Retired after a spotty career in graphic arts, journalism, gov't PR and construction labor. By American standards I'm ascetic, reclusive and heretical. Heretical because I never believed in Consumerism or institutional religion. Those things were threshed out by the '50s, by previous voices in the wilderness.

I read a lot, mainly history, natural sciences and nonfiction, and increasingly-rare hard si-fi. Didn't used to, but had a Reality collision around age 19: not equipped to earn a living, and sick of school. The alternative, back then, was the Vietnam draft. Wow! No future! How'd THAT happen? Scared me out of blissful ignorance and made me a history student for life.

Hope one day to flee the city for a small town, maybe in the hills. Did that before, and it worked just fine. Might have stayed, but wanted to learn artwork that wasn[t available there. That's done now, and I still miss the scenery and un-crowded life, like the boy in the Bluegrass ballads. Meanwhile, everything here worth having is in bike distance, libraries are good, and there's public radio, and life is not difficult, thank Providence

Go exploring someplace that's historic or naturally spectacular