La conquête du lac Bell

After a gruelling, and unsuccessful, adventure last Saturday to find this now infamous Bell Lake, we were given a chance to redeem ourselves. And we did. In terms of natural beauty, I think the pictures speak for themselves. There is this feeling of isolation that overwhelmed me when we first arrived. Imagine looking onto a vast lake knowing you're the only human being. For some locals it may not be such a big deal but for a wide-eyed self-proclaimed city boy, it's such a new experience that you can't help but be stunned.

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Yesterday was my birthday. It was surprising to receive so many birthday wishes from close and not so close friends via facebook. As much as it can be criticized for being another platform like myspace and turning the world into 3 degrees of separation, facebook does bring people together. If you dig deep past the useless applications, you'll find some with a just social cause that are trying to raise awareness on important issues. And it's very useful to stay in touch with friends when you're away.

Along with new year's and the Super Bowl, a birthday is one of those milestones that calls for an introspective look on the Self in the past year. In my case, I have lived somewhat of a transient lifestyle for the first time in my life; I have travelled and seen more places in these last 365 days than I ever have in the previous 8,395 days. And yet, I don't feel much different. That said, my outlook on the world has definitely changed and is bound to get shaken up once I arrive in Mali. I guess it's more like I'm an upgraded version of myself: Ben 2.0 - now with new and improved features like a greater sense of Self and the knowledge to build an outhouse, drive standard and weed a garden. Coming soon, Ben 2.1 with the horse training/riding feature.