quoted:
===

I used to have a real job. My idea of a vacation was to spend two to six weeks under demanding physical and mental conditions to relax from my office job. When I returned I was refreshed, invigorated, educated and thankful to be back home. I now realize that I needed this high level of intensity to make me pay attention. I was completing my "education," albeit under bizarre circumstances, but nonetheless I would return with a smattering of a new language, an understanding of another byzantine political problem and a list of new friends who might range from farmers to nomads to warlords. As I continued to drop in and out of these places my friends and associates would suggest that I should put down the stories and tips on paper, so I began writing articles about my trips.