look, I could sit and moan and wish and hope for as long as I like.

but it comes down to, well, basically – enough is enough.

no – not ‘enough is enough’, more like…I gots to get movin’.

-

it was sunny when I woke up and I begrudgingly walked the Nile to the U.S. Embassy,

hoping for a throw-back to the 60′s when they’d give ya a bit of cash,

even though I knew they wouldn’t.

what I really wanted to do was blame Sudan on the fact that I had no money.

$331.83, to be exact. no savings, no credit cards, nothing left to pawn.

damn them! I’d say, as if they weren’t damned enough.

they messed up my plan,

and now I have not enough to fly to Addis Ababa – who’s been calling for a while now.

in all honesty, I was going to inquire about work – anything, I just need three-hundred bucks for the flight.

8am-11am.

fuck off.

4 morning hours are the only window for ‘citizen services’?

gone are the days of the 60′s, as I sweated down the tree-lined alley.

where’s that patriotism we all felt when Elizabeth Shue outran the bad Russian in ‘The Saint’,

wildly waving her passport and diving in while the large black man stared down the thugs.

guess we can’t do that now, hmmmm?

I might even get flack for typing ‘black man’.

back to the cafe where I started Paul Theroux,

who stole my idea for a trip.

but you, Paul, had lived in Africa.

and you had money.

I did not.

so I smoked and I drank mint tea, no longer able to throw $0.50 here-and-there as tips.

hope they still like me.

back home for lunch, those damn chicken sandwiches.

and then it hit me.

walking by the ATM flanked by an armed guard.

a delay!

a slight delay between here-and-Oklahoma.

meaning a slight delay between banks that speak.

I tried for $600, which would give me breathing room.

I ended getting $455.

which means I could hop on a flight tomorrow evening,

hopefully get a visa at the airport.

and have $50 to spare once I walk out those doors.

$50 to find a cheap place to stay,

$50 that would give me a few days max to find an NGO,

missionaries,

someone to stay with.

now, say what you will about irresponsible banking and travel,

showing up in a poor country poor.

but it’s either this or wait around for something to happen.

the man upstairs helps those who help themselves, hmmmm?

this might not be what was intended, but if my initial goal is Ethiopia,

then I just need to go,

to get there,

and figure out the next step later.

leave the details to the genius.

I’m just gonna show up.

’cause the feeling I have right now,

in my tummy and in my throat,

feels like adventure.

and I’m in need of a proper adventure.

-

look, some of you are reading this right now, thinking ‘he needs some money’ and you’re right. but please don’t send some – I need to be down to my very last in order for this adventure to work. you know who you are, and I love you [all] to bits. just send good energy and, if it’s in your belief, prayers.