The Garret

My darlings, I have not dropped off the face of the planet—though it sort of feels like it—no, I am in California, and here I stay for the foreseeable future. Mind you, I can only deal with the future about two weeks in advance, so you see the problem with my life planning skills right here.

I have traveled by train and by car from one end of the country to the other, with lots of detouring in between and a brief stint where my friend M and I seriously considered becoming casino waitresses in Reno and then writing a trashy novel about it. mousapelli took me to a palace of wonders called Chocolate World and let me sleep on her couch and bond with Datte and watch all her con DVDs.

This has actually backfired, though, because now I’m in a KAT-TUN phase, and somebody needs to take all my music away from me, because I keep listening to 勇気の花 and then sobbing every time it gets to Hittori ja nai yo, nakama ga iru yo.

See, I'm crying again. No, stop. A road trip is more than what you leave behind. I have seen little harbor towns and shining cities and also elephants and a whole lot of sagebrush. I have participated in philosophical conversations about the human condition (lasting most of Kansas) and masqueraded as a German tourist (super useful for thwarting obnoxious panhandlers). I have visited the first coffee shop west of the Mississippi and driven past a mountain forest fire at night and seen the Milky Way.

Of many peoples—their cities he saw, and understood their minds;
Many perils his spirit suffered upon the sea.

Because a loose and selective translation of Homer is always relevant. Always.

More soon--I will try.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah, and also Belated Solstice! Here is a list of things I have learned this holiday season, mostly related to work:

1) Breakfast is important. No, a single slice of pumpkin bread is not breakfast. It is delicious, but you will regret it when the hordes descend and you realize it’s still three hours till lunch.

2) Don’t order individual sub sandwiches in quantity. Just don’t. It can only end in heartbreak.

3) Your bandmates co-workers are your most precious things. Do what you have to in order to keep them functional. If this involves using part of your break to get them sandwiches (but see #2), or playing ridiculous jpop before opening to make them laugh, or making them read Strawberry Moshi or Fruits Basket, or watch The Hobbit trailer or Stephen Colbert-Rain dance-off without sound on the sales floor, so be it.

4) Sometimes, if it’s very early morning and still dark out and you haven’t had much sleep, the blue lights in the trees at Central Square really look like stars.

...

Off to read some more of The Dark Is Rising and check on that pumpkin pie in the oven. It's important to make your own traditions. I think these are two excellent ones to be going on with.

Don't forget I love I love I love you.