The inspirational tale that lead to the creation of AndRos Publications

  Last week I met a fascinating person: 

Professor Hiroko. 

  We covered many topics and when travel came up, I mentioned that I had been sending out travelogs of all of my travels but was becoming more and more ambivalent about continuing to write them; she wanted to know more. I went into it and also revealed to her that I had been paring down the recipient list as well. Why?

  Well, I was growing tired of the 404 error codes, the e-mail address updates and mostly repopulating the addressees every time in the blind copy line. I couldn’t simply forward my new travelog to those from the previous one. I guess this is a feature of the BCC that I never knew about or maybe you can and I simply haven’t figured out how. 

  Anyhoo, I was only sending my e-mails to those who seemed receptive to my observations and the list was getting shorter after each trip. As I was talking about this, it suddenly occurred to me that this was an emotional flashback to my early days of travel when I’d send out tons of postcards to friends and family. 

  Back then it wasn’t cheap. A couple hundred dollars was about 3 to 4 days of living. A buck for the card then ½ a day wasted waiting in line at the post office to pay another buck for the stamp. 

  What always got me down was when months or even years later, I would look at my little fridge and it was covered with maybe 3 postcards that I had received in return. All this came back with regards to these travelogs. Man, emotions are a bitch! 

  This is where Prof Hiroko stepped in and flipped the script. 

  Instead of “chasing” my recipients, as in writing out each address from one e-mail to another, she told me to switch it around: have “them” come to me! 

  “They come, they go, they like, they don’t like, it’s no longer your responsibility”, said the Prof. “You just do what you do.” 

She’s so Zen. 

  I should just concentrate on the writing, which is what I’m really starting to explore and enjoy. And so to that end, I’ve established a website to post all of my musings, observations, thoughts, a short story or two, and yes, even my latest travelog. You are all welcome to visit, pass it on to others if you like, and even post a comment, once I figure out how to set up that feature.

  Whew, that’s a weight off my shoulders. Thanks Hiroko sensei! Oh and next time, let’s NOT have that 4th lychee martini!

  And so, AndRos Publications came to be.

  I hope you enjoy it.