Update Overload?

Its me again. I am finding that it is hard to stay consistently busy for every waking hour (especially when you stink and are all sticky and gross). Since it has been a challenge to stay busy, I am gracing those who actually read this with another update.

Day 12 - July 22:
Well, I found a place to stay last night, but had to be out by 5:30am. Something is better than nothing, right?!
Since I up so early, I went over to the beach and tried to sleep there for a bit. Harder than I thought! Beaches are hard... and sandy!
When I couldn't "rest" anymore, I got up and started walking down the beach, picking up any trash I could find - finishing when I realized I hadn't eaten breakfast and my stomach was hungry.
After breakfast, I went to the Panama City Beach Visitors Center to see if they could help me find some organizations to volunteer with the area. All they did was give me the phone book to take with me. They also gave me a $5 off coupon to Winn Dixie, so I went over there and got some more food to hopefully hold me up for the rest of my stay here.
I then headed for some shade so that I could look through the phone book and maybe make some calls... only to find that it is nearly impossible to find shade in this city! If there is some shade, it is "Private Property." Sad day... Luckily, I found one on the OPPOSITE side of town. I parked and started going through the phone book...
... When I was awoken by a homeless guy wanting money! The heat is exhausting and I had dozed off... Anyway, I was able to talk with the homeless man - Matthew - for a while, share some of my food, and interviewed him. It was a good time had by all!
After that, I decided to go back to the beach... this time to swim... for the first time in probably a decade or longer! And when I say swim, it wasn't so much of swimming or having a party in the Gulf... because it was pretty shallow for a ways out, and its hard to have too much fun all alone! Instead, I tried to have a somewhat spiritual experience... Just me and the millions of gallons of salt water. I stood in the water and felt the various pulls of the currents near my feet and near the surface, and everywhere in between. As the waves crashed into me, I found it interesting that I had little to no affect on them. They would pound into me and keep on going. A few thoughts...
- I am nothing. In the grand scheme of thing, I am totally nothing... just a small piece of something much greater. But, just like the ocean, it takes millions of single droplets of water to create the ocean. I am just a kid, but it starts with just one to make a difference that can change the world.
- Work with, not against, the stronger power. There is no way that I could fight against some of those huge waves. I would dig my feet into the ground, but I would still be pulled towards them. Why try to fight against that kind of a force? It was much better to lift my feet, float in the water, and rise and fall with the waves (except for the really big ones - then I would have to jump to clear them)
- Stay afloat. When I wasn't paying attention, I would get pounded by a huge wave, get salt in my mouth and eyes, and it wasn't much fun... When I was paying attention, I was able to move with the water - jump over the waves, move with the currents, and steer clear of the burning eyes!
- Laugh at the extra baggage. So, when I got back to my car, I realized that my pockets were not empty. When I put my hands in, I realized that my front pockets were full of algae, and my back pockets were full of sand. LOTS O SAND. I was puzzled at how that even happened, but had to laugh! Granted, I did not want that stuff to come back to the car with me, but they did. I could have gotten frustrated and upset, but that wouldn't have done anything for me, so I decided to laugh it off!

So, there you have it. When you look for learning experiences, you can get them! Even though I am not really enjoying the extra baggage of being sunburned, sweaty, sticky, and covered in salt, sunscreen, and algae.

Anyway, since I don't have a towel to clean me off from that experience, I decided to walk along the beach and clean again until I dried off! I got quite a bit further down the beach this time before I had hunger strike again... I headed to the parking lot of McDonalds, used their restroom to wash my arms off (something is better than nothing, right?!) and then headed back outside for a yummy dinner of canned spaghetti-o's, canned beans, and chips. Mmmm!

And now you know my day! I hope y'all aren't getting bored of this! It has only begun!