Treason of Words

The long-awaited day is nigh. The lovable but aloof Class of '96 is finally drawing together to reunite. Not that we were ever terribly unified in the first place. What has a decade changed? it's easier for us to know in advance than it was for our parents. This here series of tubes was just getting popular when we graduated. Many of us have kept tabs on each other, and the advent of social sites has allowed close friends to remain so with much greater ease than ever before. One wonders if the Clas of '06 will even bother with a reunion, since they'll all already know where each one ended up, what they look like, and what they're doing. Even my best friends from high school are a bit distant now. I fear I was never an especially good friend myself. I can count on one hand the number of them whose homes I vistied, or whose parties I attended. I hope to reconnect some old severed, forgotten, or weakened bonds, and perhaps give being a friend another chance.

My favorite season. Nature, all about me, perishing. Stupid trees and grasses that vexed me with pollen in the Spring will soon go dormant. Annoying insects will die. A blanket of cool air will settle over the land and make it the best version of itself, with outdoor temperatures finally low enough to permit exploration. Here at home, the A/C is off, and the windows are open. The cool breezes are welcomed in, ironically bringing with them the sound of the A/C units of our fellow apartment dwellers. It's especially pleasant at night. The coolness of the night atmosphere is qualitatively different from that of the refrigerated air we tolerate in the summer. It feels, for lack of a better word, right. There's also something special about sleeping with only a screen seperating you from the outer darkness. Or, as it is here in the suburbs, outer semidarkness. I don't think there's a spot outdoors within two or three miles where a body won't find itself somehow artificial...

There were a few years of my life, roughly 1978-1983 and 2000-2004, when the year began on January 1 and ended 365 days later (give or take) on December 31. The other 19 or so years have begun at some point in late August or early September and lasted until the ensuing August/September timeframe. My life is once again governed by the School Year. It shares many similaries with the usual Calendar Year. Both end in substantial vacations. Both are often hard to get into at first, although you have no choice. It is a bit odd, though, to be subject to the schedule but not actually in class. I get plenty of the trappings of it through Christina: talk of assignments, fragrant sharpened pencils and snappy new supplies. The only work I do, though, is keeping up with her (although I do have the occasional "homework assignment" of grading the easy stuff). I do prefer the slow phase-in of the new year in this system. Much less harsh than waking up one morning and having to remember a new...

Steve Guzman, over at the Scooter Scoop , has posted what may be the best vehicle ever. If you know me, you may know that I like scooters. You certainly know my affinity for trains. Behold the railroad scooter, and bask in its dorky glory!

Christina and me, this April 30, on our way to celebrate our first wedding anniversary I didn't post this on our proper anniversary, so I'm posting it just after our second dating anniversary, which was yesterday. Two years ago, I was relaxing on the futon in the room at my parents' house where I was staying (I hesitate to call it "my" room, as it was actually my sister's, and bore the marks of her Veggie Tales affliction) after a day of work. I ambled into a Yahoo singles chat room suggested by a lady I had gone out with a few nights before, and was promptly informed that dinner was ready. Leaving myself logged in, I went to eat. Upon my return, I found several messages from women greeting me, and a few more from chatbots. I responded to each in their turn, among them a simple "hello" from ladypimpjuice96. As the evening progressed, other threads of conversation slowed and drifted away, leaving us bantering back and forth. Our discussion ranged from...

It wasn't too long ago that I claimed not to have any friends. As if on cue, to make me eat my words, friends appeared. At work, there are some I actually speak to regularly now; and in this vast online world, some faces from the past have given me an unexpected howdy. Strangely enough, for a guy with pretty much everything he wants, I'm very glad of them.

The Summer is going rather well. Idyllic, in fact. Between relaxing evenings at home, evening trips to the hot tub, films classic and fresh, and the occasional oppotunity to take in some live music, I can't recall a better Summer during my adult life. Even work has been calm, albeit a bit tense. Heading into the second half of the season, there's Independence Day BBQ to be enjoyed, a trip to Dallas with attendant sightseeing and even entertaining a houseguest in store. I'm going to do my best to wheedle in a trip to the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival if the rush back to a non-summer schedule doesn't preclude it. I hope my favorite season, Autumn, can be this good.