle accident.

I had a blue 2005 Ninja 500r, and her name was Darla.  I had her for about a year and a half, and rode her recreationally and to and from work.  I was riding her home from my new job for the first time on March 18th when a lady made a left hand turn in front of me, violating my right of way.  I t-boned her near the end of her car and flew over it, landing on the ground.  I broke some bone in my wrist near my joint, I don’t even know the name of it, and I had to get pins and screws inside my left wrist.  Apart from that, I had bruises and scrapes and I couldn’t walk normally on my left leg for a few weeks, but it could have and probably should have been way worse.

Darla was totaled </3

I also had a boyfriend that I was dating for almost a year.  It was serious (at least to me) and we were planning on moving in together when my lease was up in August, especially since I couldn’t afford living on my own with my crap hourly pay job.

I also was planning to start applying for my career, giving myself until May to get ready for the rigorous physical abilities test and to get all the needed documents together.

These three things all tie together because if even just one of these things hadn’t occurred, I would not have this opportunity that I am facing now.

• If I hadn’t had my accident, I would have applied in May and (hopefully) been on my way to starting my career at the ripe age of 22 (my surgery didn’t allow for me to be able to do push-ups for 3 months)
• If I hadn’t gone through the most terrible break-up of my life, the fear of losing our relationship would have held me back from an adventure in another country. After we broke up, I just wanted to run away from my life.
• As I was recovering from this time in my life, I put pursuing my career on hold while I scrambled to put my life back together and find a place to live since everyone I knew had signed a lease already

So through this break-up, I met a friend named Samantha, that I never would have met if I hadn’t dated ex-boyfriend, who ended up letting me live with her to avoid letting me live out of my car.  Consequently, the fact that I wasn’t locked into a lease also helped me make my decision to leave.  During the last days in my apartment, I made myself a bubble bath, had a glass of wine, and watched 13 Going On 30.  In the middle of this, I realized I needed something big and different to happen to me so I could find that naive peace within me again.

I contemplated moving to NY, but I realized that I would fall into a rut there like I had here. Then I considered working on a cruise line.  Then, while on the phone with Samantha, I realized I needed to just take a trip.  See some part of the world I had never laid eyes on before.

It took me roughly 10 full hours of having this thought in my head before I started telling everyone I was going to go backpacking in Southeast Asia.  See, I had quit smoking a year before, and the way that I did it was I told everyone immediately that I quit.  My pride was so big that I couldn’t bear to let anyone see me fail, so I made sure everyone knew I quit so I would fear their response if they saw me go back on my word.

So it took me about a month before I gathered up the courage to buy my ticket to Bangkok, but as of today it is official…I leave November 1st,  no turning back!

…now please excuse me while I go throw up from sheer terror.