Being a drifter
Things that an academic and a drifter have in common:
Travel and live in many places
Bordering on homelessness
Eat whatever he/she sees
Live in a metaphorical cardboard on a good day
Things that we differ, drifters can decide where they drift to. Academics are basically grasping on that plank of wood for dear life, and gets carried wherever the stream decides.
p.s. the image is the cover of a music cd
p.p.s. I am going to California for the summer, thus continuing the drift.
p.p.p.s. Fun fact, drifting is actually one of the first examples they use to teach calculus.