Weekend Recap

We had a great weekend, even though it didn't go according to plan.

Friday night we drove out to Media to visit our friends Katy, Andrew, Deb, and Antoine.  We had fun brainstorming over cheese, wine, and other snacks.  It was a productive night and I look forward to the next steps that will come from that meeting.  The only downside was Jeannie's prediction came true: we'd get home so late that we'd be tired and sleep in on Saturday, causing us to cancel or postpone our plans to take a road trip South.

As such, most of Saturday was a day of rest.  I can't even say that I remember what we did, except that we stayed in the house for most of the day.  If I recall correctly, I folded some laundry that had been in the dryer for a day or two, and I did some reading.  But then some time in the late afternoon, around 5pm I wanna say, I suggested to Jeannie that we take a walk.  She agreed, so we packed-up Seva and we headed out.  The weather was exceptionally cool for this time of year; I just heard that the high temperature yesterday was only 77 degrees.

Our first destination was the Wine & Spirits store on Market Street.  After taking our last bottle of red wine to Katy and Andrew's place, I thought we needed to restock.  We got three bottles: two bottles of malbec and one bottle of tempranillo from the Rioja region of Spain.  Right before we got there, though, I saw a couple of men standing in the middle of the sidewalk and looking at a map.  Once we were near them, I spoke up and asked them if they needed directions.  They asked in which direction was the river, to which I replied: "which one?  The Schuylkill is that way (pointing west down Market Street), and the Delaware is that way (pointing back east on Market)."  After chatting with them for a couple minutes while walking west, we found out that they were a couple guys from Australia, probably in their 50s, looking to head back to their hotel after they'd gotten a drink or two at a bar.  They said that they were in town for a combination of business and pleasure, and that they needed to get ready for dinner.  I was happy to have pointed them in the right direction.  Hopefully they enjoyed the rest of their time in the 215.

After getting our wine, we walked around somewhat aimlessly for a while, looking for a place to get a sweet snack.  I won't even go through the progression of places that we considered and/or actually went to.  I'll skip to the point that we finally decided to go to Miel, on 17th Street, where we each got a chocolate cube dessert, which we ate at a table on the sidewalk.  We noticed a lot of people wearing lanyards, indicating that they were very likely in town for some sort of convention.  I commented to Jeannie how so many people walk in public without making any eye contact at all with anyone else, as if everyone is scared to interact with a stranger.  While sitting there, I on the other hand looked at everyone who walked by; perhaps this was easier and less potentially intimidating to others since I had Seva standing with my assistance on my lap for most of the time.  Anyway, we had a nice time sitting there for a while, enjoying the cool, comfortable weather that I already mentioned.

Due in great part to that great weather, as well as a feeling (for myself at least) of being out of the house and enjoying it, I suggested to Jeannie that we continue our walk by getting burgers at 500 Degrees.  Jeannie agreed, so we walked over to the 1500 block of Sansom.  We each got a burger, and Jeannie got a side of truffle fries, which we split.  Again we sat at a table on the sidewalk.  After eating I went in to wash my greasy hands and when I came out, there was a guy sitting at another table next to ours.  He was asking Jeannie, then me, for advice on whether he could take a 19 year-old girl into Rumor.  I gave some advice to him as best as I could.  And we chatted for a few minutes.  He said he was from the Congo.  I asked him: "Kinshasa?" to which he said "no," so I immediately smiled and said, "Brazzaville?" to which he was very impressed.  He said that he was in Philadelphia for the first time, visiting for a short period to practice his English (which was pretty good, other than an accent).  He said that he was living in Paris, which was common practice for Africans who want to create a better resume for themselves and thus open up better job opportunities for when they return to the Congo.  At the end of our short talk, I gave him my personal business card.  I enjoyed our short, impromptu meeting.

On our walk home, we stopped through Rittenhouse Square, where we saw a gathering at the main entrance to the park, at the corner of 18th & Walnut Streets.  There we saw a recognizable Philly street singer singing to a small crowd.  We walked up to join everyone and listen in for a few songs.  At the end of one song, the singer announced to the crowd that, in addition to being a singer, he was also a psychic.  He approached a woman in the crowd and asked if her name was Patricia; she nodded yes.  She was standing next to her boyfriend.  Then, the singer began singing a happy song (which I didn't recognize, but Jeannie did).  I forget how they got there, but the girl and her boyfriend ended up listening to the song from a more prominent position in front of the singer.  Then, about halfway through the song, the boyfriend stepped away from the girl, reached his hand into his pocket, pulled out a ring, dropped to one knee and proposed to her.  The singer stopped singing, while the music kept going, but pretty low.  The girl indicated that she said yes and the crowd cheered!  In honor of the couple, the singer immediately began singing Etta James' famous song, "At Last."  It was a very touching and authentic moment.  I saw some women wiping tears away from their eyes.  It was great to be there to see and experience all that.

Shortly after getting home, Jeannie changed Seva's diaper.  I was downstairs.  Seva must have been revved up and excited, because as Jeannie was changing her, Jeannie was asking questions about our walk, to which Seva answered by just yelling pretty loudly for her little body.  It was hilarious.  After a couple minutes of this, I came upstairs to capture it on video, but I only caught the very tail-end of it.  It was funny, though, hearing Seva really test her lungs and assert herself.  Jeannie and I were both laughing.

Finally, Jeannie and I slept in this morning.  It was another cool day and another day of rest.  We watched the movie "Coach Carter" on tv.  Then later in the afternoon, while still sitting on the couch, while Jeannie was holding Seva, I started to play with Seva, mainly by rubbing my head into Seva's hands and her belly and chest.  Seva started laughing!  It was such a funny and beautiful moment.  We really had fun.  It was one of those moments where we were all together as a family and just enjoying being together.

So I guess you could say that, although the weekend didn't go exactly according to plan, it was a great weekend, and for that I thank God.

Tidbits

Since I married Jeannie, I have not removed my wedding ring from my finger, other than rarely fiddling around with it during a meeting or while watching tv.

Seva laughed for the first time tonight.  It was a beautiful and amazing thing to see.  While Jeannie was cooking mac'n'cheese (with tuna & peas) for dinner, I was playing around with Seva.  While standing near the stove, I was holding Seva facing me, with her pelvis held against my mid-torso and her upper body angled away from my body, so she could look up at me.  I periodically dipped down, while smiling at her and encouraging her.  She responded positively and seemed to be having a good time.  And then, she started giggling.  She did it for just a couple of seconds after about a handful of the dips, then she didn't do it again.  When I looked at Jeannie, she had tears of joy in her eyes.  Like I said, it was a beautiful and amazing thing to see.

I also found out online today that there is a Seva Café right outside of Washington, D.C., in Alexandria, Virginia.  We'll have to go there some day, maybe soon.

Jeannie and I went a couple nights ago (on Saturday, July 19th) to visit my friend Javi and his girlfriend Gina.  We enjoyed a really nice evening of salad (made of kale, scallops, cashews), dessert (dates, figs, and sunflower seeds), moscato rosé wine, and coffee.  Javi also played some music for us, first on his various flutes, then on his guitar.  Jeannie had brought her guitar, so she played the only song she knows how to play, Blackbird (Beatles song), while Javi played one of his flutes.  At one point, while Jeannie went into the bedroom to feed Seva, I was able to speak en español to Javi and Gina; we discussed politics in Latin America.  All in all, we had a really great time.  I hope to spend time with them again.

I've noticed that Seva now weighs more than the Baby.  Speaking of the Baby, her right ear has been very dirty the last few days.  I clean it out with cotton swabs, but it seems to get dirty again.  And since I bring up the Baby, I should say that Rocky is doing well as always.  This evening he rediscovered the toy mouse that he goes stretches forgetting about; he kicked it around for a while and really had a lot of fun.

Tonight at the Y, I did a chest/arms work-out.  In my final set of bench press, I put up 195 pounds twice.  In my final set of dumbbell curls, I lifted 35 pound dumbbells 8 times each arm.  In my final set of incline bench press, I put up 135 pounds 4 times; that was at the very end of my work-out.  Overall it was a very good work-out.

Oh, a couple days ago, on Saturday, I helped Jeannie's dad move into his new apartment here in Philadelphia.  He's living just a few blocks away from Rittenhouse Square and he's no more than a short 8-minute walk from our place, so he'll be able to see Seva much more often.  This is great not just for him, but for me too in the short-term as he'll be available to watch Seva for short periods of time when I need to run an errand or take care of something and also for Jeannie and me in the medium-term as he'll be available for babysitting services.  I like my father-in-law a lot, so I'm happy to have him close by now.

Well, it's time to take out the trash and I should be winding down since I know Jeannie wants to go to start going to bed a bit earlier at night.  I thank God for all blessings and ask for God's blessing, protection, and guidance every day always, but especially in these next handful of months, when there will be so much change.

Concern yourself . . . with what it is still possible for you to do

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and dreams.  Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.  Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do."  -- Saint John XXIII

I saw this quote on a large visual display at the back of church today.  I pointed it out to Jeannie.  I really like the quote.  It resonates with me when I think about my work life.  And so, it speaks to me when I think about my future.  I've written recently about trying to let go of the negative and just do my thing, but it's still not always easy.  As I explained to Madhu yesterday, [...]'s move to the new location has been the focus of everyone's energy and attention.  And the new space is pretty nice, so I think it makes everyone feel good while everything is still fresh and new.  But knowing that, I don't want to ignore the reality that lies below the surface and the fact that my head has been hitting the ceiling for a while and that I just don't belong.

Speaking of Madhu, Jeannie and I went for a picnic yesterday in Rittenhouse Square and we invited Madhu and Diana to join us.  We had a great afternoon.  Jeannie, Seva, and I had the first half-hour or so to ourselves.  We laid down a double-folded sheet on to the ground and began eating the lunch that Jeannie had packed for us.  Seva was very comfortable.  The weather was nearly perfect in terms of the temperature, with the occasional breeze.  There were a lot of people out.  We set-up our sheet next to a group of people who had an iPod playing some music.  I told Jeannie that the vibe from the group next to us reminded me of a Gettysburg spring semester off-campus party, from the music they were playing to the way they dressed to the way they hung around and made major progress on a bunch of beer cans.  Although I can't say that I ever fit in with that crowd or sub-culture, the vibe definitely made me feel a bit nostalgic.

Returning to the perspective of our perspective, we had a nice afternoon chatting with Madhu and Diana on all sorts of life topics, that I won't even get into here.  Needless to say we had a great time.  And Madhu and Diana each did a great job holding Seva in their respective turns.  Having turned 3 weeks old yesterday, I'm getting the impression that Seva is happy when she feels close and comfortable with others and, if that's satisfied, then she's pretty easy-going.  If my take on her disposition is accurate, then I think she'll do very well for herself as she gets older.  I guess time will tell.

Later, after we'd been sitting on the lawn for a while and everyone was beginning to feel different degrees of restless, we decided to get up to walk through the Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival as it was wrapping up.  Jeannie got a white sangria at the stand for Alma de Cuba, where Madhu got a bottle of water.  We continued walking until we got to Broad Street, where we hung a right, then turned left on to Pine Street, then turned right down a side street (perhaps Juniper) to head over to South Street. Spring Festival.  As with the first, there wasn't really much to see or do, especially since we wanted to avoid the loud music.  We noticed a food truck for arepas, but it was closed.  But then, right as we were about to cross 4th Street, I looked to my left and saw the actual restaurant to which the food truck belonged: Delicias.  I pointed it out to everyone and we decided to go in.  We all got our own variation of arepas: Madhu got carnitas de masa, I got pabellon, and Jeannie and Diana got vegetarian.  I think we were all pretty pleased with the food.  And the staff there was very nice and complimentary toward Seva.

We enjoyed a nice long walk west up South Street (along the way I ran into my friend Julie) and we parted ways at Broad Street.  As Jeannie and I continued on our walk home, the rain drops slowly started to come down.  As we walked into the door to our building, it started to rain.  We couldn't have timed it much better.

Last night was nice.  We laid Seva down to sleep and Jeannie and I watched The Secret Life ofWalter Mitty, which was a really good movie.  The theme of the movie was to live life to its fullest experience, which leads me back to the quote with which I opened this post.  I hope that before too long I can make a change in mindset, in role, in mission, in location, which will spark a new passion and chapter in life, one which will make me a better man.

Save yourselves from this corrupt generation

Today was a pretty good day.  For most of the work day, I kept my office door closed and my nose to the grindstone.  My main objective yesterday was to make as much progress as possible in returning telephone calls to clients who'd left voicemail messages to me.  My main objective today was to make as much progress as possible in working on a healthy stack of physical casefiles that were on my desk.  By the end of today, I had both objectives nearly completed; I have about 5 clients to call-back and about 4 physical casefiles to review.  I was able to leave work pretty early, at 5:35 p.m, and meet Jeannie and Seva at Liberty Place.  From there, we walked to Miel, where Jeannie got a chocolate croissant.  And then we walked to Rittenhouse Square, where we were able to sit on a bench and relax for a solid half-hour to 45 minutes.  As I mentioned to Jeannie, the temperature was near perfect.  It felt good to be out of the office, with my wife and daughter, while the sun was still out, in one of my favorite places in the world.

I just checked today's reading (Acts 2:36-41) and really liked one of the lines from the first reading: "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."  I think about my generation and I wonder: are we corrupt?  If so, what makes us corrupt?  I think here in the United States, and more and more so abroad, we've been and continue to become materialistic.  As an example, I know that my friend Bill's wife, Nancy, insisted on a huge house in the suburbs, even though it was (from my understanding) beyond their financial bounds.  The idea of going deeply into debt for the sake of affording property merely to feel good about oneself seems silly to me; its like a teenage boy insisting on borrowing $200 to buy a pair of sneakers just to impress others.  I also think this culture has too strongly valued individuality and short-term gratification; this has manifested, among other ways, in a high divorce rate, which reflects the individual's happiness over the individual's commitment to something bigger and greater than him or her.  I also think that our culture, especially here in the United States, has become too focused on labels and categories to favor certain groups over others.  On this point, I agree to a certain degree with many conservatives that feel that minorities are being given preferential treatment.  I think this is especially true, ironically enough, in liberal organizations, which strongly favor women and persons of African and Latin American descent (blacks and Latinos, in common parlance).  I think history and popular culture have inculcated the American public with a deep sense of modern guilt, which manifests in babying and/or glorifying minorities, which is not necessarily a sin in itself, but in some situations actually manifests as resentment or even borderline hatred of men and persons of European descent (men and whites, in common parlance).  It's almost like saying that, because someone's great-grandfather lived at a time of racism (whether he was actually racist or not is not important), we should not give any advantages or recognition to this white man now.  I think it's led white men to feel defensive and insular in the areas of work, business, and residence where they predominate.  I think these white men and their closest family, friends, and sympathizers largely make up the Republican Party.  And because they're becoming more and more outnumbered, they're becoming more and more defensive.  And those with an imbued sense of modern guilt are loving it.  But is this right?  Is this something our culture should be proud of?  I believe it's dangerous to let the pendulum swing too far back the other way.

Anyway, I'll end this post by noting that Rocky has jumped up on to my lap and the Baby is crouched on a step about two-thirds up on the staircase to my right.  I love these guys so much.

Snowy night

It's a snowy night in Philadelphia.  We had 9.8 inches of snow fall late last night into this morning.  Then there was a lull for most of the day up until now, as I write this.  But we're expected to get the back end of the nor'easter tonight, which will give us another 1 to 3 inches of snow.  I just got the email that the office will be closed tomorrow.  Taking into account that I was off today and we're off on Monday for Presidents' Day, I'm in a 5-day weekend.

Today is notable for more than the snow.  Jeannie is 33 weeks pregnant today.  Meaning that, if that calculation is accurate, we'll be the proud parents of a baby girl in about 7 weeks, give or take, depending on when our little girl decides to arrive.  The expected due date is April 3rd.

Although I see with my own eyes how Jeannie's belly is getting bigger every day, it doesn't seem quite real to me.  There are, however, those moments when it hits me and I feel very excited.  For example, I almost always walk north on 18th Street for a good part of my walk to work in the morning.  And I daydream about walking with the baby to Rittenhouse Square when the weather is warmer in a few months.  I'm looking forward to being a father.  And I'm so happy that Jeannie will be the mother of my child (maybe, hopefully, some day: children).  Although no one can ever be totally prepared to be a parent, I think we're both in a good place in our lives that this is the time.  I feel good about it and I have faith in everything about it.

Speaking of faith, since just about a year ago, we've been attending mass at St. Charles Borromeo Church very regularly.  We've grown to love the feeling of warmth and community there.  It's where Jeannie and I got married just two months ago, on Saturday, December 14, 2013.  Father Ed is a great guy and I really like how down-to-earth he is, which translates to his style of homily.  The fact that it's just a couple blocks up the road makes it really easy for us to get there on Sunday mornings.  It's one of those things that may seem insignificant at first blush, but it's one of the greatest sources of happiness and stability in my life over the past year.  And I hope and intend that we'll continue to attend and become more a part of the community.

Rocky and the Baby are healthy and doing well.  Rocky was just on my lap a few minutes ago as I was typing the early part of this note.  The Baby is on the couch with Jeannie, who happened to fall asleep there about a half-hour ago.  As hard as it is to believe, Rocky and the Baby turned 9 years old this past Christmas (2013).  I got them just past Valentine's Day 2005, so at this point they've been in my life for nearly 9 years.  It's amazing.  Talk about family, they've been a part of my daily life for 9 years, seen me through changes of relationships, been with me through moves to new residences, seen me happy and sad, and been with me throughout it all.  I love them so much.  I hope they can feel it or know it somehow.  I'm just so thankful to God that Rocky and the Baby are in my life.  Every Sunday at church, I pray for their good health and happiness.

The chapter of my life at PLA is likely coming to an end later this year.  It's something that I hesitate to put in writing, even here, because of my concerns of keeping my intentions known to only a very small circle of loved ones.  I mention it only so when I look back I'll see that it was something already in the works as of this date, and sooner I assure you.

Jeannie and I recently came back from India.  Initially, Jeannie was going there for work and I was just going to take advantage and tag along.  When Jeannie's employer (who happens to be my friend) found out we were getting married, he very graciously offered Jeannie the first week off there, so she and I could effectively have a honeymoon, which we hadn't planned or really intended to take.  We were very happy to take the opportunity.  For the first three days or so, we were in Delhi.  I had the blessing to see the Taj Mahal for the first time in my life.  Then, for my last seven days there, we stayed in Bengaluru, in the south of India.  On the first two days in Bengaluru, I went out for daylong pilgrimages, in which I roamed the city, mostly on foot, but also by public bus.  Those two days, away from the routine of my everyday life and accompanied only by my solitude, allowed my mind to roam as freely as my legs were taking my body.  By the grace of God, I received a lot of inspiration, in terms of concrete ideas for my next professional chapter, as well as the even more important feeling of confidence or dare I say destiny.  The shining example of the latter was a date that came to my mind that I must launch my next chapter.  That date is my target.  I have a goal, and so now the time from now until then shall be dedicated to the details that must be filled in so I can feel as prepared as I possibly can be.

I sometimes struggle with resisting the temptation to judge others who I consider to be unjust or self-centered or biased.  For example, I believe one of the lawyers I work with has a big ego and likes to draw attention to herself.  But the thing that irritates me more than that simple point is that others seem to have bought in to her "brand," so to speak.  They've bought in to her ego, which I believe is bigger than her actual value or talent, not to take away from or underestimate that the talent and skills that she does have.  In another example, there's this community activist in South Philadelphia who, numerically at least, has a large following on facebook.  I believe that she is racist; to put it bluntly, I believe she hates white people.  Being "white" in color and mostly European in heritage, I take offense to some of what she writes online.  Up until now, I've swallowed my thoughts and not responded, but just a couple weeks ago, I finally wrote a sharp reply to her online.  Similar to my first example above, it bothers me when someone has too much influence, too loud of a voice, for a position that's either biased or too self-centered.  I really can't stand it.  But I know I have no control over how people, these people in particular, act or what they say.  And I have no control over how others receive their message or consider their personality.  I can only be me.  Recently, perhaps in part looking ahead to changes later this year, I've started to be just a bit more vocal on facebook, in terms of what I write for my own posts and also in reply to others.  I've been mindful not to come across as too overly confident (which would be ironic) or too critical of others.  I hope I've succeeded on those counts.

Finally, just as an update, I'm currently reading the New Testament.  For the second time ever.  A couple years ago, from around December 2011 to maybe May or June 2012, I read the Bible from cover to cover, Old Testament through New Testament.  This time I'm just reading the New Testament.  As of now, I'm at 2 Corinthians.  Not to be cliche, but it's a good book.  It's helped to give confidence to me in my daily life, especially professionally.  Overall, my faith is stronger, although I know that I need to be careful not to take anything for granted, faith in particular.

Facebook status update

I love Rittenhouse Square, plain and simple.

lunch, coffee, and office

Today's entry will be very brief. Ileana and I went to Love Park today to have our lunch, but realized very quickly that it was too windy and just a little bit too chilly to eat outside. So, after eating our respective sandwiches, we packed-up and walked to Liberty Place, where we finished out meal indoors.

After meeting with a client last Thursday, who told me that Dunkin Donuts coffee is watered-down and colored with soy to look a darker brown, I've decided to go elsewhere for my coffee this week. Yesterday and today I walked to Cafe Loftus, located on 15th Street between Sansom and Walnut Streets, to get a small, 12-ounce coffee for $1.75. Their coffee is brewed using La Colombe coffee, which is the very well-respected coffee shop right off of Rittenhouse Square, where I sometimes get coffee on the weekends when the weather is warm and I'm able to sit in the square and enjoy a warm cup of coffee.

Finally, I'm happy to say that I'm finally beginning to acclimate to my new office. Three weeks ago I had to relocate due to Sue's return from her maternity leave and thus her reclaiming of her office, which I had been occupying during her absence. I was bittersweet about the move, because on one hand I was happy to have my own space to organize and decorate as I please, but on the other hand I was slightly bitter at having an interior office, i.e., with no windows. After being in here for three weeks (now the beginning of my fourth week), the positive benefits are outweighing the envy-driven drawbacks. Hopefully one day I'll have a spacious corner office with ample sunlight from large office windows, but for now I'll simply enjoy having my own personal office once again.

Mojitos

Yesterday afternoon I met up with my ex-girlfriend Heather. The last time I saw her was six years ago, and that was merely a brief, chance encounter on Walnut Street. The last time that I spent any real time with her was seven years ago. So needless to say, despite not having any intentions of anything beyond seeing her to catch up, I was still a bit excited to see her. We met at 3pm in Rittenhouse Square. Since I usually attend evening mass at 6:30pm, I figured a little more than three hours should be enough to catch up on most everything. The weather was sunny and dry and simply beautiful. Our meeting went exactly as I had hoped; I felt good that we had reconnected as friends. Now that I've seen her, though, my pre-meeting intentions have not changed. I'll be happy for she and I to be friends. Of the girls that I've dated for more than a month or so, there's now only one that I don't communicate with. All of rest care about me, just as I care about them, and they're mature enough to maintain a friendship with me. When I was younger (i.e., around the time when I broke up with Heather), I had a rigid philosophy of cutting all contact if a relationship didn't work out. But I don't feel that way any more: life is too short to hold grudges or exert mental/emotional energy to keep a wall up. Unless something really egregious happens to end a relationship, there's not much reason to turn your back on someone who you were compatible with to have a relationship with, even if it wasn't long-lasting. The reality is that the overwhelming majority of all relationships fail; relationships are the classic live-and-learn experience. So anyway, to bring it all the way back around, I'm glad that Heather and I can now be friends.

This past Saturday night was great. Wagner came by the double-deuce and Spruce to help me move out my old television and put it curbside. I had a few beers in the fridge, so we hung here for a little while. I took the opportunity to ask him some serious questions about his vision and goals for his law career. Since he's becoming one of my good friends here in Philly, I wanted to know if he would ever consider going into practice for himself, since that is my goal/hope/ambition. He said he had never really considered it, but said that he would now that I put the thought out there. It was a good, refreshing conversation before hitting the town.

Originally I had wanted to go to a new spot near me (at 20th and Sansom) called Village Whiskey. As we were walking out of my place, Wagner called up Tobin to let him know where we were going. At that moment, I took the opportunity to check my phone, lo and behold to discover that I'd missed a text message just a minute earlier. It was from Ileana, a girl who works with some of my friends at one of my old workplaces. She was out with her roommate and was inviting me to stop by if I wasn't busy. So the timing was perfect; Wagner's and my plan changed and we went to Rum Bar to meet up with them. It was a nice atmosphere in there, as there was a pretty good crowd, several of whom were wearing an eye-patch in honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day; it was pretty funny. We all spent the rest of the evening drinking mojitos. I was really happy to have the chance to talk to Ileana, since I'd only really talked to her once before for not much more than ten minutes. I kept being happily surprised to find out that we had a lot in common. So between the (strong) mojitos and the good conversation, I had a very good Saturday night.

The next morning, Sunday, I forced myself out of bed early in order to volunteer at a community event in South Philly: la Fiesta de San Mateo de Ozolco. For those of you who may not know, San Mateo de Ozolco is a village in the state of Puebla, in Mexico. And interestingly, anywhere from one-quarter to one-third of that village resides for at least part of the year in Philadelphia. Thus, to honor their community's community here in the 2-1-5, they hold an annual fiesta, with a traditional misa and dancing by los moros y cristianos and by traditional Aztecs. It was a fun cultural event to be at, although I had to leave early in order to make it back in time to meet up with Heather in Rittenhouse Square. But I have to admit that my Spanish-speaking skills were dulled as a result of all the mojitos I drank the night before. It was all worth it though.

Alright, that's all for now, folks. I hope things are well in your little part of the world, wherever that may be.

Quiet night

Today was a pretty quiet day, and tonight has been a quiet night. Being a night person, I got up late today. There are some days where I feel guilty for getting up late. Not today. Today I felt fine about getting up late. I had already set it in my mind that today was gonna be low-key. So I took the time to clean-up all the dishes and pots and utensils in the sink. I spoke on the phone with Evan for a while. And I made a call to an insurance company on behalf of one of my clients, but I only had to leave a voicemail there since no one picked up the phone.

Besides running out to Radio Shack to buy a power strip (to organize all the electrical cords now behind my television stand and to finally have an extra outlet to plug-in the antenna amplifier), I was inside all day. But I'm glad that I did run out for that quick errand, because on the walk home, coming up Walnut Street, I heard my name being called. I looked around and then across the street to the other sidewalk, and I saw my friend Nayami. So I ran across to say hi and give her a hug. We ended up walking together through Rittenhouse Square, she invited me to see her music group, PhillyBloco, perform at World Cafe Live on Halloween, and I gave her the gift of one of my two new power strips, since I only needed one. It was good to see Nayami, she's a really nice girl.

Tonight I just chilled out at home, drank a couple of my new favorite beers, Victory Whirlwind Witbier, and ate some spaghetti with sweet apple flavored chicken sausage and spinach mixed in with the sauce. While I ate, I had the Phillies game on low volume and listened to music from my iPod, played through my stereo. Overall, it was a good, chill night.

Now I think I'm gonna do some reading before going to bed. I hope you had as good a night as I did. See ya soon!

Samsara

I feel like I'm stuck in a samsaric cycle, living the same general series of events over and over again. Every job I take is a temporary job, destined to end after a few weeks or months, just as every relationship I begin is a temporary relationship, similarly destined to end after a few weeks or months. After a lively Saturday night on the town, from dinner at Parc, to drinks at Oscar's, Continental Midtown, then down to Old City for drinks at Cuba Libre and Bleu Martini, the rest of my weekend was spent mostly in bed or on the couch, in a frozen stupor, not wanting to get up or get out because to do so would require energy that wouldn't change things anyway. It was a minor period of depression, of course, which looked at objectively is pretty silly, but it happened nonetheless. Oh well, knowing myself, I know that the stable framework and forced interaction of work is a good thing, and I look forward to that tomorrow. I try to step back from my situation, and I remind myself that my life is much better than it was when I was in law school; at least now I have an income and decent savings to fall back on if necessary. For whatever its evils, it's nice to have at least enough money to happily blow-off on a weekend night, and not feel too guilty about it. I'm also pleased with the fact that my evenings and weekends are free from bullshit homework and the resulting anxiety from not feeling sure if I remembered anything of what I just read and thus feeling exposed to potential embarassment in class. So yeah, life is not too bad now compared to my three years of law school. But life is more than avoiding embarassment or having a few bucks to blow. And so I'm back where I begin my thoughts: with the eerie feeling of living in a samsaric cycle, wondering when it will end. I have faith that I made the right decisions when it came to past relationships and, for the most part, I have generally steady faith that things will develop naturally. But on a weekend like this one, where my physical hangover and psychological malaise that resulted from a very drunken Saturday night prevented me, or at least discouraged me, from going out, and thus cubbyholed me in my overly self-reflective thoughts, my faith seemed to waver enough for me to notice and feel a little worried. But hey, what can I do? At least I wrote about it to get it off my chest. After an unproductive Labor Day, I'm ironically looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow, with hopes that this project will be rolled-over into another one.

Red, red wine

Last night I finished the book "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway. It was a good book about American and British expatriates in Paris who decide to take a trip to Pamplona, Spain for las fiestas sanfermines, or more popularly, the running of the bulls. Much of the book's action took place in cafes and bars. For that reason, when Julie suggested that we go out for Center City Sips tonight, I told her that I wanted to go to a Hemingway-esque place. We settled on Caribou Cafe, on Walnut Street between 11th & 12th. If you've never been there, the place does a very nice job of recreating a typical Parisian bistro, down to the wicker chairs and "black cat" posters. I drank three red sangrias there. After the first one, I told the waitress to bring the next one without any ice; I knew what I was there for. From Caribou, we walked up Walnut to Rum Bar, where we met Wagner and the girl he's been dating for a couple months, Adrianna. They were there with several of Adrianna's ballerina friends. I drank two red wines, Cabernet Sauvignon, I think. After that I was feeling "pretty tight" (to use a phrase from "The Sun Also Rises"). So, after talking politics and law school with Maggie, an attractive 25 year-old girl who was friends with Adrianna, I suggested to Julie that we take a walk to the park. In Rittenhouse, we found a comfortable spot on the grass to lay down and look up at the one star visible in the city's nighttime sky. It was pretty relaxing. A little while later Wagner and Adrianna found us and we all stood up to talk. Adrianna showed us her two tattoos; I showed-off mine. Those guys took off and Julie and I came back to my place to hang out while I warmed up some spaghetti for dinner. I finished it off with a nice salad of greens, tomatoes, dried cranberries, and crumbled goat cheese. Now, since walking Julie home and then returning back to the double-deuce & Spruce earlier, I've been wasting time on the internet all night long. Only now did I decide to post something on the blog. Although I'm vaguely tired, I'm not in the mood to go to bed. That may not make any sense, but I guess I'm in an obscurely restless mood tonight. With coffee earlier today and a lot of wine later in the evening, along with meeting friends, I felt a bit like Jake Barnes, the protagonist in "The Sun Also Rises." It was a good night.

Overcast

It's overcast and cool in Philly today. I vaguely remember waking up earlier this morning to a healthy rainshower, heard through the windows I leave open for most of the spring-summer-fall. That was probably around 8 or 9am, the time that most everyone else was getting ready and on their way to work. I rolled over in bed and fell back to sleep.

I just got done reading a chapter of "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway. I sat in the reclining chair near the living-room window. For some reason there was an occasional smell of peaches, but not the smell from the actual fruit, it was the smell you'd associate with the peaches-and-cream flavor of Quaker oatmeal. I enjoyed the smell, despite being perplexed at its unknown source.

This past weekend was pretty good. Being temporarily unemployed (or, as my friend Julie calls it: "funemployed"), I decided to take advantage of the free time and take a trip that I haven't done for well over half a decade (as my friend Corey reminded me last week): south to DC and Baltimore. On Friday late afternoon, I walked to 30th Street Station to catch an Amtrak heading to DC. It was a two-hour ride that was pretty pleasant. Somewhere between Wilmington and Baltimore, I started talking to the girl sitting next to me. She was on her way from her Central Park apartment to visit her parents in Phoenix, Maryland, about 45 minutes north of Baltimore, on their multiacre property; she needed to recharge in the peace and quiet of the countryside. We wished each other a nice weekend as she got off the train at Baltimore.

Arriving in Union Station in DC, I was very impressed with the size, architecture, and quality of shops in the station. Philly's 30th Street Station has amazing architecture, but does not come anywhere close to rivaling Union Station's commercial appeal. Mike eventually met me in the food court, where I was eating some rice and bourbon chicken for dinner.

We took the metro to U Street, our destination for the night. We went to Marvin's, Saint-Etas, Gate 54, and Black Cat. My favorite spot, by far, was Gate 54. It had the feeling of an old World War I bunker, complete with street signs and war paraphernalia on the walls. The fact that it was underground and dimly lit gave it a sense of coziness. And the dj really set things right by playing a lot of Motown before eventually transitioning to some old school, jazz-influenced hip-hop. The whole scene brought me back to my early days in Philly, and my favorite spot of all-time: Soma, which no longer exists. I may be going back to DC more frequently, if for no other reason than to soak up the positive, nostalgic vibe that I get at Gate 54.

Saturday, Mike and I went to downtown Silver Spring for lunch. Then, after stopping back at his place shortly, we hit the road to Baltimore. After patiently hunting down a parking spot near the corner of Charles and Chase streets, we walked to the Metro Art Gallery, where Evan's brother Ryan was playing a gig with his band, Rain the Shining. Mike and I had only missed two songs by the time we got there. The gig was part of the larger event: Artscape. Walking to the gallery, there were tons of artists' booths and displays, and tons of pedestrians crowding Charles Street, which was blocked-off to traffic. The weather was clear and low-humidity; it was perfect.

After the show, we got a jerk chicken dinner from a food vendor under a tent. Then, we drove to Bourbon Street, a club on Guilford Street in Baltimore. We hung out there for the rest of the night, on the roofdeck. I talked to several people over the course of the night. At one point an attractive girl, whose name I later got to be Alexa, walked by, so I waved at her, she said I was "hot," so I waved her over to me, she came directly up to me and we spontaneously exchanged a warm hug; she gave me her phone number without me even asking, and she told me to meet her later at some bar in Towson.

Despite the invitation, and our initial plan to do late-night in Baltimore, Mike and I decided to take the plunge and just drive back to Philly right then, at around 3 in the morning. We drove north up Charles Street, passing through Loyola College (prompting me to send a late-night text to Jess Lauria), and eventually getting on to 695, then on to 95-North. We stopped once at a rest stop to get a large coffee, our fuel to make it the rest of the way back to the double-deuce & Spruce. We finally arrived at around 5am. But I couldn't fall asleep for at least a couple hours, probably because of the caffeine still coursing through my veins.

The rest of the weekend was typical: coffee at La Colombe, hanging out in Rittenhouse Square, going to church at St. Patrick's (Mike joined me for that). So that's that. Now my sleep schedule is still messed up, but I'm trying to get back on track. It was a good weekend and thus totally worth it.

Checkin' back in

Hey folks, how's it going? Here's the deal: for at least the past month I've had to come to the coffeeshop in order to connect to internet, and that's the reason I haven't been posting too much.

Things have been pretty chill, still working on that project in a Center City firm, but wondering how much longer that's gonna last, hoping that it lasts until the end of March, if I'm a lucky duck. But just this past Saturday I officially submitted my online registration for what would be a career track; I applied to take the foreign service officer test. I'll sit for the exam this June, and depending on how well I do, I'll likely be asked two or three months after that to go to Washington, D.C. to take the oral exam. By the beginning of 2010, there's a decent chance that I'll be working in a foreign country. So keep your fingers crossed for me, thanks!

This past Saturday night, Corey and Evan came into town to visit me. The brief run-down of where we went (purely for the purposes of my own recollection) was: Sidecar, Ten Stone, Parc, Alfa, and Denim. Needless to say, that last place should trigger the correct guess that it was a late night; didn't get back to the double-deuce until somewhere around 4am. Although I did a vodka shot at Ten Stone and an Irish car bomb shot at Alfa, I wasn't completely out of my brain; I can say with confidence, though, that I was feeling pretty toasty by the end of our long evening.

Well, the other nice thing about this past weekend was that the weather was pretty nice: our first real taste of spring with temps near 70 on Saturday. Corey got into 30th Street Station at 2:30pm, and after I dropped-off some groceries from Trader Joe's, we walked over to Rittenhouse Square to enjoy the sight of all the passers-by, especially the females. We sat there for a while, enjoying the weather and generally catching up. I suggested that we take a walk down Walnut Street, and as we were leaving the park, I heard my name; it was Teresa, my friend from Friends of Farmworkers. I haven't seen Teresa for at least a couple of years, so it was cool to see her and catch up; her future mother-in-law, as she claimed, was flying in from Puerto Rico early that evening, and she was just hanging out eating a salad before she had to catch the R1 to the airport.

Anyway, I really oughtta get going home now. I'm representing one of my clients at a child support hearing tomorrow morning and I need to go home to eat dinner and do some final, last-minute prep for the hearing. The feeling I get the night before a hearing, and as I go to it, are very similar to the hyped-up feelings I got before football games in high school and college; there's a certain acute awareness that's part adrenaline rush and part psychological coming-into-focus for the big event. As much as I didn't want to represent this guy at tomorrow's hearing (because, in my estimation, this will likely be my first-ever true loser of a case), I'm happy for the primed feeling that I'm already starting to feel. Oh well, if I can possibly get back in here sooner than a month from now, I'll let you know how it goes. Peace out, friendly readers, and I hope all is well in your corner of the world!

Flip-Flops

This afternoon, after work, I went to Urban Outfitters (which, incidentally, began in 1970 as a store called "The Free People's Store" right here in Philadelphia) on Walnut Street to take advantage of their sale of flip-flops: 2 pairs for $10. Considering that I've been needing to pick-up flip-flops, this turned out to be a great opportunity. I got a brown pair and a blue pair.

Afterward, in the spirit of getting some stuff that I need, I walked a block down Walnut to City Sports. I've really been in need of some athletic shorts to play basketball and work-out at the gym. I was in luck. I picked up a pair of navy blue Nike basketball shorts.

After that, I walked over to Rittenhouse Square to sit down on a bench and enjoy the really beautiful weather (mostly sunny; 88 F / 31 C). Of course, on a warm and sunny Friday evening, the park was packed with people hanging out and walking through. It was the kind of scene that really makes me happy and proud to live in the city, and so close to the park itself. After sitting and enjoying the scene for a little while, I decide to call Paul to talk to him about, among other things, our trip. We both agreed that we have some planning to do. And Paul suggested that at some point while we're over there we should rent motorcycles and just go riding through the countryside to see where we end up. I told him that I love that idea, that's what it's all about!

Well, in a little while here, I'm heading off to Northern Liberties to meet some friends. I'll let'cha know how that all pans out.

Ballin'

For the second Saturday in a row, I went down to the Schuylkill River Park to play basketball. It was really good to get out and move around. I played for about two hours, about three half-court games and, at the end, one full-court game. Full-court definitely suits me well because I can use my speed and athleticism more to my advantage than I would in a half-court game. In all three of the half-court games, I had to play defense against Eric, who I'm guessing is about 6'2". This forced me to play, defensively, a forward's game: down on the block and in the paint. I don't have a problem defending down low, but I play more like a guard, so I definitely prefer to play like a two-guard on both offense and defense. In the end, though, it was another great afternoon of solid cardiovascular exercise. I certainly hope to continue the pattern of playing hoops on Saturdays.

As I've been typing all of this I've been listening to a Jamiroquai greatest hits cd that I picked-up a couple weeks ago, but only just tonight have I finally imported it into my iTunes. I really like this type of music: a fusion of funk, disco, and acid jazz. It's similar to two of my favorite groups: Los Amigos Invisibles and Tortured Soul. Here in Philly I've seen Amigos Invisibles twice live: once at the TLA back during my first year of law school with my then-girlfriend, Cherise, and again just this past autumn at World Cafe Live with my friend Park and his then-girlfriend. I came across Tortured Soul in the summer of 2006 when I happened to walk through Rittenhouse Square while they were performing for a Philadelphia Weekly summer concert series performance. They had the whole park movin' and groovin'; I loved the music.

So tonight I decided to stay in for the night. As crazy as it sounds, it's taken me a whole week to recover from last weekend's non-stop action. I did go out for a little while last night, though, just to get out of the apartment. Claire and I went to my new favorite neighborhood bar, Ten Stone, for a couple rounds. I drank three Sawtooth beers on draught and she drank a couple gin & tonics. It was cool because I was able to watch some of the Spurs-Suns game on one of their really nice tv's. I was also happy to see that my favorite waitress was working, although she was in the back almost the entire time. Anyway, Claire and I had a nice conversation talking about her job prospects and objectives, among other topics as well.

I didn't get home too late last night, and since I felt that I needed to let some of the alcohol wear off before going to bed, I took the time to finish the last 10 pages of my book, The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos. So earlier today, while drinking my habitual late afternoon coffee, I began my next book: Dying To Cross: The Worst Immigrant Tragedy in American History by Jorge Ramos. I'm about 30 pages into it. But it's only 173 pages long, so I'll definitely finish it up by the end of the day Monday.

Alright, folks, that's about all for now. Before signing off, though, I'd like to apprise you of a plan that I have in mind: I'd like to begin transcribing entries from my old hand-written diary into this 'ere blog that you've been so kind to read. In this way, I can record my old trips and experiences on to the world wide web, and in the process, also provide you with another source of entertainment and background characterization of yours truly. So at some point soon, you should check for a tab on the left-hand side that indicates entries from the year 2002.

Peace out from tha Illadelph! Until next time, keep it alive in the 2-1-5-!!!

Just wond'rin'

Ya know, I was thinking to myself just now: what the hell am I going to write about tonight? And it got me to thinking: who the hell is reading this anyway? A rule of thumb for a writer (or also, in terms closer to me, for a lawyer) is to know your audience and to target them specifically with your form and content of communication. Well, here I'm just not too sure. If you catch a fancy to let me know that you're reading this, then give me a holler. But if you don't, then I guess we'll just have to continue our clandestine reader-writer relationship, hidden from all including the writer himself.

After I got home from work today, I ran over to the neighborhood gym for a quick work-out: back and legs. For my back I did lat pulldowns, upright rows, and reverse flies. For my legs I did leg curls and dumbell lunges. So ladies, did I mention that I live in that direction <flexing my arm while pointing in the direction of my pad>?

Enough of that, right? Well anyway, after my work-out I ran home, got changed, then ran out again to head to Continental Midtown, to meet a group of friends gathering in honor of our friend Jeff's 27th birthday, which he celebrated today. As I was about to pass through Rittenhouse Square on my way there, I saw a girl who I went to law school with, who I've randomly seen quite a bit of lately. I waved at her and said, "hello.....again" and she replied by asking "are you following me these days?" and I replied with something like "maybe, it sure seems that way." A typically lame yet practical conversation while passing someone in that situation. But I have to admit that it has been strange seeing her so much. I guess that happens occasionally in the city though.

For my fourth paragraph tonight, I'm gonna go through a story that I was reminded of -- and told everyone -- earlier this evening. While we were sitting around the brown round table, discussing whatever came to people's minds, Julie brought up a story about a friend in college who was a big eater and about the time when this guy passed out and they stuck a piece of food in his hand and underneath his nose to rouse him. Well, her story reminded me of a time in college when my good friend Lorge drank too much and passed out on the couch at our apartment at Ice House. To get him good, my roommate Puma and I came up with the idea to spray-paint his knees and bellybutton with this deep dark blue paint. It was over a week of taking showers two and three times a day that the paint finally even began to wear off. For a week Lorge looked like a smurf in his knees and bellybutton. I still have photos of that prank; man that was funny.

An Unlikely Assortment

Clinton seems to have won Pennsylvania. So the Clinton-Obama battle continues for who knows how much longer. More and more I have the feeling that McCain is gonna win the presidency.

Earlier this afternoon, while walking up Locust Street, having just left Rittenhouse Square and heading home, I saw a girl riding a bicycle whom I recognized. It was a girl who I had gone on a couple dates with back in late October of last year. Of course she acted like she hadn't seen me: typical cowardice. We'd had a great couple of dates, but then she freaked out and sent me an email saying: "I think you are an amazing person. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm amazing for you." That is a direct quotation. Despite my reply to her ("as respectfully as I can say this, please don't tell me what I find amazing."), urging her to reconsider, she made it pretty clear that the wall was up and any further communication would be a waste of time. I swallowed my pride and accepted the inevitable, wondering for a while what the fuck had happened. Over time, I also accepted the hard lessons learned: that I have to slow down and keep my emotions in check next time -- even and especially when -- I meet a great girl, that I have to hide my cards a bit in spite of my innate instinct to always be upfront and honest, and that getting a girl from law school is a long shot due to the lawyer's tendency to choose a guy based on his employer, resume, and/or parents' name (i.e., the typical competitiveness that is bred in law school). Anyway, bringing this back to today's chance observation, seeing this girl definitely brought up a feeling of resentment. And, once again, a reminder of the hard lessons learned the hard way.

Later this evening, while waiting for my clothes in the dryer at the laundromat, I walked down to the Schuylkill River. The sun was setting and there was a warm, auburn hue to the clouds. I sat down on a bench overlooking the water and read some of my book, The 42nd Parallel, book one of the U.S.A. trilogy, by John Dos Passos. The surface of the river was shining and rippling and the air was comfortably cool. Behind me a long train sluggishly crawled by on the tracks immediately alongside the riverside park, pulling away, boxcar after boxcar, clanging and clanking until fading off toward the south, to the train depot.

The Philadelphia Flyers won game 7 against the Washington Capitals, thereby winning the series. Game 1 against the Montreal Canadiens is this Thursday. Go Flyers!

Weekend Recapitulation

Friday. Paul came into town from New York. We went to dinner at The Striped Bass. I ate the black sea bass, with crispy yucca, lemon-garlic vinaigrette, and pickled vegetables. The food was good. We went to Alfa for drinks. We drank a couple rounds of beers. There were several good-looking girls there. We went to Vango. We stayed on the main floor for a little while. We went up to the roofdeck, a.k.a., skybar. The view of the surrounding Center City skyscrapers was amazing. We tried to go to G-Lounge. But because I was wearing sneakers, hip though they are, we were not let in. We went to The Walnut Room. We drank a couple rounds of beers. I ended up meeting a very good-looking girl right before we left.

Saturday. Evan drove up from Baltimore. We caught up while I ate breakfast: vanilla clusters with almonds cereal. We walked down to the courts at the Schuylkill River Park, just down at the end of Spruce Street. We shot around for a while. Eventually, several of my co-workers came: James, his brother Pat, and Jeff. Paul came later. And my friend Mike ended up coming too. Eric, another co-worker, showed up at the very end. I ran full-court for over two hours. I had a few flashes of my former brilliance. Despite some obvious rustiness, I'd say that overall I was impressed that I was able to hold up and run for so long. Evan, Paul, and I returned to my place to take turns showering up. We drove down to Citizens Bank Park to meet our friend Bill for the Phillies-Mets game. After having been out in the sun for two hours, playing full-court basketball, I was totally exhausted. I barely made conversation at the baseball game due to my lack of energy. We had amazing seats: just 20 rows directly, and I mean directly, behind home plate. Thanks for the tickets Bill! Unfortunately the Phillies lost by a score of 4-2. It was annoying how there were so many Mets fans cheering at the game. At some point someone was thrown out of the game for apparently starting a fight. Paul left immediately after the game to drive back to Hoboken. Bill drove Evan and I back to Rittenhouse. The three of us had dinner at Ten Stone. Then Bill left. Over the course of the rest of the night, Evan and I ended up bar-hopping: The Black Sheep, then Misconduct Tavern, then Loie, then Pulse. Although I had been running on empty since the baseball game, I somehow managed to stay out until 4 in the morning. After we left Pulse at 3:15am, we went to Tower Style Pizza for some late-night slices. We were back at my place and I finally crashed at 4:15am.

Sunday. I woke up at 12 noon. I cleaned up a bit around the apartment. I spent a good part of the afternoon just dozing on the couch while watching auto racing then the Lakers-Nuggets game on the television. Later I got up and out to do one load of laundry and food-shopping at Trader Joe's. While walking to the laundromat, I ran into the now-unemployed and homeless former attendant at my last laundromat, which recently closed down so that the owner could convert the property into a nail salon. I offered to take Al to the market with me so I could buy him a drink and some food. He took me up on my offer. I told him to pick out whatever he'd like and I'd buy it. He chose milk and ice cream. We walked back toward my place. He waited while I went upstairs to unload the groceries. We returned to the laundromat so I could transfer the clothes from the washer to the dryer. We walked out. I went to visit my friend Claire. Al went to sit down in Fitler Square. Claire and I hung out for a little while. I had to pick up a movie, "I Am Legend", from her that she wanted me to return on her behalf to our co-worker Ken, with whom she no longer works due to a general lay-off at our project just over a week ago. I also had to pick up a couple of cd's that I had lent her: "un dia normal" by Juanes and "The Venezuelan Zinga Son, Vol. 1" by Los Amigos Invisibles.

The weekend has now been recapitulated. Consider yourself updated. Guan and have a good week now, ya heard?

Mental Illness and Mental Stillness

Hey there! A couple interesting stories from earlier today:

As I was walking through Rittenhouse Square on my way to work this morning, I saw a homeless guy crouching next to one of the park benches. He was aggressively stomping his foot on the ground while yelling loudly, "you faggot!" Then he quickly stood up and looked back toward the spot on the ground where he was stomping and yelled passionately, "Leave me alone you faggot!!!" There was no one else within ten meters of him.

Later in the evening, I took a break from work and walked outside to the Wawa on our block. I went straight back to the refrigerated section because I had my mind set on getting some yogurt. When I got back there a disheveled woman said to me, "How are you?" I responded, "Good, how are you?", to which she replied, "Can you help me get some food?" I told her that I was going to get a yogurt, and that I'd get one for her. While rubbing her stomach, she said that she didn't like yogurt, and immediately asked me for money; I repeated and stuck firmly to my offer of giving her a yogurt. As if she was entitled to my money, she acted offended by my refusal to change my offer. So in response to her body language and attitude, I said to her, "how about a banana?" Without a word, she just walked away, ostensibly disgusted with me.

Finally today, in the interest of full and honest disclosure and to still any unsettled minds, I'd like to be clear about something. When I went to the red light districts of Essen and Amsterdam with Roland and his friends, not one of us talked to any of the girls, which means of course that not one of us had any business, so to speak, with any of the girls. To state this otherwise, in an affirmative form, we all simply walked around and observed the girls in the windows. So, although this clarification may disappoint some of my friends here in the U.S. who were hoping for a wild story, I must be honest -- as always. And especially in this case because I don't want any of my European friends to be painted in a misleading light.

Well, speaking of mental stillness, it's time for me to get a good night's sleep. Buenas noches! Until tomorrow, your friend in Philly.

Medford, New Jersey -- night

Well, its a Friday night, and I'm staying in. Depending on which way you spin it, I'm either becoming more mature or else I'm just getting old. Either way, here I am. And I'm totally exhausted. Commuting is really draining my energy. For that reason, I look forward to moving back into the city. But on the other hand, it has been a strange comfort to be here in Medford. I think I'm even a bit scared to live on my own. Not out of any fear of danger. But out of a fear of being lonely. I imagine that living a solitary life demands much discipline, especially self-discipline. And really what that means is keeping a steady head on one's shoulders. It will be an interesting challenge.

I thought it was amazing - sitting and talking with Ethan in Rittenhouse Square - earlier this evening - that he was bitching so much about not being able to talk to his girlfriend tonight, and also how he hates seeing other couples when he's not with his girlfriend. I told him gently that he should be grateful that he has a girlfriend, and that he should have faith in the relationship that they will one day have much more time together. I implied also that others' happiness really has nothing to do with his own happiness, or sometime lack thereof. My advice was very mature, but I was quick to temper it by saying that I understand how one can get caught up in feelings, desires, and expectations. I've made plenty of mistakes by thinking too emotionally like that. I hope I've learned my lesson, and can keep a cool head when I'm in a situation like Ethan was today.

Well, since Ethan has been giving me rides to get to and from work, I invited into the city after work today to treat him to dinner. We went to Monk's at 16th and Spruce. I drank a Chimay Triple to go along with my bacon and cheddar burger and basket of fries. It was great and definitely hit the spot as I had hoped.

Now, on to work; this week was especially productive. And I proved to myself that I have all the skills that I had prior to my hiatus. Nearly every case from this week was determined to be perfect advice upon review by Stephanie. I only really had a question on one case, a divorce matter. So far, work has been pretty good. Nevertheless, I'm still looking to be transferred to a new position, and all the challenges that will entail, and hence all the experience it will offer.

Now, in terms of recent activities, I will say that Corey and I went to a Chivas scotch whiskey event at the Union League this past Wednesday. Really, when it comes down to it, there's not much to say about it. It was a nice opportunity to see the inside of the Union League, which is not surprisingly lavish and luxurious. I had just a few drinks of whiskey, which was terrible. But, oh well, it was all free, so nothing lost there. Well, I'm really exhausted now, so I'll stop here.