Interview Me! I'll Reciprocate.

This is stolen from Cleverfox through Rednecked Rabbit (my sis).

01. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."

02. I respond by asking you five questions of a very intimate and creepily personal nature. Or not so creepy/personal.

03. You WILL update your LJ with the answers to the questions.

04. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.

05. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.I will alter this and say you may instead ask me 5 questions yourself if you don't wish to be interviewed. In this case, just post your questions in the comments. I will answer them here.

Questions for Clayton from Rednecked Rabbit:

1. We come from a family of homebodies. What do you think made you want to pick up and vagabond around the world?

Um, I've thought about this a lot and it seems to have started with the volumes of National Geographics, Equinox, and other magazines of the type that were available to us in our childhood both in our own home as well as at Grandma's. I've always been struck by the differences around the world in all the spheres of natural geography and human culture. Books like Amazing Place and Forgotten Realms served to enhance this interest.

Secondly, I think that the freedom of my childhood and adolescence gave me a real independence that I've been eager to test in various ways. Travel seems like a natural extension of that.

Also, I've found that through the literature I've absorbed and any kind of philosophizing I've done on my own it has become apparent to me that it is of the utmost importance for a person to follow their own path in life, whatever it is, and not to diverge from that path in an attempt to capitulate to the desires of others. I wanted to go, so I did. Not that anyone tried to stop me from going but I could have easily stopped myself if I had been more concerned with the effect my absence might have on others. If that makes sense? Maybe it sounds selfish. I don't know.

Finally, I think that with my sense of independence comes an ability to carry 'home' within myself. I'm at home here even if it's a different home than I've had before. I was at home in New Zealand, in B.C., and on the buses around Kyoto. It's just where I am. Of course, it helps that I come from a family made up primarily of, as you say, homebodies. This gives me a sense of security in that I know I can return to find things unchanged in a majority of ways. Fred and Judy will live down the road from Uncle Pat and Laurie and, in turn, they will remain just a short drive from Mom and Dad, at least for some time to come. Schuman Lake will always be there and so will Holmes Crossing, Moose Wallow as well as a plethora of other well remembered places.

Also, I'd like to point out that I am not currently vagabonding. I live in an apartment and have a job. I pay bills and have daily access to a full wardrobe. I won't be vagabonding till I pay off my student loans.

2. What's your favourite childhood memory?

I was hoping that you would not return this question to me. But, since you did...

I think the hours and days spent wandering around in the creek bottom at Grandma's house and along the creek at home and just the general freedom to explore that we had as kids (thanks to our wonderful parents). Building rafts out of palettes and Styrofoam to float in the dugout. Snowshoeing over to Mack's to sled. Riding our bikes for kilometers every summer. Days at Schuman. Fishing for pike with Pat and Grandma. All of that stuff. Oh, and lately I have been thinking a lot about the Sundays spent with Fred and Judy and how important those were to the person I became... I have images of paper finger-puppet apostles that I love. I don't know how old I was.

I really couldn't have asked for anything more. Love and freedom.

3. What's the best thing you've done in Korea so far? What do you want to do most now?

I have met people here that are amazing and done some amazing (and shocking) things with them. It's hard to single any one thing out. Maybe just say the hikes I've done? I really don't know. Probably just the people I've met and the time I've spent getting to know them.

What I want to do is get out from under my student loans and then go travel. I want to do Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam next, maybe Laos and India. Then, if I'm not feeling too old I want to go teach and travel for a bit in South America. Maybe then do some more in Eastern Europe and do the trans-Siberian. That's what's in my head right now but things could change. I'll want to come home for a few stretches too. Teach high school English for a few years and maybe try and publish something. Plans change though. Maybe I'll just come home, get married and start breeding. Doubt it though. Not for a while.

4. Who's your favourite author and why?

I have to say that Leonard Cohen is still my favorite writer. Honestly, I've read both of his novels and I didn't find them to be anything spectacular. In fact, they were kind of run-of-the-mill and I won't read them again. His poetry, however, really changed the way that I thought about poetics and honest writing. He has a nakedness to his work that is so touching. There isn't that grandiose posturing that so many authors try to pass off as honesty or the use of obscure allusions or twisted metaphors that plague a lot of poems and act only to put them and the entire form out of the reach of the 'escapist' reader.

Also, I admire his distillation of emotion. Each poem (at least generally) that he writes conveys a single emotion that is identifiable to the reader. He doesn't vacillate or confuse. It's just there on the page in simplicity. I like that.

5. What would you like me to send you in your next care package?

Uhm, Speed stick deodorant, (sing it with me) "by Men-nen". In Glacier, Ocean Surf or Aqua Sport. That would be fanta-'stic'. He he. I'm lame. But seriously, it's coming on summer and I'm down to my last two. Korean deodorant is not up to my discerning standards.

Other than that I honestly can't think of anything that I am missing unless you can devise a way to ship a hug.

Or cash. Cash is always good. Nothing smaller than a twenty. You've gotta watch the weight on the package.