Hi friends. It’s been an eventful few weeks: encouraging, demoralizing and busy. A brief list in order, more or less:
1) I bench pressed 300 lbs. A goal I’ve had for quite some time, but it seemed a bit underwhelming because I’ve known I had it in me for a while now. I probably had a shot at 315 but I’m being careful in my old age.
2) Killed a dog. Very fucking depressing. Actually, I wasn’t the first one to hit it when it ran out in traffic but that doesn’t make me feel much better. I generally prefer dogs to people so this was pretty tough for me.
3) My sweetie and I decided that she’s gonna come bunk with me. We’ve been tossing it around for awhile. This is good. Other aspects of my domestic situation having nothing to do with her are not very good at all.
4) I took a week off from work and went to Philly for a few days to see my 91 year old grandmother who has just recently suffered a broken hip. Her second one in the last fifteen years or so. Her mobility is probably gone for good now. Her mind is still awfully sharp and she reads the Philadelphia Inquirer every day. More on this later I think. While in Philly, I pay careful attention to the character of the locals: how they talk, what they talk about, how they carry themselves, what their attitude toward the world is. I come to this conclusion: it turns out there’s nothing inherently wrong with me, I’m just from Philadelphia.
5) I attended my first Hindu wedding. I wonder how many times a Hindu marriage ceremony between an Indian man and a Japanese woman, followed by lunch at an Italian restaurant, has happened in the American south? Actually there are probably lots of similar stories anywhere the gloablized economy is in full effect. A very colorful ceremony, literally—it was beautiful, and a good time was had.
6) Celebrated my ma's birthday last night. She's a good person and it made me happy that she had a good time.
I’ve left a thing or two off but I’ll get around to the rest. Sorry to have been out of touch recently. I hope you all are well.
