ARRvol34 master reduced - Flipbook - Page 29
myself. I think I’ll join a gym there. I put myself in another place
mentally, and lamented how slow my body was to catch up. I was
continually off balance.
I would love to say that I had this realization when I was in Vietnam. That I stopped myself from throwing my weight back in the
opposite direction and found a way to balance myself; to stop the
wobble. Apart from that ending being far more satisfying in the confines of narrative structure, I hate having to accept that I’m the guy
who’ll drunkenly crash a motorcycle and still not realize he’s got to
make some changes.
What really happened was I went home. I got a job bartending
in my hometown and kept daydreaming about getting my real life
started. A few years and a few failed schemes later , the recurring
pattern in my unhappiness finally dawned on me. When I think of
that pattern, and see myself as the common denominator in every cycle, my stomach drops. My mind immediately goes back to
Vietnam and I’m in the wobble all over again. Drunkenly crashing a
motorcycle in Vietnam wasn’t a turning point in my life, but it will
always be the standout moment that should have been.
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