Category Archives: Smart Risks

Travel The World. Meet New People. Slap Them Around.

By Roadmonkey | Published January 15, 2013

Have you ever wanted to use a large, pot-bellied man as a musical instrument? You’re not the first. If that didn’t make you laugh…you have issues.

Also posted in creativity, New Places | Tagged fat, music, musicians, obesity, orchestra, pot belly, travel | Leave a comment

Unlikely Olympians: 4 Athletes Who Beat the Odds

By Roadmonkey | Published August 10, 2012

by Cecee McDaniel Olympic athletes are, in a phrase, amazing people. Their displays of strength, endurance and mental toughness are the reason we watch the human drama that is the Olympic Games. Here’s four Olympians who forged unconventional paths to the London Games: John Orozco, 19, is an American gymnast and the 2012 national [...]

Also posted in Athletics, Culture Clash, Dreaming Big, Olympics | Tagged 2012 Olympics, against the odds, ambition, American dream, athletes, career, conditioning, endurance, exploring, Haley Nemra, John Orozco, Lauren Perdue, London Games, Melanie Roach, mental toughness, mindfulness, Olympic athletes, Olympic Games, perseverance, Roadmonkey | Leave a comment

Was Bruce Lee a Roadmonkey?

By Roadmonkey | Published April 24, 2012

The legendary Bruce Lee, a martial artist and student of philosophy, lived his life as if it were a series of opportunities, challenges and celebrations. In that regard, you could argue that he was living la vida Roadmonkey in his own, Bruce Lee way. (This is what happens when you stay up too late watching [...]

Also posted in Dreaming Big, Kickass Exploring, Mindful Living | Tagged "Bruce Lee", action adventure, adventure, enter the dragon, explorers, fists of fury, gung fu, Hong Kong, iconoclast, jeet kune do, kung fu, return of the dragon, Roadmonkey, salsa danging, wing chun | 2 Comments

Why I Left The New York Times

By Roadmonkey | Published April 19, 2012

People have asked me to explain why I left a successful career as a New York Times staff writer. Other people wondered about the genesis of Roadmonkey. They’re two sides of the same coin, really. Here’s the story: I’ll start with a sentence I wrote, in 2010, for MindFood, an Australian monthly that asked me [...]

Also posted in Adventure Philanthropy, Dreaming Big | Tagged ambition, American dream, career, corporate, creativity, journalism, New York City, New York Times, paul von zielbauer, professional goals, quiet desperation, Roadmonkey, self realization | 1 Comment

“One thing you dream of doing before you die….”

By Roadmonkey | Published April 1, 2012

ABOUT FOUR YEARS AGO a Columbia University student, Jenny Lam, created an intimate portrait of New York dreams and aspirations by allowing hundreds of city residents to anonymously write down one thing they want to do before they leave this Earth. Ms. Lam placed pre-stamped postcards all over Manhattan. Each bore a return address to [...]

Also posted in Dreaming Big, Mindful Living | Tagged "bucket list", "New York", art, dreams, manhattan, neuroses, nyc, Postcards, public art | 1 Comment

The Meaning of Roadmonkey

By Roadmonkey | Published March 29, 2012

Many people ask us what Roadmonkey means. Not literally but figuratively. Except non-English speakers, who actually do want to know the dictionary definition of road • monk • ey. (There isn’t one). Roadmonkey means all of the things below. But it also means what you have come to think of Roadmonkey. The definition lives [...]

Also posted in Adventure Philanthropy, Kickass Exploring, Mindful Living | Tagged creativity, culture, happiness, identity, meaning, Roadmonkey, travel | Leave a comment