Asian-American troubleshooting... (Dec. 2007- Udon Thani, Thailand.)

Okay.. so I am super duper tired and
> going
> > > through mild "family shock" as opposed to
> culture
> > > shock... well it's both combined... which is
> > > worse...
> > >
> > > I think I'm just running on too little sleep...
> but
> > > being "really different" is just effecting me
> right
> > > now. So you ever have that? When you look
> at
> > > your family and you look at yourself... and you
> > > realize... "WTF! I'm really strange." Usually I
> > > always wear the "Strange" badge with pride and
> enjoy
> > > being abnormal... since the strange ones... the
> wise
> > > ones...we are the ones that create evolution,
> > > change, progress... with such a large emphasis
> on
> > > everyone wanting to be normal... to blend in...
> it
> > > makes me confused and fuzzy at myself... who I
> am...
> > > etc...I feel like I'm on a deserted island... I
> > > sound melodramatic, but it's nothing I can't
> deal
> > > with... I enjoy being alone on deserted islands
> > > sometimes since it challenges me to find myself.
> > >
> > > ...okay maybe I just need sleep and should stop
> > > thinking...
> > >
> > > -I am taking tomorrow off of any family
> things... I
> > > hope... only school and Gym. So I should be
> online
> > > by 11- 11:30pm before I run to the Gym.
> > > Maybe we can chat.
> > >
> > >
> > > Miss you.
> > >
> > > -Mellerini*~

Before the Flight...

A new haircut before the flight, courtesy of my kick ass friend and stylist, Eric Smiley: www.helicopterhair.com (shameless plug!) Seattle and SF locations!

....also I have included a picture of what the city inside my head looks like.... ENJOY!











-Mellington Cartwright III

Random Postcard: Siam and the Things I Forgot

One)
>
> 'I am going to do what I want to do...' -This phrase does
not exist.
>
>
> Sure... the sentence is doable in Thai... but the concept
that people in the Western world have of this so-called
idea does not process the same way in Asia. Basically...
you never 'do' what you want to do. Every decision you make
is always made with the family in mind. Here people don't
function as independent, self-reliant people no matter how
independent, strong-willed or self-reliant. You always keep
the family in mind... you always work with the family in
mind, and what career you may have, and whatever man/women
you may marry... you always keep the family in mind. Your
life is ruled with your family in mind.
>
>
> Two)
>
> -I am a giantess among everyone here. Everywhere I gaze
are small petite women with no curves and tiny bone
structures. When you are the Amazonian stranger here you
can't help but feel... well... a little large and out of
place... no matter how damn slanty my eyes seem to be.
>
>
> Three)
>
> -Living with 14 servants in one house makes you Lazy.
Yes... servants... and yes....lazy. My Aunt's house in the
heart of Bangkok is a residence up top and business below.
We run a chicken distribution center and have live in
workers in one half of the house while the other side
belongs to the family, a caste system divides us in
between. It is not like India-don't worry-but still seems
unfair to my American eyes, even though the entire system
makes perfect sense to my Thai sensibility. The systems is
called Yai/Lek (big/small)The idea is that the servants.
(the littler brothers) help us, they are suppose to listen
to our every comment and criticism, we (as the big
brothers) pay them, and give them shelter and if they get
sick we take care of them.
>
>
> -So unless you have been asleep while reading this you
may of realized... yes... I am in Thailand now.
>
>
> -Mel
>
>
>
>

A filibuster love letter...

Wow.... so I found this in the back corner of my document and have decided -in a bold movement- to post this rambling bit publically. Why? well... it addresses my feelings at a time when I was about to take steps into the abyss of the culturally shocked and unknown... it also shows me how full of love and life I must of been....



Why I Participate in love....


Dear Mister Vagabond,

So by now you may realize that I am not one for small talk… I am one for deep things, since deep things don’t scare me. If you choose to read on, be prepared! hehe


You have allowed me to learn another important lesson. You have made me admit to myself the selfish dream that I have. “I want to find the anchor to the Balloon.”

I want to love and I want to be loved.

(–the second lesson is that this is a flawed idea.)

I am not looking for a place to call home I am looking for someone to call home. Don’t freak out-I am not saying you are that someone, but when we meet someone in life that seems… the mirror image of many facets of us it is hard not to realize that there is actually a possibility out there of someone who could actually be a part of us… not because we want to necessarily “be” with them, but moreso that “they are” already…. Us! This is a very exciting epiphany to have, (and goes way beyond the excitement that playa sex or that international booty calls may bring.)

There is no “I” want to be with this person because they are A B and C, and I don’t like E D and F about them… it is more of a conversation about:

You cannot hope to find someone to bring something to your life that you cannot already bring yourself, and if real love isn’t co-dependency or being with someone… then is love finding wholeness in yourself, remaining conscious in your quest for wholeness, and sharing the evolution of each other together? That must be it.

To lead life as self-growth, but to experience it with someone for the sake of sharing lessons? Is that what love really should be? Is that how love can be selfless…and unending?


My problem isn’t: I shouldn’t love since loving people only leads to pain, hurt and loss… (which is very true in and of itself, which seems cowardice in and selfish.) The problem that lies within me IS loving too much, to hard… what I’d like to call the next step in loving- first facing the ideas that YOU will be hurt… and there will be loss. –if the only constant is change, then how can their ever be anything else? Right? - but that hurt and loss comes with the perspective of ownership, and the possession of love.

When we try and possess love it doesn’t work. When we show love in a selfless, and honoring manner and treat it as it’s own living entity, independent of what, where or when it may occur, and when it will leave, then this step is to a love that cannot hurt you…I am working on it, but it is very hard to master since it goes against everything we are taught, in media, in the home, in Western history of what love is.

A part of me loves you selfishly, but know that ALL of me loves you as selflessly as I can, and respects you to know how I feel about you, and to also know that there is nothing in my emotions that I can keep from you, and that you will always have someone to say anything to anywhere, at anytime. My loyalties to my love in friendships run deeper than most anything. When you have me, (unless you do me a great wrong,) you have a friend for life.

If, in fact my capability of expressing emotion and showing love is one of my strengths, I feel that it could possibly be my greatest strength of all… and possibly the key to happiness.



So I love you, and, yes, part of me is in love with you as well. My attraction to you I think lies deeper than anything as superficial as sex however. It appears to lie inside your spirit somewhere since-you seem to feel it as well as I do- we seem to be cut from a similar cloth.- My attraction to you lies in the fact that we seem to share the same small bits of soul, and the same passions and fervor for life. This does not mean I think you are my one-and-only soulmate (because that would be silly)… but that you are, hopefully, one of many that I may meet that share that same piece of cloth we are cut from, and that hopefully one of those pieces of cloth will want to hang on a line together, live life passionately, and see a future in being two rather than one. I feel that this small hope is a weakness… a flaw in the idea of wanting to be loved.

Now I could be all like the other girls (who I probably share similar emotions toward you with), Confess my love to you, which I have, and demand that you reciprocate or die at the hand of my insults. This I have done many times before, yes! (Ofcourse! What female hasn’t?!) But I have realized since then that this is only a way to suffering. Anything that I may feel, be it jealousy, envy, sadness I cannot be with you (which are all there in a subtle way since I am human and female) I feel is my own. Nothing I feel I can ever blame you or anyone for since they are my own and I have to own them. I believe that only when you conquer your own self-pity, your own sadness, your own want of possession, only then can you love with respect and truth. I dream of it but I cannot ever expect anyone to be honest and truthful to me in their love, nor can I ever expect anyone to love me, just as I cannot expect anyone to make me more whole of a person. However, I can become whole and I can truly love if I try my hardest not to have expectations and love without the hope of reciprocal love and/or emotional gain…even at the price of death or departure, this is the way I can make love stay.


Maybe this is why I choose and try to love with as much energy as I can muster. I get hurt all the time, but I keep doing it again and again….why? I think in the end I feel that I have not given up in humanity perhaps… or that I feel that the people I am drawn to love really need a type of caring that I hope to give. (note: I try and not make everyone my best friend) I know that my duty as a loyal friend becomes apparent when signs appear, and feelings that draw me to people happen. I’m not talking myself up as some psychic or guru, but I feel things, follow my heart and see where it leads me… and it’s usually to that. And that those people that I hold dear have some great truth to teach me as well…

…and now you may wonder what great truth have you taught me? Well… all of this. Your lessons have contributed to a continual evolution in a series of perceptions on love, and loving. I think apart from trying to look for an anchor to the balloon of my soul, I am looking for a way to love where love will not end in disappointment. It is a long, hard road full of concepts that lead in no self-gain, no progression to companionship… thus no future…and that is the scariest of all.

Love without a future seems trivial, and of no interest to people because the common idea of love is to find happiness with someone until death do you part, right? So of course why would anyone try to be capable of loving without any hope of a future with that person?

Sadly, the flaw in love with great expectations is that we will always end in hurt. Hurt that we project onto others, and hurt we cause ourselves:

There is a difference in hurting someone and hurting yourself that people can’t seem to get right. When you feel jealous or envy whether or not rightfully so you are choosing to hurt yourself. Ofcourse it is hard to let go, not hold grudges, forget the past since we have only the present...yada yada…but a step in the direction of understanding hurt is to own the hurt you create for yourself and to differentiate it from scapegoating that someone is hurting you.


I am sharing this not so you may know that I “like you”-yes that is a factor- but rather that you have allowed me to articulate a great truth along my path.


I hope to show every person I meet an open-mind and loving kindness regardless of who they are or where they come from or what they do. This is why I participate...in ....life.



-Mellington Cartwright III

Random Postcard: Bouncing around in Limbo- The Pacific Northwest.

So here I am in the small town of Burlington, WA in an auto glass shop getting my rear right window fixed. Why do I need it fixed? Because it was smashed in by crackheads… yes crackheads in southwest Portland at 3 am.

However before I explain my predicament in this small town between Seattle and Vancouver, Canada let me rewind…

Olympia, WA: dive bars, movie marathons, knee surgeries, cleaning house.

My arrival back to Olympia was a culture shock all in its own. To walk down the streets I grew up on and randomly run into people I knew every 10 yards was very odd. For the first two nights I was greeted with pub crawls and cocktail reunions at my old haunts, however the partying and late nights right after Burning Man finally took its toll and I became bed-ridden for the next 3-4 days. I was not sick, or ill, just so exhausted I couldn’t seem to move around or have any energy even after 8-10 hours of sleep.

After exhaustion passed I began to clean house immediately. My days we filled with throwing away boxes of junk. My goal was 10 boxes… so far I am at 11. During this time I was also spending time with my dear friend Sam who had just come out of a knee operation, so my evenings we spent watching movie marathons and eating ice cream with my invalid friend. So life, for the first two weeks was fun, and…calm…. And then….

…I got restless.




Seattle, WA: Salsa dancing, coffee shops, blind dates, Thai classes, and cloudy skies.

Pretty much every week I have been in the Northwest it is safe to say that I have spend at least 2 out of every 7 days in Seattle. Shannon, one of the most amazing women in my life, and long-term crush had been living in the Emerald City since she returned from a year in Edinburgh. We met on top of the sundial overlooking gasworks park as the boats sailed across Lake Union while the kites flew high above, walked the streets, talked for hours in coffee shops and went on long bike rides while we watched the leaves turn along the University paths. We would salsa nights away.

I’ve been attending my old Buddhist temple and taking Thai classes twice a week.

Portland, OR: Couchsurfing madness! Breakfast parties, steaks and strippers, couchsurfing roadtrips to the Oregon Coast, cycling around the Willamette, auto vandalism by crackheads…oh, and more salsa dancing…!




Yes, Portland was crazy fun, and just plain crazy with Shannon at my side once again! (I kidnapped her…hehe), and at 5:45am I awoke to a CSer Eric calling my cell waiting to meet me outside with 3 other CS friends to take a road trip to the coast when I found that the back window of my car had been broken into, pieces of my window lie smashed all over the road, and the only item they took was a friends backpack. Sadly and fortunately these thieves were idiots! They ran down the road with the pack upside-down and the contents dumped out all over the street. Our sweaters and granola bars littered the sidewalks. The only thing we were missing was what to tell my friend Ethan when he asked for his pack back…. oops… Apart from that the trip to the coast, the hike up to Haystack rock and the drive back was amazing. Cycling in Portland with Shannon was beautiful and we were welcomed with clear, crisp skies and the sun shining through the clouds. We dined on Moroccan food with live belly dancing and the next night Lebanese at one of the best restaurants in Portland and one of my favs, Nicolas Restaurant. After we hit the clubs to sample some Portland Salsa! We ended our time there with a spontaneous breakfast party we threw at our CS hosts house where we invited 10 other surfers in the area for bacon, pancakes and eggs galore! Our goodbye to Rose City was grand!



…and now I am heading up to Bellingham. To, yet again throw another CS gathering, and yet again continue on my journey of itchy feet. In 4 days I shall be in Boston… then beyond!!!

South Tacoma Way.

When midnight seems to transcend through me and the hours to 4 am I stir. As I listen to melancholic chords that harmonize and synchronize my heart to distant ideas of home I am awake. I am awake in my stillness… in my sadness and in my unsettling soberness.

I am dreaming on South Tacoma Way. I am dreaming of fields of grass after February rains toward the back of the baseball ditch just left of the track and field on which we use to run. The trains of life are long, and intersect at distant stops like San Antonio where we are… where we never thought we’d be over half a decade later after half a decade of silence. Train stations are funny.

Briefing at LAX

Hello everyone in New Mexico land and abroad!

My apologies that I have been out of touch for so long… I have basically been flying so fast from place to place that it’s been really hard to sit down and focus on writing people.

In the past couple of months I have been to: WASHINGTON- Bellingham, Mt. Vernon, Olympia, Seattle, OREGON-Portland, Lincoln City; MASS-Boston, Maynard; CANADA-Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island; MAINE-Portland…and now Los Angeles, California, where my flight is delayed back to Seattle due to heavy rains and winds hitting the Northwest.

Why you may ask am I in LA? Well, basically on business having to do with my Thailand Visas and paperwork. I flew in this morning and am flying back this evening. So now I guess I should officially state that I am leaving this continent! My ticket is booked and I am flying to/moving to Thailand on November 24th… AKA next Saturday!

Life in the States, since I became without a permanent home (weekends in Seattle, weekdays in Oympia, and most of the time out in New England somewhere…) has been pretty crazy and full of traveling, and crossing off things on my major check list of things to do before I move overseas.

But before I ramble and rant incoherently since I am so so good at doing that (some of you may know…especially if Kristin has been talking crap about me again :P ) Let me rewind a bit and give my readers a couple installations of my events. These are slightly backdated and relay, in short detail, my happenings of the past 1.5 months in chronological order. –You should be receiving another email shortly after this one titled: “Limbo” –The Great Pacific Northwest.


Once again, thanks for reading, and keep watching the email box for more updates!

Greeting from Truckee, California!

…and that’s how the postcard would begin if I could send a postcard to each of you.


I leave for Burning Man shortly after I press the send button. My drive from Santa Fe to here-about two miles down the road from where the Donner Party cannibalized themselves- was just about as crazy and random as an encounter with Mel may seem. From trying to sleep in the community park in Flagstaff, AZ where ho-bo’s awoke me and asked if I was hungry and wanted to go eat with them (I did by the way, and it was awesomely delicious! They even gave me a bag for the road!) to swinging on giant kidney-shaped pillows on Sunset Blvd, a stroll through a corset shop in Hollywood to jumping in lakes at 6500 at sunset with a bottle of the most amazing sherry in my left hand and a dear friend in the other…

However, before I continue this story of my perpetual motion let me just make you all aware that the morning I left Santa Fe- just moments after the sun had just begun to play on the tops of the Sangre de Cristos- it seemed that my heart was breaking a thousand times. As I flew down I-25 I made sure to fly and to not turn around and look back since most of you who know me knew how hard it was for me to leave that beautiful place that most of you still live in. That wondrous place with the most hypnotic skies had her long fingers dug straight into my hair and seemed to be pulling harder the faster I was flying away.

But now… I’m gone.

I will never forget that that was home. And you are reading this right now since I want you to know that I thank you for making that such an amazing home to be in…

…and with that short piece of bittersweet accompanied by grotesquely long run-on sentences I will seal my electronics in their air-tight pockets, and head off to a week in the dust of the great Black Rock City.

-See you after Burning Man!

Wheeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mellington Cartwright III

(Aug. 2007, Truckee, CA: This was actually before the Burn. oops.)


Pic: me with my lovely new elephant friend PHIL! while we drink wine and do funny dances!




PS: lunar eclipse tomorrow!

Dying, Reawakening and Decompression in Reno, Nevada.

(Sept. 2007, Reno, NV.--on the road, back from my first Burn.)

I have just finished dyeing my hair blue in the Peppermill Casino hotel in Reno, Nevada. Temp: 91 degrees outside- Time: 10 am- State of Mind: Cuture shock. Hours of sleep in the past 24 hours: 12

Average hours of sleep per night at Burning Man: 3

Before the 12 hours of sleep only interrupted by small meals and bathroom breaks I had been playing in the desert with only about 2-4 hours of sleep a night. The days were at least 100 degrees if not more and full of afternoon dust storms that would white out all peripherals leaving you with yourself, your goggles, and only 3 feet in front of you to see.

The heat and dust were harsh, yet cleansing. After day three you no longer care about how clean or dusty you are… you submit yourself to the vastness of the space you are in, and the deadly midday heat that humbles you.

Here you are neither rich nor poor since money is not a factor. There is no money exchange among people in Black Rock City (accept for only coffee and ice if you really need it) You are not judged by how much you make, or your financial position in society…what may only matter is how awesome your costume looks to you, and if it’s what you truly love to wear if you could wear it every time you decided to celebrate. In the city we give gifts without hoping to receive something in exchange… or we give gifts or help in gratitude of generosity and kindness.

For those of you who know nothing about Burning Man you should research it. For those of you looking for a once in a lifetime experience that you will find nowhere else that will shock you, cleanse you, and allow you to celebrate…I highly recommend you look into it. It is found in a city that only exists for 7 days a year, growing to become the 5th largest city in the state of Nevada. It is a city where your money is no good, where you can be whoever you are, dress however you want, and be accepted by a society that is built on openness that welcomes you.





My week began in loneliness… arriving late Monday night on the Playa where Black Rock City (the city and prehistoric lakebed where the Burn takes place) I pitched tent alone… the first in my camp to arrive… then I jumped on my bike at sundown, face painted like a clown, corsets and all-and explored the illumination sculptures lit up in the vast darkness of the desert.

The sky was my first friend, leading me along in the darkness as I experienced the wonderment alone. As the week progressed I began to collect a merry band of traveler and friends to explore with: Maddy and Andre, dear friends of mine I met while couchsurfing in Boston the trio of us we inseparable, and their hearts are my home- Patrick, a Canadian couch surfer with a wandering heart and a vibrant spirit, I would wander the desert with him and kiss under the stars and illuminating orbs of light, and fireballs as we passed them by- Micheal, a healer who helped balance my chakra points and allowed me to mediate and reflect on internal anger and pain, and to honor my feelings and to forgive myself. He was my guide, and a trusted friend. Together we balanced each other and taught me what unconditional love meant without possession and without physical intimacy.

Some of you may ask me if I had fun- yes I did, immensely. However “fun” is not the reason I went. I went to end an era, to burn things I plan to leave behind, to say farewell to friends of the past, and anger of the past, and to forgive myself, and prepare for my journeys to come. I came to burn my sadness, and to honor myself.

This experience has opened my eyes, made my heart humbled, and created amazing bubbles of thoughts in my head concerning revelations on humankind, kindness and the life force of the world. Do I sound a little Hippy-Dippy-New-age? For those of you who know me I am very pragmatic, practical and logical, and over analytical, but the energy and healing that the desert shoved into my soul while stripping me down of many other social factors has stirred something greater in my awareness of mortal role in this reality and my interactions with people.


I cannot explain to you what happened in the desert to me this past week among the raves at night, the interactive art, the bouncy castles full of naked people, the tantric orgasmic breathing workshops, the hair-washing camps, the revolving martini bars, the geodesic domes full of shag carpeting, the giant 3 person swing covered in dildos, the pleasure palace sex tents, the trampolines, the crazy art cars, the dust storms, the massages, the healing tents, the monkey chanting, the lessons of unconditional love, the swinging hexagonal canopy bed with the starlit view, and the circus performances and carnival people I be-friended. All of the memories listed above are small snapshots of the building blocks of my inconceivable week of evolution.

For those of you who have written me… thank you… for those of you who haven’t… thank you for reading my writings. My apologies that this email was a touch longer than I had anticipated, regardless I hope you all are well wherever you are mentally and/or physically. I send my love, and will see you soon!

I feel a world away from where I was when I left Santa Fe. Now I this small hotel room I begin to pack my bags for my next journey to another kind of home. Next stop: Olympia, WA, the smell of the South Puget Sound, and the shade of evergreen trees…




Wheeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mellington Cartwright III

the grains of white sand run down....

Santa Fe, NM- Aug. 2007: (my painful and conflicting thoughts on leaving the magic here.)



Current mood: nostalgic
Category: Life




I am feeling that my heart will break. I do not want to leave Santa Fe. Every sunrise and sunset I will miss, and promise to kiss the last 14 that I will see in the magical and wondrous place that I have lived in for 363 days it will be.
People beg me not to leave... artists...cyclists....boxers...editors...business men...bookkeeper...collectors...writers....curators...waitresses...all good good friends.

It seems that this community has opened it's arms to me with much love (and...sure... come drama... okay...mucho drama) and I love this community just that same. Everyday I bike down the road I see at least half a dozen people I know, and most of those who I adore to spend time with. I will miss my critical masses...I will miss my Thursday night salsa dances and my tango classes...I will miss boxing class, lifting weights and self defense... I will miss volunteering at the CCA and photo and wine auctions... I will miss BBQ with Lynn and sunsets on Kristin's roof deck with a glass for chardonnay... I will miss the endless stars that hover above the japanese bath house, and I will miss the beating sun shining on me as I jump off of red rock cliffs into Lake Abiquiu. There will be no more drinks with Pascal... no more goth clubs with Liz... no more movies with Merin... I will miss all those people... I will miss the studio and working until 3-4 am ...I will miss feeling the insides of my soul as I fall back in love with myself over and over again with the help of my metal friends and my saw in hand....I will miss cooking with the club, and the fun times of eating out at my favorite noodle bar... Mu-Du. But most of all.... I will miss my mentor, Kristin...

This is that land that Georgia O'Keffe lived in and never left. She stayed at Ghost Ranch, and died in Santa Fe. I now understand why... this place is magical and if it wants you to stay it will suck you in and hold you tight... in all of it's drama... in all of it's solace... in all of it's quiet and baffling beauty.


Northern New Mexico...how my heart feels like it will being scraped with a rusty file I miss you so. I do not want to leave your endless hugs from kissing sunshine to biting snow to windy spring time and tasty autumn. You are, and will forever be a part of my heart, but I cannot stay since the train of Mellington Cartwright does not stop here.... as much as a part of me would like for it to stop upon one of your still mesas where I could meditate out one hundred miles in every direction.

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVyhykwl-2dpgJclActlwJ9nNusGGX_zuy41_ZVn0UyASj1WKOocIYIvXpNUJdS0bop50n5bZg_7IMxBJeh6knWYtyMesVuD4eEiGf1uIu_Z5nY-YaLE51E_HtvrBUl6dmdUutbDfngdhl/s1600-h/IMAG1491.JPG">




-Mellington Cartwright III

Where the Nomadic Journey Began...

from Sept. 15th 2007:


(when the journey of a year began after I sold all my things, had a massive going away party in Santa Fe, stopped by Burning Man for the first time and became homeless for a while.)

To the Wonderful of Wonders!

hello everyone! Okay, okay... I'm sorry that it's taken me so damn long to get off my lazy ass and upload these pictures. ugh! but I finally did!

okay, so below are two links.

one is to Burning Man : http://www.flickr.com/photos/13256378@N08/sets/72157601943684976/

and Santa Fe/Going Away Party : http://www.flickr.com/photos/13256378@N08/sets/72157601960530790/


hope that no one will muffle me with a pillow because I was so slow in getting these to everyone. I will be sending out more updates soon, but currently I've been to exhausted in the evenings to get online between cleaning house, and helping my friend Sam who just got out of Knee surgery. Regardless I will be responding to emails soon.


Hope you are all well and having a lovely romp through life!

Wheeee!!!!!!!!!!!


mellyMElly Melly-Mel

HI! Welcome to the back closet of Mellington's archived stories.

Most of you have probably known me as a metalsmith. Well... some of you also know me very well as a wandering vagabond. While I have been homeless and anything BUT stationary for the past year and without studio to call my own I have been writing quite a bit. Lots of travel writing, memoir writing, some fiction, but mostly it has been a yeah of non-fiction. Since my life has been so crazy since 2007 I have decided that I need to catalog my experiences.

So here you have it! I will begin posting all of my mass emailed stories, random postcards from the road, hops through countries, hitchhiking through korean green tea fields, bribes from small town vietnamese mafia, lave in the desolate and peaceful Bhutan all the way to fitness centers in Singapore, Christmas Eve in Laos and the never-ending story of my search for balance in the duality of not only being masculinly feminine, but Asian-American overseas and back again.

Thanks for reading my archives. Please do let me know if you enjoy them!

Sincerely ever yours,

Mellington L. Cartwright