Sunday, January 29th

I have been trying to figure out just what's next in my life. I technically have two semesters of law school left, even though all my friends here are graduating this May -- there's no point in me coming back to dreary Philadelphia when most of my friends have left for New York, so I'm seeking approval to do my last semester of school in Sydney, Australia. I couldn't be more excited, since Australia is high on my places-to-go list. I also might use that as a jumping-off point for this trip around the world that I've had in the back of my mind. Over the last little while, I've been mentally cataloging places and things I want to see, and I've got a pretty neat little list compiled -- but I welcome any more suggestions of some of this world's "can't miss destinations", if any of you want to volunteer some of them. To give you a little more idea of the theme of my proposed trip, I'm interested in not only going to some cool places, but especially doing some of the "signature" events while there...it's a silly analogy, but if you ever watch Insomniac with Dave Attell, he goes to cool cities, but doesn't just do the typical touristy sightseeing -- he always manages to throw in some really unique little excursions that are unique to that particular city. The list of proposed destinations / activities is currently as follows:

• Scuba dive the great barrier reef in Australia
• Run with bulls in Pamplona, Spain
  
• Carnival in Brazil
• Mardis Gras in New Orleans (assuming they bring it back)
  
• Bangkok
• Galapagos Islands
• Climb Machu Pichu in Peru
• Go back to the Greek islands (if most of Western Europe seems absent from this list, it's because I did the Western-European thing a few years ago -- but Greece was so amazing, I need to go back)
• Ibiza
• The Pyramids in Egypt
  
• Oktoberfest in Germany
• Some type of safari in Africa
• Watch the Iditarod in Alaska
• Fenway Park in Boston
  
• Fiji
• China
• Easter Island (I don't know why - always seemed fascinating to me)
  
• Stay at the Ice Hotel in Sweden
• Israel
• Eat sushi and ride bullett train in Japan
• Take the trans-Siberian express train through Russia
• Morrocco
• Bali
  

The biggest issue with this plan, unfortunately, is who the hell do I do it with? The financial freedom that poker has given me has been liberating and enjoyable, but also incredibly isolating every time I realize that most people I know don't have the luxury of simply blowing off work whenever they want to take a great trip or indulge other desires. Do I want to take this incredible trip on my own? I've never had any trouble meeting new people, but 4 to 6 months of living as a transient nomad I'm sure will be lonely at times.

After Australia / world travel......well, I guess that's the big one. I'm not fretting over things too much right now. It's not like I'm going to end up homeless on the streets. I went to our law school's moot court competition last week -- if you don't know what that is, basically it's the finals of a mock trial competition, which is presided over by 3 very prestigious appellate-court judges who come in from all over the country. A very big deal, if you're into that kind of stuff. I figured it was my last year of law school and I might as well go watch with everyone else to see exactly what type of career I was taking a pass on. Pretty interesting to watch, I suppose, but it also made me exrcuciatingly cognizant of the disconnect between my life/career ambitions and those of my law school peers. The question all of this begs, I guess, is whether it was a mistake to attend law school in the first place. And you know what: I don't think so at all. To be sure there were times that I questionsed what I was doing here (which originally led me to taking that semester off way back when), but at its core, I've had an enjoyable academic experience here, made some of the best friends I could ever dream of, and it even allowed me to discover poker if you want to make that connection.

Last thing for now: I have this pretty nice Citizen Ecodrive watch that Empire sent me a couple months ago for earning enough points to get into their Royal Flush Club -- had a price tag on it of $180, although apparently they're going on Ebay for $100 or something. After having it sit on my shelf for some time, I've decided that I'm never actually going to wear this thing -- so maybe I'll give it away to one of the readers of this blog. Haven't quite figured out how to pick someone, but stay tuned, I'll figure something out.