Tag Archives: Travel

Jan2

General views around Newmarket Yards – my new home in Dublin!

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September, 2024

I moved into Newmarket Yards in mid-August, after a rather frantic two weeks of apartment searching.  My various belongings arrived a week or so afterward, and an IKEA trip later saw me with a basically completely set up apartment.

Strangely, I didn’t put up any of my photos from Oregon… I still haven’t, as of when I wrote this post around the end of the year.  It doesn’t feel right, to me – This is a break from my past, and an opportunity to appreciate that past while moving on to my future.  I adore the photos I took, and the memories and awe they inspire, but it feels right to let them stay in storage, as memories of a past that I appreciate but have moved on from.

That’s a bit of a diversion from the point of the post, but it’s worth mentioning.  With that stewing in your minds, dear readers, please enjoy these snippets of life in my new apartment.

Jun17

A quick note about burnout

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May and June, 2024

On the 25th of May, in Oslo, I just sort of… zoned out.

I’m writing this on the 8th of June, the first day that I’ve been able to rally myself to blog in… almost a week, now that I think about it. Maybe even a week and a half.

You, my dear readers, wouldn’t notice this – I have quite a backlog of posts scheduled to auto-post themselves, keeping a routine in the blog posts that I may not feel personally. Which is part of art – Art comes and goes in waves, with inspiration and creativity flowing like the tide… and this blog is a creative outlet, no doubt about it. One that ebbs and flows just like a painter or author can ebb and flow in their creation.


I didn’t begrudge myself that time off. I had the backlog prepared, and it didn’t need any input from me. I’m fortunate in that I don’t rely on this blog for money, and that I can create half a dozen posts in one sitting when the fervor strikes, instead of working for weeks on end for a single piece.

The point I’m getting at is that I don’t have a steady stream of creativity, welling up out of me like one of the Icelandic hotsprings. No one should think that I do, and I truly hope that no one begrudges themselves the freedom to sometimes step away from their hobbies when the mood doesn’t click.


Going back to it, I couldn’t say for certain what I even did on the 25th. I wrote notes, to remind myself, and I know what restaurants that I went to… but still. Sometimes, rest days to disconnect and detach are required… even for a globe-trotting adventurer.

Jun5

Sink Laundry!

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Wednesday, 15-May-2024


“Ben, how do you keep your clothes clean on this adventure?”

“Great question, Expositionary-character-version-of-me! You see, I packed laundry detergent sheets, so that I could do laundry in the sink if necessary!”


Now, full disclosure – doing laundry in the sink is my absolute last back-up plan. Technically second to last, actually, since I guess I could just take a shower with my clothes on, and that would sort of work? But we’re not there yet, and hopefully won’t ever get that far. Most of the places that I’m staying, if not all of them, have laundry on-site. That was one of the criteria I’d made for myself while booking stays, in fact.

The van, however, didn’t have laundry. So, sink it is.

I… don’t know what else to say about this. I put the clothes in the sink, dropped a detergent sheet in, filled it with water, and then pretended my clothes were dough and kneaded that pile like there was no tomorrow. Then I wrung them out, hung ’em up to try, and… voila. Sink laundry.