The original intent of this post was to photo-document my adventures during Columbus Day in October. I thought (and still think) that the idea of "exploring" Dayton on Columbus Day was a clever play on words during the holiday. With an entire day of freedom, I plotted out a few goals to structure my time, namely breakfast at Butter Cafe, lunch at Smokin' BBQ, and dinner/trivia night at The Pub. How I would arrive at each goal, though, was up in the air, an adventure waiting to happen.
~~~~~~
[An overview of my travels (all on foot) through Dayton on Columbus Day, courtesy of Google Maps]
~~~~~~
Like any good Asian, I took a lot of pictures as I wandered the streets of Dayton, but trying to post them all with individual commentary proved to be too tedious and made the post look too cluttered. There were some particularly nice shots that I wanted to share though.
~~~~~~
[E: Pausing in the middle of the street and looking back north up Main St.]
[F: A beautiful shot of the rising sun amongst clouds over Route 35.]
[G: There was something tragic(?)/ironic(?) about seeing a Salvation Army store boarded up. This was the first time on my journey that I realized how blind I've been during the hustle and bustle of residency. I've passed this building countless times, driving to and from work/errands/social gatherings, and never noticed it until I took the time on Columbus Day to slow down my life and simply walk down the street.]
~~~~~~
[K: A post-breakfast walk through Woodland Cemetary and Arboretum, with stops at the grave of the Wright Brothers and a view of the Dayton cityscape. There was also a pretty cool Civil War portion of the cemetary.]
~~~~~~
It was during breakfast at Butter Cafe that I started cultivating the thought behind this post. You see, I used to be an avid Foursquare user when it first came out. The thought of racking up purely symbolic points against other friends was enough motivation for me to "check in" at even the most mundane locations. After receiving a few purely symbolic badges, the novelty of the game soon wore off. In hindsight, I think the purely symbolic nature of Foursquare points just wasn't worth the effort it took to maintain my place on the ever-changing leaderboard. However, during Columbus Day, I opened up my Foursquare app and on a whim tapped the "Explore" button for the first time. This was a new feature that was introduced a few updates ago, and one that I simply hadn't paid much attention to until that day while I was sipping my hot cup of coffee, waiting for my delicious Bacon, Avacodo & Tomato Omelette.
Turns out, that decision helped add to my itinerary that day! Through Foursquare's "Explore" feature I found a section specifically dedicated to tourist-y sites (How appropriate!), which led me to find the Stewart Street Bridge. Not only that, on my way to visit the bridge I discovered Dayton's Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park, and from the park I discovered the Point of Peace.
~~~~~~
~~~~~~
This string of happy surprises has led to a change in attitude. Other possible titles for this post might have been "Meta-Exploration" and "Explorations in Exploring." This is because on Columbus Day, I learned to explore for exploration's sake. I learned to forget about collecting artificial points and simply enjoy the journey. Since that marathon of a day, I've come to enjoy walking whenever I can. If anything, the freedom of movement that comes with being a pedestrian gives me the chance to see streets I might not otherwise commute on, and from a perspective I might not otherwise appreciate. Just today, for example, walking to get dinner from the Oregon District led me to the Dayton courthouse plaza, and on a whim deciding to take out my Thai 9 udon soup and sushi to Riverscape helped me stumble across the Riverscape Metropark Ice Rink (which I didn't even know existed).
~~~~~~
[Christmas tree and ice skating. December has arrived.]
~~~~~~
I'm hoping to extend this spirit of exploration into my academic life also. I'm halfway done with my Emergency Medicine block, and have three more Internal Medicine blocks left. Although I would obviously prefer to be working psychiatry cases, having a spirit of exploration has helped me get the most out of these Internal Medicine months. (At the same time, assessing patients with acute mental status change and seeing what I think was my first case of serotonin syndrome has kept the rotation relevant.) Even if it isn't related to psychiatry, knowledge is still knowledge, and I've come to appreciate learning for learning's sake, in the hopes that happy surprises keep coming my way.
On that note, explore away!