And so it begins

Hello and good day to anyone and everyone who has stumbled across this blog: a forum for what will surely become the ramblings of a mad man.  My name is Nathan Bradford Dixon, and though my life may seem less than exciting at its current juncture (I'm right now reclining in a la-zy-boy at my parent's house in front of a television set with my left ankle propped on pillows and covered with ice-filled zip-lock bags because I sprained it at the climbing gym yesterday), I'm sure the pace will pick up in the weeks to come.  Excitement is surely on its way.

Not that I'm counting on this blog making me the next Perez Hilton.  Lord no.  If I was that sassy, I would have claimed my stake to a television show on VH1 or Fox News years ago.  This is not that type of blog.

To set the record straight: I am not familiar with blogging.  I have heard of "blogs" and "bloggers," but I have never set sail across the waters of the internet in search of either one.  In fact, I have never visited a single blog, and to my knowledge I've never met a blogger.  This would be what my college professors would call "not doing one's research."  But I'm not in college any more, so I don't have to listen to them.

Instead I have taken the path of least resistance and done what any mediocre college student would do when confronted with a question: I have visited the not-so-encyclopedic Wikipedia in search of answers.  According to this "fact" filled website "many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries."  I am happy to clarify that the "particular subject" of this blog will be me, making this--to use Wikipedia's wording--an "online diary."  Christ!  The great digital giant has already effemanized me.  But as I am supremely comfortable in my masculinity--even while donning almost any garb designated "female clothing" (daisy dukes, tights, leotards, etc.)--I will let it slide.  Diary or Journal, Chronicle, Log, or Record: it is all a jotting down, a scribbling out of the highs and lows.  It is a word filled window into someone's life.  So here we go...

From mid-May of 2010 through mid-October of 2010 I worked at a camp just outside of Brevard North Carolina.  I will abstain from naming the camp because the contents of this blog do not reflect in any way the position of the camp.  And now that legalities are out of the way, I will say this: It was a fast-paced job that provided both housing and food free of charge.  Thus: a way to turn pay-checks into pure profit.

This has been my scheme since graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:
1.  Find a job that will yield this "pure profit."
2.  Work as if possessed for several months.
3.  Direct Deposit: put paychecks straight into the bank.
4.  Quit work once either a) the season ends, or b) it becomes unbearable.
5.  Live as a vagabond off of savings for as long as possible (at least as long as the work lasted).
6.  Every penny counts here:
     Cheap Beer, Cheap Whiskey, black beans and rice, tuna and cabbage, banana and peanut butter.
     That is all, my friends, now move it along...
7.  And... Repeat

This last stint at the Camp has provided me with enough dough to purchase a plane ticket to New Zealand.  This is the reason for the blog.  To keep in touch with friends and family while I am gone.  If anyone else wants to read, then go on.  I love it.  I fly out of North Cackalack on November 8th.  Good-bye to the Old North State, and Hello to the Land of the Long White Cloud.  I am southern and headed south.  And so it begins...