Opportunity cost

After nearly a year, I can safely say that I am feeling better enough to get on with life. The last year was one of the toughest, scariest, and disheartening years as I went through the ups and downs of harsh eye drops, as often as every 45 minutes, for months at a time. There was reinfection, many doctors appointments, some moping around, and generally a lot of sleeping and eating. My vision got so bad I was counting fingers at arms length, depending on contrast with the background. There were also some problems finding Scotland's medications in the US, forcing me to switch prescriptions midway. I was fortunate enough to find a good doctor, decent heath insurance, and avoid a corneal transplant that would have added a year to my recovery time. I've been off all drops for months now, but there is still some damage that is taking time to heal. The eye has somewhat asymmetrical nature, which causes a slight double vision or “ghosting” in the one eye, while the vision returned to about 20/70 clarity. These errors are not correctable by glasses. However, both of these features are slowly improving on their own, and should get better as years go by. There is still some dryness which causes sensitivity to light, but this too should also get better over time. All together I've accepted the outcome, and am glad that it has come far enough to be functional and resume normal activities. To be superficial, I'm glad that it looks normal, and I'm not left with an eye patch or something crazy. So please, for me, be careful with your eyes, and be extra careful with contact lenses.

I did manage to keep busy over the past year. When I was ill, I was so sensitive to light I didn't go outside much. To help pass the time, I took several of Coursera's online courses, including Design, Astronomy, and most notably, seven months of the Data Science program. This occupied at least a few hours a day, and took me mentally outside everything else that was going on. That in itself was a worthwhile break. These courses also found a good home on my resume, and has been a good talking point for jobs already.

As I started feeling better I started applying to jobs, and had at least one, one-eye interview for a job I did not get. I sent resumes throughout the country, focusing on major cities, and keeping some prospects local to South Carolina as well. As a carry over, I took a part time job at a hardware store that kept me on my feet to some 12-14,000 steps per day. I now know where the bungee cords are located. I hesitated to take this job, knowing I was loosing valuable time when I should be working on other things, factor in the “opportunity cost.” So I limited my hours to around 30 a week, which did not seem to slow down my other prospects, and I had sporadic interest and several telephone interviews.

Throughout all of this, I owe many thanks to my folks who provided support through the whole ordeal. It was good to spend Christmas with them, my sister, brother in law, niece, nephew and other family and friends locally. We went on a family vacation to a water park, which is about all you can do in a South Carolina summer when its 100 deg in the shade. My folks also provided food and board, which left me with just few expenses to shoulder, such as my health insurance, storage unit, student loan et.all. I kept my spending down, buying just what I needed for school or work, and have been fairly well insulated from burning through my savings too quickly.

Now I've reached something of a juncture as I feel well enough to continue on with life, but still don't have much direction. My original plan was to look for work, and fall back to traveling again if nothing worked out. I really expected some job to come through. My original departure was marked by defiance and optimism, but now it feels more melodically with the feelings of rejection and self doubt which cloud my excitement. My difficulties fining work make me worry about the future, and force me to think hard what my next steps should be. The romantic part of of me wants to continue where I left off, get up, and ride on. The practical side of me says to settle down. Get a real job. These forces were, and are still very much are intact as I make my future plans. In the end of the day I really do want to get back on the bike. I watch the randomized picture slide show of my screen saver and realize what a rush it was, and how it all went by in a blur. No opportunities withstanding, there is low “opportunity cost” of riding more while I still can. I figure a month or two would not hurt in the long run, and I do feel rather victorious resuming, and ultimately ending the trip on my terms.

Once the decision was made, I underestimated what I needed to get going again. The past week has been full of running around looking for specific equipment, getting my affairs in order, paging through tour books, and working to get my plans, tickets, and accounts secured. I've also been riding and swimming to help get back in shape, but I know I'll have to have a cautious start when resuming my trip. I wonder how it will feel to get rolling again.

I'm almost a year behind were I was last year, and the end of the season means Iceland and Norway are not conducive to riding, leaving Scotland and Ireland as the most suitable choices. The plan is to pick up the bike right where I left off, ride Scotland and west coast of the UK, before eventually taking a ferry to Ireland, where I'll do something of a counterclockwise circumnavigation, ending in Dublin for my flight home. I was last in Ireland in 2005 with a school trip, and it will be good to get back to cover new ground independently. There is also a ton of information about cycling in Ireland, and I plan to work through this all as I go. A shorter duration, and English language should make things easier as I head into the harder seasons of some very rainy areas. I also plan on getting rid of some of my more extreme equipment as the more remote locations are dropped from my itinerary. This should help simplify and perhaps lighten up my equipment load.

That's about all for now. I am tying up loose ends and getting ready for my flights in just two days!

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