Monday, July 25, 2005

Back on the Wagon

I could easily blame the heat for my lack of drive to post anything, and that's not far off. In general, man oh man, I'm just too darned tuckered out.

However, recent events should make for bit of excitement.

Despite impending poverty and total financial dissolution, I am planning a trip back to the Continent, as I like to so jauntily call it. At the end of September, I'm headed back to London for 10 days. Either I'll be going on a very nifty 6 day walking tour in the South of France or I'll pick some really random European city, like Copenhagen, and spend a few days there.

General ennui has set in and the only way out is to do something totally different and this is pretty much it. I'm hoping that this trip will help me see more of the world and make me feel a little less like this drudgery that is my everyday existence isn't the end all of my life, that's there's more out there for me down the road.

Thus far, I have a ticket. The rest is open for debate. But no matter what happens, it'll be a million times more interesting than my life right now.

Friday, July 01, 2005

Something Good to Report (for a change)

When I lived in NY, and before everyone started to get married and essentially grow up, I had a very closeknit group of friends, a bunch of boys, with whom I pretty much did everything. We went to movies, to dinner, to concerts. We played video games, exchanged books, and did our best to be there for each other. And in rare circumstances, which I was thankfully not included in, there were beatings if you mistakenly stood in the beating corner.

For one summer the five of us, for all intents and purposes, lived in the same apartment and several of us regard that summer as one of the best times of our lives. Every night was an adventure and every weekend brought on new levels of drunkenness. But it was definitely something special that I can never expect to be replicated.

But as I said, everyone has pretty much gotten married and we live in different states. The last time all of us were together was at a dinner the night before one of the guys got married. It wasn't the same, but it was real good nonetheless.

While some of us are in better direct contact than others, through the magic of the internet, we communicate everyday. It usually starts with someone sending out an article, movie review or online comic and then the emails fly fast and furious. Sometimes someone just starts yammering on about a favorite TV show and we all chime in.

More often lately, the conversations have been turning to politics and though it really shouldn't surprise me, a lot of us have very differing opinions about what goes on in that sphere. The responses range from conservative to liberal and everything in between. I like to think of it as a nice crosssection of the American voting public...who has a vested interest in things related to Israel, of course.

While none of this makes up for not being able to sit up together till 5 am, drinking scotch, playing Tekken, and watching the occasional beating, I am delighted that we still manage to be in each others lives to this extent.