I’ve been doing a bit of soul-searching for the past 37 years – I’d be lying if I said it was a new thing. But I recently thought about something new and in the process, possibly figured myself out a little bit more. Maybe I’m an adventurist. The word came to me recently out of nowhere and I thought about it in an F. Scott Fitzgerald type of way. I think it’s in A Diamond as Big as the Ritz that Fitzgerald mentions adventurists. To me an adventurist isn’t a conqueror or a tyrant or a crusader (necessarily), and he also isn’t a Casanova. An adventurist is someone who gets off on the romance of life. Traveling to different places, working different jobs, meeting different people：this is the romance of life, the slightly good and benevolent flipside of the playboy, vagabond, tramp, and pirate.

I’ve been going out on dates lately. I love the first date. I love the anticipation, the corniness of just going to the movies or walking in a park or by a lake with a girl you don’t know and maybe holding her hand and hopefully having a first kiss. And doing it in a foreign language, in my case Chinese, is great (because what the hell would be the point of going on a date in English? That's no fun). Then what happens? Do you get bored with her (or she with you), or is it simply more adventurous to move on?

Getting a new job or living in a new place can be scary, but the feeling of being trapped somewhere can be much worse. I recently spent three years living in the same house in Beijing (a record for me) and when I finally decided to move, I was full of ambivalence. But now, in my new apartment and new life in Kunming, I know it was the right decision. There was a girl and a job back there, but those things are all here, too, and the newness of my life is great.

Some people who read this (especially my mom) will be distressed. But I think they may be missing the point. I’m relatively sure that I will settle down eventually. In fact, I’m positive that I’ll at least become more settled than I am now. Theodore Zeldin talks about modern man’s concept of life being very different from how people in the past viewed life. A lot of us, he says (and I agree), look at life as a series of adventures. Work is outdated, therefore, and the days of over-specialization are over. We all need more general knowledge in order to create better work environments and more effective companies. Maybe that’s what I’ve been doing these last seven years since I left America. My store of general knowledge probably far outweighs my store of any specialized knowledge.

When I started thinking about adventure I plotted a purposeful essay that would make great logical points, but I think I'll just leave it close and personal for now. I am planning on taking a new type of adventure soon. It's an adventure in the very obvious sense: a one week hiking trip in rural Yunnan, from YingJiang to the Myanmar border. I'm probably going with a friend, but I might go alone. We will bring a tent and basic supplies, and ask people if we can pitch our tent in their yards. I hope to cover 20 kilometers a day. Whatever happens, I'm sure it will be a great adventure.