Monday, August 01, 2016
Latest Book "Reconnaissance Man" Now Available!!!
Looks like "Reconnaissance Man" was approved by Amazon and is now available on paperback. Kindle will be coming shortly, and audio will be coming within 4-6 months. In short, the book points out that going to college immediately after high school is stupid, because most young people know nothing about themselves or the world around them. It then advocates all people, young or old, become "Reconnaissance Men" by traveling around the United States to find out not only where they belong, but who they are and what they should study. I then also provide a methodical process by which you can conduct your reconnaissance around the country. GREAT book for teenagers, 20 somethings, and 30 somethings who are wandering around aimlessly in life.
When the money runs low and you haven't found that place in America yet, you'll either stick it out where you've landed or you'll try to go back to one of the places you know that sucks less, even though it still sucks.
ReplyDeleteThis leaves you with the feeling that there isn't such a place in America for you.
I've lived in over twenty American states and I've visited forty-four of them, plus several overseas territories.
I don't consider any of them to be my home, and that point has been driven home by driving around, flying around, and experiencing each of those places.
This is not a Jack Kerouac-styled Catholic "stations of the cross" tour.
This is not a Ken Kesey-styled "let's all get in the big bus" tour.
This is not a Stephen Wright-styled "fuck it all, just get in the car and leave the bitch and the bullshit behind" tour.
This is a soul-wearying "I've outgrown the land of my birth" tour.
I didn't get religion, I didn't get a goofy hippy smile on my face, and I didn't go native.
I have a blue passport featuring a rather pissed-off eagle on it, that says I was born many years ago in a Southern state, and that passport has several stamps in it from my extended wanderings away from America.
But I can't say that wandering away from America has led me to believe there's a home I come back to in it. I'm back in America because I'm out of cash and for a while I'm out of options. My body hurts, I'm tired of dumbass American doctors sticking me and probing me and prescribing crap to me that I'm allergic to, and I can't wait to get away from this.
It's not that I have a near-utopia to go to.
Where I'll be leaving for also sucks, but it sucks in a way that I can tolerate.
This is my Brexit. This is my "leave and prosper" move.
I'm like Fred Reed, but with a significant difference: people tell me that I'm living in America, but I just can't seem to find the America I'd like to live in, and none of it feels like home.
Your mileage (and frequent flyer miles) may vary.
Just ordered. Was able to get free shipping. Didn't like paying taxes on mail order.
ReplyDeleteWhat if i live outside the Us, does this book still applies to people like me?
ReplyDeleteHa! This is basically what I did before college, except I was bussing tables and using my overflow income to find myself all over Europe instead of the State (you could actually bus tables for a living AND afford plane tickets to Europe back then). After a few years of excelling as a language tourist and five years in the newspaper industry, I decided it was time to get a degree involving five different languages so I would have the paper to back up my skills. And I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Highly recommended advice.
ReplyDeleteBravo Captain!
ReplyDeleteDo you know when it will be available for download on Amazon?
Dammit Cappy! I wish you would've wrote that book about 30 years ago! Of course not sure if you would have had the wisdom you have now in your early 40's when you were 10-11 years old.
ReplyDeleteI should've taken a year off between high school and college to get my collective shat together. Instead, following my parents advice, I went to college not knowing where I wanted to go in life. I did poorly that first year and returned home after wasting all of that money. I spent the next year getting my shat together by working and taking a few classes from the local community college. I should've done that first, or just worked for a year then take up traveling for another year. Anyway, by the age of 20-21 I finally had my shat together and figured out what I wanted to do for the next 10 years. I finished school earning a BS STEM degree, did some traveling for both work and pleasure, and also earned a Master's STEM degree (really not needed kids, but it was a goal of mine). My next goal is to figure out how to be Cappy, and just work from home all the time. Trust me kids, as an old guy, be your own boss, with one employee, you. As Cappy has stated working for da'man, well, sucks the life out of you.
I have advised young relatives of mine, if they have no idea of what they want to do after graduating from HS, take a year off to work and travel if possible. I use to advise people to do a stint in the military for 3-4 years, but not so much now. The military is a PC/SJW safe space these days. I have many military friends both enlisted and officers, who don't want their own kids to join up because of the PC/SJW infestation. But don't just jump into college without a plan. Definitely don't go for a stupid worthless degree. Use Cappy as a resource, I do, and I'm an old guy.