Here we go.

It never fails: I always start with good intentions. I cannot begin to count the number of times I've said, "Self, you need to document this experience." I've marched to the bookstore, picked up some new journal (perhaps with a subtle travel motif), and hopped on the plane. I diligently recorded my thoughts.

For the first two days.

And now I have a stack of journals with a few run on sentences and then page after stark white page of nothingness. It's as if Bob Ross stopped after that first diagonal navy stripe but never got to the happy trees.

Pictures are great. Tchotchkes are great. But - do they really capture fleeting thoughts and ephemeral ponderings? Perhaps not. So, maybe this is my attempt at really - I mean, REALLY - documenting what I'm seeing, what I'm feeling. By writing this in a blog, I'm tricking myself into believing I have an "audience." Clearly, it's never worked to write simply to myself, so maybe if I type thinking that there's someone on the other end - someone who will hold me accountable - then maybe I'll finish what it is I'm attempting to start.

So, why India? Honestly, I'm not quite sure. There is this draw to the exotic, of course, but I also feel like I'm looking for something that I've never quite found anywhere else. Here's a bigger question: What is that "something"? Again, not sure. Awe and admiration of the human spirit? Some monumental self-discovery? Clarity? A make-out session? Maybe all of the above? We all know I've been lacking the latter, but I digress...

I'm going into this trip with my senses, my mind, my heart completely open. What happens, happens. What I see, I see. What I eat, I eat. Where I end up, I end up. That being said, though, I have a short list of things I definitely want to do. Here goes:

1. Ride an elephant. The last time this happened I was probably about six and at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Decked out in a green t-shirt, I found myself waiting in line next to a pile of hay... which was the same green hue. My pacaderm pal wrapped his trunk around me and tried to pick me up. Needless to say, I haven't packed any green shirts.
2. Attend an Indian wedding. Admittedly, this is a stretch, but my friend Billy read an article in GQ ("Monsoon Wedding Crashers", June 2010) which makes me think this is a possibility.
3. Go to a Bollywood premiere. It'd be even better if I went as someone's date.
4. Eat. Eat. Eat.
5. Come back a changed person. I know this statement is bound to evoke some "Eat. Pray. Love" mockery, but please - I ain't no Julia Roberts.

That being said, let's start packing.

No green shirts, though.