Day 257 of Sabbatical and the Ides of March

A clear water pond from a natural spring
from Table Mountain

Today is day 257 of Sabbatical, and it's also March 15th - commonly known as the Ides of March. This was the date that the Roman and Greek gods settled debts. (For the American federal government, the day of reconciliation comes on April 15th.) The most famous Ides is known for the assassination of Julius Cesar.

I think I'm lucky; I don't think I owe anyone anything; in fact, I'm debt free. After paying off my law school debt, I decided to go on a big sabbatical. And now, I'm on day 257; that's eight and a half months from being away from home and not formally working.

At this point, I'm tired of site seeing. I feel like if I go see another site, just for the sake of someone saying I must see it, I'm going to have a site-seeing-bulimic reaction.

I met a Japanese guy at my hostel who also felt the same way. He was traveling Africa for 9 months and said he felt tired too. As a result, I've stayed in Cape Town for two weeks now. I should write more on what I've seen and done.

I'm posting a picture of a natural spring I found at Table Mountain. The water was so clear and there was green algae growing in it with tadpoles. I drank from it, because I ran out of water.

The water tasted so fresh and good. And I'm posting this picture, because I think I need to do more reflection and reading. In East Asian thought - my mother always taught me that clear and pure water represents sound thinking and a clean spirit.

In any event, I emailed someone famous on what I should do with the rest of my sabbatical. I asked him:

"(1) What would you do differently on your third sabbatical?"

He wrote back:

"A. Figuring out what I really was interested in.

"B. Making a plan that made sure I was working on those things."

I guess that's what I need to do next. How do I go about figuring out what I'm really interested in?