Elle is sleeping

So I thought I would write a little something.

I had a pretty lovely birthday. Jon, Pete and I drove out to Long Beach and surfed just west of Lido with Dutchie, China Ty, and FM Borroughs. Dubstar even made it out towards the end. The waves were decent sized, glassy, and super consistent. We surfed for almost four hours, sharing waves, dropping in on each other, listening to Franco regulate (excerpted conversation: Franco: Alright, lets spread out a bit. We're getting a little too clustered together. Pete: We're the only people out, Franco), and watching Ty and Dutchie give their childhood stomping grounds a going over.

We headed back to BK after stopping for coffee and a fritter at Star(five)bucks, and a bagel place. Bless got a ticket for "almost hitting a kid" while blowing past a stopped schoolbus (strangely, the bus was stopped in the left lane of a divided road, like in the middle, and the kids were getting out to cross the median, and, according to most state laws, you only have to stop for a school bus traveling the opposite direction if there is no median or divider, thus making it seem like a literal death trap for the bus to be dropping kids off in the median), but the guy let him off for a seatbelt violation.

I got home and rode to DNA to pick up Elle and ride our bikes back to her house for some R&R. We ate some hummus and crackers and cheese, and took a nap for an hour. We decided to meet everyone at Mollusk 'round closing time for beers on the deck and then headed to Fiore on Grand street for some fettilini al fruti de mare. Ben and JT came and represented SRQ. Pete pedaled his skinny ass over. Jon and Monia came and brought me Lance Arstrong's book and a bar of decadent Godiva. Jesso and Ilan came followed by Amanda S. Franco had to take a shower and comb his pomp and met us a little later at Fiore for a glass of White and a big slab of steak.

It was really a great day, mellow as it was. It was the first birthday I have not spent either out of the country or with family in a long time.

Jack sent me a video of Lemon swimming into the middle of the intracoastal, chasing a tennis ball with a caption that read : Happy birthday dickhead.

Jack is lucky, getting to lay around the romping room with Little Girl all day, getting lifted with my dad around the BBQ grill or the fire pit, helping my sis bake shit in the kitchen. I miss them quite a lot. Lemon has apparently maxed out at 32 pounds, which is almost twice the size she was when we were so blessed with her arrival into our lives almost a year ago. Little Girl is big now. When she jumps on the bed in the mornings it will hurt. As well as having very little comprehension of Other People's Space, she has very little understanding of her own physical presence and strength.

So, that's all for now.

Summer: A (tentative) schedule

Summer is here. School is finally and thankfully over. I got good grades, chopped a few years off my life not sleeping and sweating cliches. It was a rough semester, but a good one. I'm ready for a change.

Elle invited me down to her parents in CT for a long weekend. I was psyched on getting out of the city, being done with the semester, hanging out with Elle and seeing her home town, etc. We left Thursday afternoon from Grand Central. It was my first time their, strangely. It is really quite a beautiful place, though I think the clock should be bigger. I had a strange feeling sitting there watching people walk by, scuttling to and from obligations, that I didn't have the faintest clue what made any of these people feel joy. As a writer, someone interested or obligated to understand others inner-feelings, this is an issue. But sitting there, watching these stiff, cold people file past each other, I felt very alone. This is not the point of the story, though. The last thought is one that requires more than a quick blog post to dive in to.

Elle, her mom, and I got in to CT around 5ish and drove to where she grew up, stopping to meet her dad on the way for a steak dinner at Chute Gate.

Their home is truly beautiful, in the way only authentic New England homes can be. Crisp edges and trims, effortless landscaping, surrounded by lush green grass and foliage.

We were there to hang out with her BFF's Cara and Meg. Meg has been in Australia for a while finishing teaching school and living with her well-traveled BF, Brett, who is a class act. We basically layed low, went to Meg's BBQ at her nascar-watching family's, pillaged Salvation Army and Goodwill, and were treated like royalty by her mom and dad. It was a good weekend.

Elle, her mom, and I got back this morning and went to our respective jobs for the day. I came home and moved Nolan into our apt., and gave him a pretty fantastic haircut. Him and I ate pizza and are about to head over to Reggie's for his going-away-for-the-summer-to-teach-Shakespeare-to-children party.

Thursday, Elle and I head to Nova Scotia to take part in the Nanney-Caldwell wedding. We're staying on the Bay of Fundy for two evenings, then in the LaHave Islands for two, then somewhere else, possibly Lunenberg?, the last night. It is going to be quite a good time, staying in bed and breakfasts and enjoying the company of good friends in a new place. I'm pretty psyched, and couldn't be more excited about it being Elle and I's first real trip together!


Having just finished school, just finished all academic requirements for the next three months, I have set myself a goal to read a shit-ton. Shit-ton.

In the last 5 days I read:
Consider the Lobster
Oblivion, both by David Foster Wallace
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
The Name of The World by Denis Johnson

So, I am planning a 3-month binge, reading with the following books:
in no order:
Infinite Jest (again)
The Corrections
White Noise
Invisible Man (again)
Rabbit, Run
Rabbit, Redux
Rabbit is Rich
Rabbit at Rest
American Pastoral
(maybe) Against the Day
The Girl With Curious Hair

I'll keep you updated.