A tiny and generic thanks-blurb on one page at the start of my book just wouldn’t cut it, so here is a much bigger thank-you letter to many of my friends all at once:
FELLOW WARRIORS; THE GUARDIANS; THE PROTECTORS
Scott Fitzgerald, like all the greatest figures throughout history, you have overcome staggering challenges, endured total isolation and restarts from square one, yet still resumed your godlike pursuits and stamina in stride. You are a true Renaissance Man, and I have every confidence you will set foot on other worlds –and that will still only be the beginning for you.
Jon Nicolas, thank you for being such an awesome and inspiring upperclassmen, especially during the big changes that our squadron was undergoing during my first year at that campus. I meant what I said when I took the time to speak with you about what I had heard and respected about our squadron’s recent past. It came as no surprise to me that you went on to continue being a total hoss operator right after that university time; being a U.S. Air Force para-rescue jumper (PJ) ranks right up there with most elite of any organization on the planet, as you know better than most. It is an honor to have been in your squadron, and to still be counted as your friend. If you have time, and are at liberty, I would love to hear your thoughts on what did and did not work well in your PJ unit.
Jake Zook, thank you for being such a devoted 0331 during my first deployment. I still remember some of your jokes with Blackwin over the PRRs. It is good to see you and yours doing well, and that you are enjoying several of the same Facebook pages I do, such as the one with all those world-class photographs of the Earth.
Pierre Blackwin, thank you for being such a focused and demanding squadmate and superior enlistedman, as well as one of the most impressive machinegunners right alongside Devin Jackson, as well as for having such a cool and meaningful call-sign; ‘Rusty Hatchet’, and for jumping out of the turret and into the fray of that palm grove those many nights ago. I always smile at the memory of you engaging our enemies with total composure and precision, then leaping from our vehicle’s turret when they got danger-close to us, drawing your pistol, and continuing to stand tall and slay bodies as if it came as easily to you as breathing does for everyone else. It was great to reconnect with you years after we parted ways, and I am glad to see you had returned home to enjoy the life you more than earned for yourself and so many others. Thank you also for being my window into Jamaica. I remember you mentioning a few words in the language of that land, and I have hoped to learn more ever since.
Sebastian Velasquez, thank you for being my window into Chile. Of course, thank you even more for being such a great fellow Marine. You always had a very approachable, professional air about you, and that really made the difference during so many days on active duty when a significant percentage of other characters preferred the alternative. I hope as I ramp back up in preparation for my return to South America, that you will help me plan out everything I should do as I drive from the northern to southern ends of Chile, and that you can put me in contact with people there whom I should meet. I would like to help out in some way, such as with rebuilding a house or two in their most earthquake-affected city. Let me know what you think would help the people there the most. I don’t just want to pass through.
Jonas Rides-at-the-door, thank you for introducing me to the Blackfoot Nation, as well as to more information about western Montana. Thank you also for being my window back into D.C. during your trip there. It was nice to see you doing so well and traveling so far, and, of course, to see our former Sergeant Major turned Commandant. I look forward to whenever you may have time to teach me some of the Blackfoot language and ways. This Spring will be my first pow-wow, by the way. I will let you know how it goes. I’m really looking forward to it! I will be using what I learn in this upcoming event for adding a new neighborhood to the city I’ve been designing.
Julian Colebank, thank you for blessing my time in Iraq and back in CONUS with a fellow artist, reader, and visionary. I am getting back to the materials you recommended, so thank you also for your patience as I finish catching up with literally everything this year. I am also still working, little by little, each day and night, on that comedy-based magazine we dreamed up and prepared a few comic strips for. There are more than 90 issues nearing completion now, so it will be an ongoing production for many seasons once I am finally ready to publish and mass-print/distribute it. There is a large facility in the current Inisfree city design which is reserved just for this purpose.
Brett Schaal, thank you for being the best vehicle commander I could have ever asked for. Our Humvee was practically a vacation getaway, what with the great energy and dialogue in it you helped maintain. Like the wise Richard Marcinko advised, you, as our leader during that time, absorbed the flak for us so that we could continue doing our jobs without it as added distraction. That didn’t make us complacent at all; rather, it re-motivated, re-sharpened, and refocused me, giving me more and more reason to go on while I was still employed in the service to our country.
Joseph Storer, thank you for being my window into Tobago, as well as the B.P.. Thank you also for overlooking my youthful restlessness regarding the equivalents of situations such as in that cool video games you introduced me to; Fallout, and First Encounter Assault Recon (F.E.A.R.). You were always great company, impressively understanding and self-controlled, and generous in how you shared your good sense of humor.
Marc Rialon, thank you for being one the most upstanding and exemplary Marines I have ever known. I still remember meeting you at that FOB in downtown Fallujah back in ’06, and how impressed I was that you were not only on active duty in a victor unit in what was probably the most damning and taxing war-zone on the planet at that time, but that you were simultaneously launching your own PMC business venture, which I am very happy to see you have succeeded in maintaining these several years since our first encounter there. You have been one of my most trusted windows into Dubai and many other realms, and my hat is off to you, sir.
Craig Bowden, thank you for being such a helpful and informative friend and fellow Marine. I would not have seen the awesome countryside of Utah if it hadn’t been for your charity and brotherhood. Having you ground-guide me through the dark night into your mountain-backed residence had me laughing and smiling for days; I was finally back in the company of those who operated and jested as I’ve.
Todd Leahey, thank you for being such an awesome Sergeant of mine during my second deployment. Riding in the turret with the hot Arabian wind in my face, a heavy machinegun at my fingertips, and you taking the wheel and accelerating our armored doom buggy to approximately ‘Mach-oh-shit’, and practicing CQB/CQC with your squad in that captured Iraqi military base was truly motivating and among the best Corps experiences I have continued to prize to this very day and moment.
John Singer IV, thank you for being such a great Doc (which might place you in the Healers section of this thank-you letter, but you were with the Marines on the front lines, so there you go), especially in the environment in which we first met. It is a place like that in which a Doc of your calibre is one of the greatest stress relievers, reassurances, and insurance policies one can ever hope for. I’m glad to see you online and doing well these several years later. The same goes to you, Docs: Matthew Campbell and Nacoma Hayden. Your skillsets and bravery kept the rest of us in the fight, got so many of us back home in spite of everything, and patched people up who that might surely have been impossible for had they been in anyone else’s hands. You guys were our guardian angels.
Mark Geletko, thank you for being the best 1stSgt I could have ever hoped for. Even before I realized you were assigned as our new 1stSgt, you were already walking up to my group of Marines and addressing us by our names. It is awesome to see how many people you helped train in the Marine Corps and as a boxer. They were all fortunate to know you.
Raymond Knight, thank you for your heartfelt words of encouragement, your loyalty as a brother-in-arms, your helpful and daring additions to my cache, and for inviting me to your gatherings, drinking sessions, and family outings. Thank you for welcoming me into your on-base housing home, and for being a good sport about the unauthorized festivities of myself and the best of the other combat instructors. Thank you also for telling me about your studies and work to enter the world of underwater welding, and for making me feel like a VIP when I stopped by your part of Texas to see you beat the hell out of the opposing football team. (I think that was the first time I actually enjoyed myself at a sporting event like that!) I’m not sure if I really was, as you said, “the greatest Marine I’ve ever known”, but I am always working toward living up to that lofty status. Perhaps when I have that military of my own; the one I’ve been designing for years ever since our time in the Corps, I will be.
Jay Knight, thank you for being such a great teammate during my second deployment. Even though we were in different squads, the way you conducted yourself always improved the days and missions of the Marines around you, and all the studying and charity work you have begun since our Corps days has only furthered that innate quality of yours. When you ride across the continent, be sure to ‘raise me on the Blue Force Tracker’ so I can link up with you ‘on the hard ball’ for a high-five and war-whoop so powerful they may very well generate a shock wave and minor structural damage to whichever town you are cycling through at the time.
William Fuller, thank you for trusting and honoring me with those visits to your workshop and forge, not to mention to your drills out amidst that fun collection of berms. It is always great to catch up and cool off like that, and I hope the second wind of your business is vastly more enjoyable and lucrative even than its first. The families and communities you help by sharing your growing knowledge, couture gear, and watchful presence with are astronomically bettered for it.
Larry Adams, thank you for being one of the most exemplary officers I have ever encountered. I still remember the day I mistook you at Barracks 1465 for a fellow enlistedman; you were so approachable and dressed-down, and I had you figured for someone returning to base from a skater park. Most officers I was meeting at that time had a polar opposite air about them, and it was impressive to find the reverse. I never for one moment sensed any bravado with you; you were always professional and down-to-earth.
Keith Branch, thank you for being such a caring and inspiring long-distance brother-in-arms. The way you frequently check on our fellow Marines reminds me of my Guide time back in MCRDSD and Up North, and it is fantastic to meet yet another hard-charger who has that same compassionate, vigilante drive in his heart. May it serve us as masterfully in peace as it once did in war.
Trevor Tilseth and Lauren Tilseth, thank you for introducing me to Wisconsin and the cheeses it is so warrantedly famous for. Digging snow caves and testing out extreme cold weather gear in them, and speeding across frozen lakes in a pick-up truck bouncing on the ice was truly thrilling. I hope that new Jeep you got is serving you well, and that you have found more MMORPGs as awesome as WoW proved to be (the screenshots of which I collected by the hundreds, and have already started using in the design of my city-to-be). I still have that loaner backpack, by the way! I haven’t forgotten.
David Hitt, thank you for being my best friend during our time as combat instructors out in the Mojave Desert so close to Death Valley. Thank you for introducing me to hunting, barefoot fishing, bonfire hangouts, remote cabin parties, and everything else. Thank you for being the glue that bound our ‘reinforced fireteam’ of friends up near Canada, and for making so many introductions happen between me and all the others of that snowy mountain realm of yours. I hope you have put the items I left with you to fun use, and that they will serve you well for all of your days.
Jared Phillips, thank you for being such an exemplary and family-oriented sailor and soldier. Blazing Saddles and Conan movies in that storybook cabin hangout were idyllic and unprecedented reliefs. Thank you also for teaching me about motorcycle maintenance and driving techniques, and for ten thousand other things ever since I have started exploring your home-state. You were the father-figure of our group, and it was great to run the Spartan races with you.
EXPEDITION ASSISTANTS; FRIENDS FROM ALL THE REALMS
Abiud Pizarro, thank you for being the most amazing artist I have ever had the great and rare privilege of both meeting and befriending. The contributions you have made to my city-building project are so numerous and profound that it would take 50 lifetimes just to list and elaborate upon them all. I’ve every confidence you will grow into a realm all your own one day, and I will surely honor you at the pioneering art academy you inspired in my own. Enjoy your ongoing training evolutions as you become that Tiberius character you envisioned not long ago.
Puujee Purevsuren, thank you for being my window into modern Mongolia, which I can’t wait to adventure to and through –and with you as my great tour guide, no less. You are so thoughtful in all you do, especially in recently checking on your friend on the other side of the planet through me.
Ariana Beech, thank you for being my window into Australia, as well as such a beautiful new friend. The farmland region of my city-to-be would not have functioned anywhere near as well if it hadn’t been for that article you linked me to. Thank you so much for that and so many other helpful articles and videos you have posted since we first met. I look forward to stargazing with you both here in these snowy, ‘misty mountains cold’, and, of course, on the beaches of your homeland, sunny ‘Oz’. I won’t forget you “take it on both, thanks” –and as you type it: “loool”.
Katarina Myrsveen, thank you for being my window into Norway and other realms. I hope to share stories and Aurora Borealis watching with you someday soon –and in the Scandinavian language of your choosing! Once I am en route to Iceland and Scandinavia, I will definitely be checking in with you to see if we can rendezvous and smash ceramic mugs on the floor once we have enjoyed their drinks.
Joshua Bowden, thank you for giving me glimpses into the great musical creations of a fellow rock-and-roller and drums enthusiast, and in advance for your assistance once you get to see what I will be building somewhere afar one day. I think you’ll really enjoy the Deepest South (‘Deep South’ was already taken, so Antarctica will have to have a stronger modifier attached to its moniker.).
Lyailya Kenbayeva, thank you for being my window into Kazakhstan and South Korea, as well as for helping me to practice the very beginnings of my Kazakh. You must surely be a Kazakh princess with what a prepossessing, kind, intelligent, regal debutante you have shown yourself to be.
Michael G., thank you for being my first window into Nepal. The photos and stories you posted about your trip there have really skyrocketed my desire to travel there, as well, and to see how I may be of service to the Nepali. I hope we will have time later on to talk more about your experiences there before I set off for that land.
Amelia G, thank you for gracing me with your presence in Montana, and for giving me a glimpse into the modern times of several of the states which I have yet to return to in nearly a decade. May all of your pursuits, which I can see are remarkably tenderhearted, come to fruition.
Allen Patrick, thank you for being my window into both Malaysia and Sikkim. Already, I have been enjoying dialogues with some of the connections you have helped me to make. I hope your new job is going well, and that I can learn more from you in the years to come.
Jaun Don Tshering, thank you for being my window in Bhutan, and for demonstrating such scholarly and knightly, selfless qualities as you represent your impressive nation there. I look forward to whenever I will at last be able to travel and study there, and I am sure I will devote at least a few consecutive years to that chapter of my life.
Hayden Wilson, thank you for making so many days jam-packed with kickass tunes, all of which I have started organizing into playlists for the many attractions of the city I’ve been designing all these years. If you aren’t already doing some DJ work, I hope you soon will; your tastes in music, along with your personality, will brighten huge gatherings of people, easily overcoming all barriers.
Dennis Bowden, thank you for welcoming me into your home for the holidays, and for allowing me to sit in on so many jam sessions even though I’ve still only scratched the surface of my future with music and playing so many instruments. You are so incredibly talented, approachable, and supportive, and fathers the world over would do well to learn from your example.
Brian Jimerson, I have only caught online glimpses of your growing success as the next shooting star in the investment world, but the little I have thus far gleaned from them is already extremely inspiring. I hope you enjoyed your trip ‘across the pond’ and all London has to offer, and congratulations to you for your impressive work in Thailand. I was almost able to catch up with you in person there. Next time!
Meeka DeBevoise, thank you for being such an outgoing, fellow athlete, and for increasing my awareness about events like the Spartan obstacle course races. Maybe I will see you at one of these awesome events in the near future. With the vibes you fellow outdoorsman racers give off, I will surely be participating in such events for all my days.
Eden Halil, thank you for connecting with me beyond our creative writing arenas, and for trusting me with becoming a part of your ‘IRL’. I hope your health is becoming perfect, and that we will in the seasons to come finally have the opportunity and vision to plot-arc and ‘thread’ our characters together.
Monika Bradica, thank you for being my window into Croatia, and for helping me to begin speaking Croatian. It is nice to see those happy photos of your family, and I hope to give you all a high-five whenever I reach your nation and begin to experience all it is in person. Hopefully I will have a good enough command of Croatian by that time that I will be able to converse in it.
Jameson Lewallen, thank you for the invitation to your ski party in SoCal, and for sharing with me some of that ‘aloha culture’ you started telling me about. I didn’t know if I wanted to check out Hawaii until then, but now I want to go and experience that culture for sure. I hope you will share with me more of your Hawaii experiences soon.
Brandon Strong, thank you for linking back up with me as I once again passed through the Lone Star State on my way to the next expedition. It was great to see you back out, raising a family of your own, and preparing to relocate to yet another state, just as I often have. I certainly wasn’t expecting to be able to celebrate that holiday, let alone share it with a reunion of some of my oldest and best friends.
Charleene Rena, thank you for being my window into so many exciting cities around the world. You are a most impressive entertainer and athlete-tier dancer, and opening your circles to me here on ‘the Bookface’ has meant a lot. I am very glad to have found you after seeing that first music video I wrote you a letter about, and to see your career still going so well.
Sabaun Khan Suratzada, thank you for being my window into Pakistan. I hope I will be able to greet you when my travels take me there, and that you will have some time to teach me more of your language and customs. I am honored to have been one of the first people from my side of our planet to welcome you as a new friend, and I’m sure you will have many more friends from over here; “All things in perfect time,” as the saying goes.
Phurbu Tibet Wangyal, thank you for being my window into Tibet, Nepal, and West Bengal. Though I will probably not be ascending Everest when I arrive, I will surely be enjoying a great many high-altitude hikes with you as hike leader. When I get there, please keep me speaking only the local languages you know until I have them memorized! Enough people speak English. It is time I am counted amongst those who speak Tibetan, Hindi, Nepali, and Nagamese Creole!
Nikhil Baliga, thank you for being one of my lifelong friends. It is so awesome to have reconnected with you each of these times since our paths diverged upon the relocation of your father for work back during our middle school days. The games, stories, and art you introduced me to over all these years have been thrilling, and I still remember with great fondness how we would play original WarCraft campaigns on your computer at the apartment in Plano. I have since gone on to begin developing several games much like it, and that Lego base we used on my drafting table has since transformed into a massive, 100 square miles, gated community representing every single nation and people on Earth. Do you remember when I started into that passionate speech about uniting the races once separated by ancient wars, or the astronomical distances between worlds such as ours and Mars? I remember your reaction to it, and how moved we both were at the very notion of the whole thing. It may very soon –even in our lifetimes– become a long overdue reality.
Rebecca Teng, thank you for being such a lady and so brave when I invited you to that military ball years ago, especially in light of how green and square I was back then. It is wonderful to see you living as the great healer I could tell you were destined to be. Thank you also for giving me glimpses into your travels to Scandinavia and beyond. I am still considering taking up that offer to experience life on one of the restored Viking ships, by the way.
Mozhdah Jamalzadah, words just can’t do you sufficient justice; you are a world-class artist and philanthropist, a gifted singer and role model, and so much more. I have heard many of my friends call you ‘the Oprah of Afghanistan’, and have also thought of you as ‘the Shakira of Afghanistan’. Those are no small feats, and I hope you are as proud of yourself as you are successful! Thank you for being my window into Afghanistan –and especially during such a dynamic time in your great nation’s ongoing history.
Christian Jackson, thank you for being such a helpful and analytical friend, providing me with not just emotional support during a very tumultuous chapter of my life those years back, but also with timely, detailed, concrete, scientifically-minded materials helping me to better address the situation I was negotiating at that time, as well as the most informed suggestions as to how I might best decide to proceed beyond it. Thank you also for the well-met invitation to visit you and my brother-in-arms there in that new home of yours. I will surely take you up on that offer whenever my journeys take me that direction again.
Aqeel Alsadiq, thank you for being my window into Saudi Arabia, as well as my friend and study partner here in America. You made learning more Arabic so much more fun and engaging than I ever thought it could be, and I will better retain it all thanks to your creative approach. Thank you for introducing me to soil science, which I have been applying to my city design. I am sorry we both became so busy and overburdened with work and research at the same time last year, and I hope we will be able to hang out and research more in the near future. Whenever I get to go to Saudi Arabia, I will surely arrange the trip so I can hang out with you in that nation, too.
Prince Agoumousse, thank you for being my window into the Republic of the Congo, as well as so many of its adjacent nations. So much of my awareness of that region has come from the Facebook posts you have made which reach my news-feed. Perhaps I will have the honor of meeting you either there in the Republic of the Congo one day, or France, which I have also still to explore.
Atsushi Futakami, thank you for being my window into more of the great nation of Japan. It is wonderful to see you leading such a successful life amidst such groundbreaking expos. I remember with great fondness my first trip to Japan, and I have dreamed of returning ever since. I only saw a fraction of your country, but that was all it took to fall in love with all of Japan. Hopefully I will be able to shake your hand in person during my trip back to Japan to spend years seeing all the rest of The Land of the Rising Sun.
Carlos Jillson, thank you for introducing me to the gentry and means which have allowed me to begin replenishing my investment portfolio. Those leads have started to make my next round of travels financially feasible. I’m still persuaded that you might be some sort of Peter Parker, but either way, you have been a fantastic new friend, and I hope to do some culinary wizardry with you a few years from now once we have both established ourselves more as budding chefs.
Sammantha Kelly, thank you for being so surprisingly effervescent and fay-like. It was lovely to chat with you at that hidden cabin party, and I hope you have found everything you are looking for and more in that great northern city you call home. You really did brighten this chapter of mine, and you did so even during such a challenging time of your own. You also really did vastly upgrade my current culinary endeavor with that Heavenly Recipes site your post brought to my attention. Thank you for all you are. When I open up my first restaurant, just as each time I see the Sun or read about the legendary fay, I will be thinking of you.
Ragna Vasconcelos, thank you for being my window into Brazil. You have been such a sweet and helpful young lady, and I hope when I am spending months exploring your nation, that we will be able to hang out. Whenever you find me in nations beyond Brazil, I will be happy to be your tour guide also. Please pardon my beginner’s Portuguese! I am working on it!! Agradecimentos por ser a minha janela no Brasil. Você foi uma moça tão doce e útil, e espero quando estou explorando o Brasil seremos capazes de encontrar-nos. Sempre que você me encontre em nações além do Brasil, serei feliz trabalhar como a sua guia de viagem também. Por favor perdoe o português do meu principiante! Estou trabalhando nisso!
Sam Evans, thank you for doing that handyman work for my roommate and me last year, and for introducing me to Macklemore. You were right; he really has important messages well fused into great tunes, and I am still enjoying listening to them. I am glad to see you are now being paid more of what you are worth, and that the family you have started is a happy one. I will always smile at the memories of our conversations and meme wars.
Begaim Salamatova, thank you for being my window into Kyrgyzstan. Your nation reminds me of storybook lands in times of old, and it looks to have elements of its appearance much like the more picturesque areas of Scotland, the Faroe Islands, and more. When I arrive there, please teach me to speak, read, and write Kyrgyz!
Ferizat Jussupbekova, thank you for being one of my windows into Kazakhstan, and for taking the time to discuss some of my city design with me. Thank you also for telling me who among your friends I might also discuss it with. I hope in time to do so more in person.
Andrew Cassidy, thank you for enlightening me to so much more information about –and training opportunities in– the world of outdoor climbing. Because of your tips, I am now looking forward to a return to Utah, as well as to my first night-time and rescue climbing experiences.
Makoalahy Valeur, thank you for being my window into Madagascar. I hope your tour guide work is going very well, and hope to meet you whenever I am able to sail or fly to your land. Your photo is awesome by the way; very fun and makes me chuckle every time. You must be a very popular guide for your nation.
Anya Horyacha, thank you for being my window into KaZantip. Your work there is truly amazing, otherworldly, and epic. The only thing I can think of to compare it to is the Sensation raves in Europe. We have one in America called The Burning Man, but I still think your KaZantip is the most magical. I really want to experience it in person as soon as possible, and I hope to shake your hand while I am there.
Victor Khanyizira, thank you for being my window into Malawi. It wasn’t until very recently that I had planned to explore that region of our world, and your friendship and photographs have helped me plan my trip there. I hope your work as an editor is going well, and that we can meet whenever I arrive.
Adam Snyder, thank you for sharing your stories with me about so many nations and states, and especially for your word of caution about the Sinai. It is always nice to meet a fellow world traveler and scholar, and I look forward to what unfolds with the Rodin coil you showed me your own example of. I have been working on something along those lines, as well, and I will show you more about that in the years to come, if you wish.
Michael Farr, thank you for introducing me to Kyrgyzstan, which I am still heavily researching, largely because of your truly well-done and thrilling videos, and thank you for being my window into New Zealand. I hope your business is still booming, and your family is still happy and growing. Maybe I will get to shake your hand when I am on my way to visit Hobbiton.
Rio G., thank you for extending your roof in just the nick of time, saving me from being homeless once again, and for having the grit and tolerance to look past my military eccentricities as I adapted to local life up here. My expenditures are manageable thanks to your advice and offers, and I will in time get back to that writing project we began with the others. I have tried several more restaurants since then, so I will have several more articles to submit for your editing and approval. Thanks also for the friendly hugs. I’m not used to that, as you can tell, but I do appreciate them.
Rose Jianul, thank you for being one of my windows into Malaysia, and for helping me make introductions and new friendships as I plan one of the most detailed and lengthy exploration trips of my life; to see as many of the Malaysian islands as possible in the first of many trips there.
Leyla Shams, thank you for being my window into Iran, and for sharing your excellent podcasts to help me learn how to speak Farsi. You have been such an impressively beautiful and intelligent, helpful lady ever since I first saw you back in high school, and I only wish I’d had the chance to get to know you better back then, for, had that been the case, I would surely be fluent in the Persian language already.
Sangay Wangdi, thank you for being my window into Bhutan. I am sure your travel agency will do very well, and I will certainly work with that agency and you for all my adventures and studies in Bhutan. Thank you also for correcting my initial use of Bhutan. It is such a great help to have a native speaker of the language helping me to refine my spelling and pronunciation so early and so long before I make the flight over there. I really enjoy having a better grasping of a language before I visit a land in which it is spoken.
Rosealone Magpusao, thank you for being my window into the Philippines. Thank you also for opening a connection and dialogue with me. I have been wondering how I will start planning my trip to your nation, and now that I have learned more about it, and seen more of it, I feel better prepared and able to make a more worthwhile plan to explore it.
Summer Burns, thank you for finding me and reconnecting after those few years when our paths diverged. It was a nice surprise having you find me again, and I am glad to see you have done so well during those years. I still remember how much better that one winter and holiday were because I was welcomed to hang out with you and Scott at your residence at the time. Maybe we will get to hang out during some winter and holiday in the future. We will see what the stars have in store.
Bobaker Hamou, thank you for being one of my windows into Morocco. It would be great to shake your hand in person while I make my way from one Moroccan city to the next, until I have seen them all. I’m sure you will have a lot of great advice for what I should see and do while there. If you have a moment, please tell me more about Tiznit and Agadir.
Salavat Baktybek, thank you for being one of my windows into Kyrgyzstan. At first, I wanted to visit your nation because I heard how amazing the skiing and snowboarding are there, but now I think I must stay for a few months and explore all its other areas, and get to know many more of its people. What do you recommend in Bishkek?
Samklef Watidu Kamwendo, thank you for being one of my windows into Malawi. Where all have you been while living there? What do you recommend I see in Nyambadwe and Likuni? What customs and traditions should I memorize before I get there?
Ayazhan Maksotova, thank you for being one of my windows into Kazakhstan. It is nice to see you doing well over there. I hope we will get to greet each other in person when I arrive, and that you will help me practice speaking your language. If you have a moment, please tell me some Kazakh customs and traditions I should memorize before I get there.
Piper Lincoln, thank you for being such a nice coworker back in Texas, and for being my window into France. I kept hearing great things about their culinary wizardry, but had not met anyone who had actually been there, much less had a real-time photo album about her great journey through that fairytale land. You have really inspired me to travel there sooner, and explore the French countryside and cities longer. Again, that article about your gentleman was another lovely post I am happy to have noticed on your bright Facebook page, and I do hope our paths align sometime in the future. Monsieur Issa is a lucky fellow to have you as his lady.
Elena Grysiuk and Ekaterina Petrova, thank you for being my windows into the Ukraine. I had only met one person who had traveled there so far, so it is very nice to now know a few people who live there and know so much more about that nation. I will work on my Ukrainian as I prepare to explore your nation, and hopefully I will see you both there. May your revolution be as smooth as possible, and as fortuitous as can be for you and yours.
Nicole Sprenger, thank you for getting back in touch with me after all those years, and for enlightening me to that great job lead across the pond. I was so very close to catching the next flight over there, and I may very well still stop by their offices for a discussion as to how I might work with them a few more years from now.
Omurbek Doolotbekoviç, thank you for being one of my windows into Kyrgyzstan, and for introducing me to so much about your homeland. I hope the organic farms information I linked you to has proven most helpful, and that you will soon be able to travel over here to my birth-nation and explore it to your heart’s content. If you have any other questions about any of America’s states, please let me know and I will promptly reply in great detail.
Ny Toky Fitiavana, thank you for being one of my windows into Madagascar. If you have a moment, please tell me more about Itaosy and Tananarive, for I will surely want to see as much of those cities, and as many cities as possible, during my first trip to your nation.
Tatiana Vagazova, thank you for being one of my windows into Kyrgyzstan. It is great to see a fellow mountain hiker and outdoors enthusiast over there, roaming the countryside, exploring great mountain ranges, and everything that goes with that. Your photos are amazing, and I can’t wait to see those vantages with my own eyes! I hope you will lead me on a few great hikes when I visit, and that you will keep me speaking only Russian while I am there!
Marjan Traispayeva, thank you for being one of my windows into Kazakhstan. I hope you will tell me more about Charsk and Astana, and everywhere else you think I should go and experience while I am exploring your nation. Astana looks like a very beautiful city, but I’m sure there are thousands of other places worth seeing, too.
Sharaf Najeeb, thank you for being my window into Sri Lanka. Until meeting you, I had only known of two people who had been to your homeland, and I had not yet seen any photographs of it. Now, I have your photo albums to browse through, and I appreciate you taking the time to tell me about your business, both of which have helped me better plan my first visit to your nation. If you have time, please tell me more about Colombo.
Zondile Makwinja Zulu, thank you for being my window into Botswana and Zambia. Please tell me more about Gaborone and Chipata. I am considering adding both of those nations to my itinerary for my second trip to Africa, and I will definitely check out whatever you recommend.
Asel Sydykova, thank you for being my window into London. Thank you also for enlightening me to one of the most luxurious restaurants I have ever in my whole life seen. The incredible attention to detail I have seen put into the decor and food presentations there has really raised the bar for me in my own restaurant project, and I would never have even realized that highest tier existed if it hadn’t been for your help.
Mafe Kristine Joy Pepito, thank you for being one of my windows into the Philippines. Your kind invitation to visit and discuss my work with your relative was very thoughtful, and I will surely accept the offer and enjoy getting to shake the hand of a fellow entrepreneur there. If you have time, please tell me more about Kitaotao and Valencia, so I can finish planning my visit to your area of our world.
Galimzhan Seilov, thank you for introducing me to the Kazakhstan Tourism Research Network. I have made some great connections and friendships there, and it has really helped me learn so much more about your nation. It has also helped me plan such a more detailed first visit there. I hope to meet you and shake your hand once I arrive.
Ooko Ookoo, thank you for being one of my windows into Mongolia. Your nation is one of the realms I have been learning the most about lately, and I am very excited to travel there. The monuments and memorials that have been built in Mongolia are among the most impressive and inspiring I have seen anywhere in the world. If you have time, please tell me more about Ulaanbaatar.
Otmane Berrada, thank you for being one of my windows into Morocco. If you have time, please tell me more about Casablanca and Old Fes. I have wanted to explore there ever since meeting Omar through Ariana.
Майра Жорабаева, thank you for being one of my windows into Kazakhstan. If you have time, please tell me more about Almaty. I know I will end up in Kazakhstan over the years to come, and would love it if you helped tour guide me through all its best.
محمود ادم, thank you for being my window into Egypt and Pakistan. If you have time, please tell me more about Cairo and Kalro. The only place I have been in Egypt so far is the Sinai area, and I have not yet been anywhere close to Pakistan, so there is so much more I need to learn, and your advice is important to me.
Omar Chouiekh, thank you for being one of my windows into Morocco. Until becoming friends with you, I had only heard of Morocco from one of my friends who had been fortunate enough to travel there and experience its world-class cooking and hospitality. I hope by the time I get to explore your nation, too, I will no longer be stumbling through my first attempts at speaking Arabic, Berber, and French.
Papa Bakpao, thank you for being my window into Indonesia, and for looking at my world trip plans and other photo albums here. Your collection of photo albums here on Facebook is truly impressive and extremely helpful to me as I plan my first visit to your nation. Already, I have seen so much of Indonesia, and I haven’t even neared its shores.
Apinya Pantages, thank you for being my window into Canada, and for confirming what I saw a glimpse of in that one photo I mentioned last month about Songkran. If you have time, please tell me more about Ottawa, Ontario, and whatever else you think I should know before I travel to Thailand.
Geridy Stivaly Tavera, thank you for being my window into the Dominican Republic. You always post the most fun photos, and I hope when I travel to your nation that we will be able to hang out while I am exploring La Vega.
Annica Petra, thank you for being one of my windows into Russia. If you have time, please tell me more about Ulan-Ude and the rest of Irkutsk. I will probably be spending at least a few years exploring as much of Russia as possible, so I am hoping for all the advice I can get here before I sail that way.
Billy Wimberly, thank you for being my window into Banff. I’d never realized how amazing it looks, nor how close I’ve come to entering it. I am definitely going to have to make the drive up there. I think I may even have found a long hiking trail that will take me there (a bit over 100 miles, but given a week or two, that is very doable and worth it, if you ask me). I’m glad to see that more than a decade after Squadron 17, you are doing so well and exploring such majestic places.
игорь шалыгин, thank you for being one of my windows into Russia and Morocco. I have heard so much about both nations, and it is great to finally be seeing those places through the eyes of a friend. If you have time, please tell me more about Taishet and Biryusinsk, and, of course, what you enjoyed most about your trip to Morocco.
Sanaa Sanaa, thank you for being one of my windows into Morocco. Your photos are lovely, as are the songs you post. I really enjoyed the most recent French tune. Where are you working now? Do you have any recommendations for music I should listen to next? I would like to learn what music is popular in Morocco.
Rahim Ismaili, thank you for being my window into Kuwait. It has been many years since I traveled there, and I never got to explore more than a few places. Please tell me more about Salmiya and Hawalli. I would like to make a longer return visit to your nation.
Ишэм Ламэр, thank you for being my window into Algeria. Are you still in that band? What do you recommend I see and do when I visit your nation? If you have time, please tell me more about Algeri and wherever else you have been in Algeria.
Robin Aoki, thank you for introducing me to that special fusion concept we discussed outside of Will’s workshop, and for helping match me with my very first didgeridoo. I really loved learning to play it, and have since started looking up some great music based around that instrument.
Maclean Khisimisi, thank you for being one of my windows into Malawi, and for your warm welcome and encouragement that I visit your nation soon. I have heard great things about the lakes there, and I would like to know more about what you recommend for a first time visit. What should I see in Lilongwe?
Sajio Lifoo, thank you for being my window into the Maldives. After learning about how many islands are part of your nation, I think I will have to spend a full year traveling to see them all, one at a time. What do you think will work? Should I rent a yacht like a taxi, or should I take one flight between each major island, and then one ship between each tiny island? Are the waters safe from the pirates of the Somalia coast?
Anam Tahmima, thank you for being my window into Bangladesh. I think I will visit Sikkim, Nepal, and Bhutan during the same year I visit your nation, so what do you think would work best? Which highway is the most scenic? If you have time, please tell me more about Mymensingh.
Elena Apostoleanu, thank you for being such an exemplary entertainer and timeless beauty. You are so thoughtful in how you present and conduct yourself. I am very impressed with how many nations you have visited and kept cheery, and I keep hearing great accounts of how nice you are to everyone you meet. Your music is amongst my all-time favorites, and I still listen to your songs and watch your music videos to this day. My hat is off to you, and I hope you will take this as a great compliment; that you are ‘the Shakira of Romania’.
Phiri Phiri, thank you for being one of my windows into Malawi. I have recently been speaking with a few people who call your nation their home, too, and I hope –with their help– to plan a detailed trip there to explore it all. If you have time, would you please tell me more about Blantyre?
Asamoah Akwesman, thank you for being my window into Ghana. Would you please tell me more about Kumasi and Kwadaso? I am planning my return to Africa, and I am thinking about spending many months exploring several of its nations. Do you think it would be good to drive there from Morocco through Mauritania and Mali, or fly directly?
Walang Archie, thank you for being one of my windows into the Philippines. I would like to see as many of the islands of your nation as possible during my first trip, so what sequence do you think I should visit those islands in? If you have time, please tell me more about Quezon City.
Sean Maloney, thank you for introducing me to awesome shows such as Strike Back, and to so many ingenious cooking techniques such as sous vide, not to mention the ‘cryo burger’ recipe. Your family cabin is amazing, and I am glad to see it so well stocked with freezers, wild game meats, and tools. Your culinary wizardry always impressed, and I hope you know that each time I encouraged you to become a chef and open your own restaurant, I only meant well, and I will always be impressed with you no matter which path you choose.
Michael Rice, thank you for being the best roommate I’ve ever had, and for introducing me to both motocross (which you are great at) and Idaho (where we went to get your latest motocross bike), not to mention Nitro Circus, all of which have become part of my ongoing city design. Seeing Craters-of-the-Moon, Atomic City, Cascade, the Belgrade stock car races, and all the hidden highway scenery in between was fantastic. Thanks for trusting me with a visit to your family’s place, with the babysitting of Cali, and with your lady’s extended family (which made for my first Christmas celebration in a very long time). Your recommendation for the types of work I should try next really paid off, and I hope things are continuing to come together for you and everyone in your life.
Andrew Hinson, thank you for introducing me to the science of optics, and for the personal tour of the many levels of your campus’s outstanding laser laboratory. I am still reading through those five volumes you helped me get copies of, and I am guessing that by the time we next discuss them you will be a PhD and then some. The notes, lectures, and videos of the other scientists you have lead me to have all helped out immensely. I have already started working all of that material into the design expansions for both my city’s high-school and military cadets facility.
Tori Henrich, thank you for being the best roommate’s girlfriend I’ve ever met, and, of course, for your service to our nation. Thank you for introducing me to the prison system from an insider’s point of view; you are the first warden I have ever met, and it was amazing to discover that you were so mellow and tenderhearted, not to mention a great chef. The meals you shared with me really made my whole year, and I wish there was some way I could have repaid you for them all. Getting to interact with you and your wee ones almost brought tears to my eyes, and was sometimes difficult for me only because it reminded me of people I cared deeply about in decades past –and about how much I want a family like yours of my own someday. That letter I wrote to you all was from the heart; I certainly would love to see your eldest become a marine biologist or oceanographer, and your youngest become a fashion designer or whatever else she may consider. I can see where they get their knack for dancing and all their other talents from.
Flori Bianca, thank you for being my inside source for all things Italy –and for putting up with me as I stumble through my first lessons speaking and writing in your language. The messages, recordings, and pics you have sent my way on such a regular basis have always cheered me up, as have your clever jokes. The songs and videos you have linked me to were also great. I am sure that when we meet in person, it will be a kickass day for the recordbooks.
MARTIAL ARTISTS & FITNESS MASTERS
Master Chun Ahn, thank you for introducing me to martial arts. Our time together was too short, and I hope you understand that I wished to remain your student for many years; there simply was too much going on behind the scenes which needed to be resolved before something like that could occur. I have since then gone on to study many more styles of martial arts, and even started to follow in the footsteps of Masters such as Bruce Lee, working toward developing and teaching my own styles based on all I have learned, seen, and tested. I saw a few of the videos from your dojo’s website the other day, and I am glad to see you still doing so well and enriching the lives of so many. I bow to you, first sensei. And, as you kindly said to me in 1999, I hope our paths cross again.
Daniel Malik, thank you for introducing me to swordsmanship just one year into me becoming a teenager. Our talks about alternate dimensions, time travel, time streams, sigils, color-coded meanings of auras, and a variety of other subjects were very interesting and have continued to evolve into great research projects and writing prompts to this day. Thank you also for introducing me to paintball –something which has now become one of the favored sports in my dreamhouse design, and even evolved to become something far more. I hope things are great with you and your relatives, and I would guess that you have helped ensure many other people (just as you ensured with me) did not succumb to the ways of the dorks and goobers. You were the father-figure in my life for many of my formative years, Dan.
Jeffry Summer, thank you for introducing me to Le Parkour moves while I was in Dallas, and for giving me a glimpse into your exciting fields of martial arts and stunt work. I’m glad you were involved in such big projects calling upon your talents and what our kind enjoy doing so much. What are you working on now? Do you think you might open your own dojo or parkour gym? I know all of Texas would really benefit from one. I have only seen them opened in a handful of major cities in the U.K. and Germany so far.
Eric Brasseaux, thank you for being the most respectful person I have met, honoring my service and daring to enlist and aim for your own place on the front lines, as well. Thank you for introducing me to CrossFit, rock climbing, Wrestling, Grappling, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Thank you for taking the time to visit and train with me at my place, your place, and one of the places I was staying for a time. Around the latest time we spoke, you mentioned work for a major hotel chain. You might find it interesting to know that one of my relatives did interior design work for one, and, after I headed off on my next expedition, I researched that field thoroughly, and have since finalized plans for several hotels which our fellow brothers-in-arms began designing with me back in 2005.
Gerard Gatreaux, thank you for being such an informative coach and trainer. My formal introduction to CrossFit was through your gym, and I got so many excellent ideas there for upgrading my training. The tools and techniques you and your employees taught me have been worked into a design for my own gym, which I hope to open in the next few years. I hope your business is still doing very well, and I want to thank you again for being kind enough to recognize my service back when we first met. You didn’t have to do that, and it made my CrossFit experience feasible during a very challenging chapter of my life.
THE HEALERS
Thank you to my spleen-repair doctor from childhood, to the doctors who helped fix my asthma, to the short-haired brunette pediatrician I saw during high school in Plano at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, to my orthodontist and several dentists I’ve had across the continent so far, and to their dental assistants. Thank you to my Corpsmen who kept me in training and on missions overseas. You men and women worked masterfully with what was originally a very fragile body, ensuring it became and stayed a man. I owe so many of my adventures, confidence, and accomplishments to you.
Thank you to the nurses, doctors, and surgeons of Balboa; the Bob Wilson Naval Hospital; Naval Medical Center San Diego. You fixed my hernia once and for all. You cared for me while I was in recovery. One of you even spent her time off sitting on the edge of my hospital room bed during several evenings, talking with me to keep me company when she noticed I was utterly alone. Another; an Asian-American Naval officer, even stood up for me when a couple of the less-refined enlisted Marines interrupted one of my meals in your hospital’s main chow hall. You are all heroes and saints in my eyes, and I hope to live up to your standard of healing and helping people, both in numbers and in quality of care tailored to every individual. I cannot thank you enough for making the completion of my grueling training, as well as the entirety of my military service possible. You and all the hospital corpsmen are to be commended for life. Thank every one of you from the bottom of my heart. I am only sorry that I did not catch so many of your names at the time. If you worked at this facility during the Spring of 2003, you might remember me as one of the medical-waiver recruits from MCRDSD. Thanks also to my physical therapist who helped rehabilitate me for my next wave of Marine Corps training; the doctor who, at MCRDSD, got my leg back in shape for the brutal lengthy hikes and ruck marches of the School of Infantry. I wouldn’t have made it without you.
Gary Osborn, RPh (Registered Pharmacist), CCN (Certified Clinical Nutritionist), thank you for introducing me to a vast array of alternative healing and stabilization products and techniques, as well as to the concept of a fusion between Western and Native American medical practices. I learned much about electrodermal screening (EDS, a.k.a. Electroacupuncture according to Voll (EAV), bioelectric functions diagnosis (BFD), bio resonance therapy (BRT), bio-energy regulatory technique (BER), biocybernetic medicine (BM), computerized electrodermal screening (CEDS), computerized electrodermal stress analysis (CDCSA), electrodermal testng (EDT), limbic stress assessment (LSA), meridian energy analysis (MEA), or point testing) from you. Thanks also for discussing Agent Orange and HAARP miniaturization with me. (And, my god, what a smokin’-hot Hispanic shorty nurse you had working that day I came in, administering the EDS to me while I tried not to think about administering my own test to her. The model lying prone on the poster-sized ad perched atop the easel-like stand outside your offices there was a goddess-level beauty, too. Cheers to you for having selected such fine and exemplary specimens; their beauty alone had an incredible power to heal people, too, and I suspect you knew something about that.)
Andrea B., thank you for introducing me to the Vegan diet, to some of the aspects of Buddhism, and to the book: The Yeast Syndrome: How to Help Your Doctor Identify & Treat the Real Cause of Your Yeast-Related Illness by Dr. John Parks Trowbridge (MD) and Dr. Morton Walker (DPM). It had hundreds of insights, all of which I took notes about and further researched on my own. I also read the papers you typed up about your battles to recover your health, and have studied closely all you recommended. It is great to see you doing so well now, and I am sure your suggestions will continue to enhance my own life’s work, helping me to finally win at this battle of my own.
Thank you to Dr. Richard Peck, BA, MBA, L.Ac., whose expertise includes: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Korean hand therapy (KHT), Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET), auricular acupuncture, Richard Tan’s Technique, Pranic Healing, Zhu’s scalp acupuncture, and qi gong. From Grand Master Lu Hung Bin, you learned Taiji Quan (Tai Chi Chuan), Ba Gua Zhang, Xing Yi Quan, sword, broad sword, staff, deer horn knives, qi gong, tui shou (pushing hands), qin na, and Taoist meditation. From Huo Chi Kwang (and Madame Wang Ju Rong and Ms. Lin Que Ping), you studied Chinese painting, Guang Ping Style Taiji Quan (Tai Chi Chuan), Old Yang Style Taiji Quan, and Taiji Jian (sword). From Dr. Ineon Moon, you studied acupuncture in Chicago, and from Dr. Tsao Cheng Chang, in Taipei, Taiwan, you did advanced studies in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
And thank you to your wife, Dr. Iva Lim Peck, L.Ac. (Licensed Acupuncturist), Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM), MD, DOM (Doctor of Oriental Medicine ), NMD (Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine), RN (State Registered Nurse), SCM (State-Certified Midwife), RMT (Registered Massage Therapist), LDHS (Loomis Digestive Health Specialist), CSA, CGP, and DAAPM (Diplomate of the American Academy of Pain Management). You are a psychiatric nurse, an esthetician, and a massage therapist. Your additional advanced certifications include: Nampudripad Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET), Loomis Advanced Enzyme and Nutritional Therapy (LDHS), Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET), Classical Homeopathy, the Jeffe-Mellor Technique (Arthritis and Autoimmune Disorders) (JMT), Neuro-Modulation Technique (NMT), BioCranial Technique (BCT), Chinese Herbology, Auricular Acupuncture, Korean Hand Therapy (KHT), Richard Tan’s Acupuncture Technique, Zhu’s Scalp Acupuncture (neurological disorders) (CSAS), Pranic Healing (Institute of Inner Studies), Functional Endocrinology and Immunology, and Gluten Sensitivity and Digestive Issues (CGP).
Thank you both for such a warm welcome into your office in Plano. (I remember your joke with a smile, Dr. Peck; how you told me with a straight face that you studied for years overseas, having known from a vision that you would need to in order to treat me in particular on this day when I walked in.) Thank you for enduring my surging energies, as well as the odd ones of the person with me at the time of my first two visits. Thank you both also for introducing me to the instantly effective and endlessly helpful sciences and techniques of acupressure, acupuncture, tai chi, and the psychotherapeutic/chiropractic system called N.E.T. (the Neuro Emotional Technique). All of those, and many other things I learned about through you, are now first-recommendations to any patients who ever come to my city’s hospital, dental clinic, or gyms seeking advice or aid.
I wish you complete success in your campaign for the co-existence of Oriental and Western medicine, and I want you to know that such a co-existence will be the status quo in my dreamhouse and city –so much so that the two will seem as one, inseperable, and as if they had always been at that level of harmony and unity. I have designed an entire hospital and medical system based on that ‘gold standard’, and it will certainly have the ‘crowning cherry’ of a lifesize statue of both of you, complete with base plaques explaining all of this. Yes, many others are to be credited with this campaign, but you two are the ones who came into my life and pointed me in this wise direction first.
And thank you to Dr. Susannah Freeman White, LAc Pc, for continuing my acupuncture sessions during my expedition across, and operations both in and from, Montana. You, too, had this incredible aura and energy of serenity all about you, and it radiated throughout and out from your offices, and was a joy to bask and relax in. I have since recommended you to many dozens of my friends, and I hope at least a few of them have already started to find their ways to you.
Sarah S., thank you for introducing me to the wisdom and beauty of the (then) 33 novels by John Norman. Thank you for working with me over the course of years to ensure I had a full grasp of this brilliant and wonderful field which I had not know existed, and which completed me perfectly. Thank you also for inviting me to your realm, and considering meeting me on one of my obstacle course marathons. Because of you, I now know what true femininity is, should look like, and must become (or remain –or return to being, perhaps I ought to say). Inisfree is infinitely better because of your contributions. You healed my mind, heart, outlook, and the social structure of my entire people and kingdom –even before it, in the physical plane, began.
Professor Toby Day, thank you for introducing me to the finer points of farming, landscape design, horticulture, and master gardening. Thank you for helping place me with a great match for the hands-on continuation of my studies in those fields; the farm I got to help build from the ground up (pun not intended) really made me smile and feel proud. Since then, I went on to plant hundreds of trees and thousands of other plants across Montana and other areas, and I have continued to work toward the construction and operation of that commercial-scale farm design I showed you at City Brew up in Bozeman near where you taught me and all those other green-thumb-minded people at the university’s museum auditorium. You remain the most energized, engaging, and positively memorable teachers I have ever met, and my hat is off to you, sir. You perfected every aspect of the farmland of my future home, ensuring my family and environment there will rarely have to be healed from anything at all.
Brock Albin, thank you for the opportunity to learn with you as we and the rest of our team built up your vacant lot into a functioning farm and impressive part of the community. It really felt like we were healing a part of the Earth as all that scrap and dead brush was cleared, replaced by happy animals, growing crops, and new buildings. Thanks also for teaching me some of the several languages you’d learned, and for the new level of health I achieved and noticed when I picked up that entire tree and carried it across your property.
DONORS
I have listed the following organizations and individuals in order of the degree of support:
- Thank you to the coworkers, friends, and family who have made their spare rooms available to me for weeks or longer during my many trips and projects.
- Thank you to Elena Ivanovski for her contribution of complimentary sessions and coaching in a new field of psychology and healing.
- Thank you to USACE for their contribution of Project Management and database training, which made me comfortable with projects on the nationwide and billion-dollar scales.
- Thank you to the Coalition for their contribution of hundreds of dollars for last-minute shelter.
- Thank you to the Focus Foundation for their contribution of new computer hardware, a professional-development ranch retreat, and a private tour of their commercial-scale farm & landscaping operation.
- Thank you to the city of Bozeman for their contribution of thousands of dollars of food and drinks over the course of entire seasons.
- Thank you to the AFCEA for their contribution of ~6k USD in scholarship funds.
- Thank you to the Semper Fi Fund and the mechanic they connected me with; for their contribution of ~7k USD in maintenance and repairs.
- Thank you to the Balboa Naval hospital for their contribution of an ~8k USD surgery.
- Thank you to the GCRRA & AzRA for their contribution of a ~10k USD 10-day expedition.
- Thank you to the ENT for their contribution of a ~15k USD half-month introduction to the Holy Land.
- Thank you to the business college at Dartmouth for their contribution of a compressed semester of startup and executive management courses worth ~26k USD.
- Thank you to the Stonebriar community for their contribution of >30k USD and a ‘McMansion’ for several years.
- Thank you to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their contribution of ~80k USD covering more than 6 years of formal schooling, including graduate and post-graduate work.
- Thank you to Sylvie Ivanova for your hundreds of lectures and documentaries about megalithic-ruins and ancient-history, which could easily be assigned a value greater than most 4-year Ivy League tuitions.
- Thank you to the USMC for their contribution of millions of dollars in schooling, training, gear, healthcare, travel, support, teaching opportunities, and priceless experiences.
- Thank you to the PMC agents for their pledge of 10M USD.
- Thank you to the Angel Investors for their combined pledge of 600M USD.
And thank you to all donors and other supporters before and yet to come. Together, we are making Inisfree and a pollution-free planet real!
PAST & PRESENT
Thank you to all the great thinkers, visionaries, pioneers, scientists, leaders, and teachers of our time and all the other Ages. I can think of hundreds of your names off the top of my head, and imagine there are hundreds of thousands more. Each of you will be recognized, credited, and honored in my city with a life-size statue in your likeness, along with a plaque at its feet detailing how you touched my life and bettered our world. Those from countless realms will see evidence of your greatness and good hearts there, and will come to know you as the heroes of our time.
Thank you to the many people who dared to surface and walk by, sending those good vibes my way to identify yourselves. I know who you are, and I greatly appreciate you letting me know that you and the hidden countries are still out there and paying attention. It was good to see you in passing during the rough first phase, great to see you for much longer and to converse a bit during the more relaxed second phase, and it will be absolutely heavenly to befriend, visit, and coexist in the open with you during the coming third phase.
If you, reading this, were part of my life, yet were not mentioned here, know that you are in my heart and memory, and please feel welcome to come say hi someday and jog that memory for me. I will be happy to include you in future thank-you sections of my successive novels and other works. You are also invited to come join me as I raise up Inisfree, making it the great beacon for us all, and I will thank you in person again there!
To everyone, thank you for everything. I wouldn’t have made it to this chapter if it hadn’t been for your friendships and support. I can remember just about everything, but haven’t had time this eve’ to reverently recount it all. If I failed thus far to thank you here by name, know that I surely meant to, smack me upside the head to jog my memory, and I will promptly rectify myself. I hope to see as many of you as possible when next my travels resume, and it seems likely that will be the case, for my next trip is being planned to be an indefinite round-the-world (RTW) expedition to see every nation there is (along with everything in between). Please feel welcome to join me for any portion of that big adventure, and to help me with any advice you might have. After about 4 to 5 years of that RTW trip, I am considering riding into low orbit from Spaceport America (which you should Google, if you aren’t already aware of it) in order to have a video-blog-recap and quick fly-over over all the lands and seas I’ve completed initial orientation expeditions and charity work through. Then, it will be off to Antarctica again to get some major work done down there near the South Pole, and back to the RTW for another several years of much lengthier and more in-depth re-visits to my favorite spots in each of those 196 nations. This is my life’s work continuing into the distant future, and it makes all the difference in the world to me that each of you has been a part of my life, so stay in touch and rendezvous with me to hang out sometime!
