Quo Vadis?

So I usually spend an hour or two every morning studying Chinese, usually via Chinese Pod, and reading Chinese-related blogs, in part because I am keeping my own blog on China in anticipation of the book. This morning, I read a James Fallows article in the new edition of The Atlantic (on line). Fallows spent three years in Beijing. In the article he considers the issue of whether America is in decline. It's a great read, highly recommended. But I have other things on my mind. In particular, what to do next. I was contacted by the Peace Corps regarding the possibility of going to Indonesia in April or May for six or eight months (they tend to be rather vague). The one thing that would hold me back, and it is a rather big thing, is the promise to my editor that I would be around to promote the book in the fall. Since there is a possibility of the book coming out in January, the Peace Corps is still an option. But in truth, it is probably not much of an option, because the book really needs to come out sooner rather than later.





Getting exhausted trying to plan out a travel schedule for the rest of the year. I may have written it up elsewhere, but here is the latest incarnation (all dates are approximate, as is my sanity):

Jan 26: Tucson to Tokyo
Feb 3: Tokyo to Bangkok (Chiang Mai)
Feb 26: Bangkok to Chengdu
June 17: Beijing/Shanghai to SFO (SACP June 18-21)
June 21: SFO to Tucson
July 8: Tucson to Boston (for Thoreau conference July 8-11)
July 12: Boston to Rome
July 13: Rome to Athens (for philosophy conferency/research)
Sept 18: Athens to Rome
Sep 21: Rome to Boston
Sept 28: Boston to Tucson

The goal is to spend a semester studying in China, a couple of months in the summer in Greece, and then fall in Concord Massachusetts, primarily at the Thoreau Library. That is at least the goal of the book, which would include as well winter in India. Visiting each of the world's wisdom traditions during a season (counting Concord, Massachusetts as part of this lot). An ambitious plan, to say the least. (Yes, other words could be used to describe it as well).