Speaking of sake, I now have only five more to try to complete my Dragonfish sake club card (out of twenty-two).
Monday night completed my very first season in a bowling league. Personally, I did fairly well considering I bowl once every pon farr, or thereabouts. (apologies for that reference) I met some nice, interesting people and had a fun time. I may do it again in the near future.
The Sounders must have lost a coin toss to be stuck opening the season against the L.A. Galaxy. There was no way Sounders would win, and that’s what we call ‘starting off on the wrong foot’. It was an exciting game, however, in really nice seats thanks to the unfortunate timing of illness for a very nice woman.
One of my friends lost her job (unfairly, I might add) and tomorrow is her last day. It is a tough time for a lot of people, and this was a particularly sucky situation. I hope that good things will come out of this for her, that this loss will set her on a fortunate path.
Over the last several years, I’ve had the occasional dream wherein I’ve uprooted myself and returned to New York to continue my education and further my career. These are generally very good dreams, but always twinged with a thought of “am I really doing the right thing?” In recent weeks, I’ve had the occasional dream wherein I’m just leaving, moving somewhere else. In these dreams, I am overall happy and content, and there is no question of whether I’m doing the right thing. In fact, the most recent version had me packing up my things and joining with a friend/love interest for a trip around the country. The intent was to go to a town, try it on for size, and if it didn’t fit we’d move on to the next town, with the idea that maybe we’d stop at the first town we came across, or maybe we’d never find the one that fit. Either way – or else somewhere in between – we were perfectly OK with that. I felt pretty good waking from that dream, and I intend to ponder its meaning for a while.
I purchased my first ever PBS item and it is currently on its way to my domicile – Lidia’s Italy: 140 Simple and Delicious Recipes from the Ten Places in Italy Lidia Loves Most. Lidia has kept me company on many sleepless nights, and I’ve been meaning to get one of her books and cook one of her dishes myself. I’m pretty excited.
And that, my friends, is that. (for now)
Category Archives: travel
My Tour of the Capitols
In 2005, after lamenting that I had not traveled any place new in many years, and that most of my traveling was work-related, I decided to give myself an assignment. I would venture to visit every state capitol building in this country. No deadline was given for completion, and photo essays were to be made for each visit. This February, I saw my 10th state capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina. I am a fifth of the way to my goal!
When I visit a capitol, I take what I hope to be interesting photos that capture the essence of each building. So far, I’ve witnessed a couple trends, and now I take note of these things at each subsequent visit. Namely, capitols tend to be made from marble, and there is often an inset drinking fountain that looks very much like a urinal. Because I ate enchiladas during my first capital visit – Salem, Oregon – I also try to eat enchiladas in each capital city.
I keep a log of my journey online. The pages for each city are linked together, so that one can scroll through the cities in alphabetical order by state – my own little web ring! As I visit a capital, a page is inserted into the ring. On the main page is a list of all the capital cities, along with a graphic guide to my familiarity with each. This is measured by the time I’ve spent there – was I passing through on a train? did I have a layover at the airport? did I spend the night?
I’ve found that my reports are a nice way to keep in touch with distant friends and family, as well as a way to let non-travelers experience places they’ve never been. My capitol tour has been interesting and quite rewarding thus far, and I look forward to continuing and someday completing it.