Lumas 4, 30.

DIARY

This past week I celebrated "Eventime," a project I started to develop when I was in 6th grade to acknowledge and give a name to the year that has passed and to make plans for the year up ahead. I've gradually elaborated this idea, and it has been useful in increasing day-to-day productivity by situating it all in a larger context.

At any rate, this is what I was mostly up to during the last week. I bought a new journal and made a plan for religious and personal activity. I spent a lot of time cleaning, and worked out an exercise and health plan, and hopefully will establish a better, more frequent correspondance with friends and family. I updated Here Is No Why so that it looks less gloomy and depressing (you should check it out). I also cleaned out some redundant code and dead links from this blog; though the changes may not be conspicuous, I will hopefully allow the blog to load faster. I made lists of books to read and music to listen to, movies to watch, places to go. I laid out ideas for some possible writing projects (the most major of which is resuming work on Urbantasm). I did some research and consultation about developing the Gothic Funk Nation. I came up with a financial agenda and a weekly schedule to submit stories, enter contests, and attend readings so that I will be published sooner and more frequently. It's a great week; I never finish all of my plans, but it can't help but give a sense of focus and hope for the future.

The high point, though, was the Nightwalk I took on Saturday night; this one was a lot shorter than the ones I've taken in the last few years, but was memorable because I persuaded Jessica to come with me. We set out from home at a little after eleven, and stopped on Myrtle for snacks (Snapple, Dr. Pepper, and Goldfish crackers). We followed Flushing Ave. to Bedford, and it wound us through the Hasidic section of Williamsburg to the bridge. We crossed the bridge, which I hadn't been on in seven years; it's a long bridge (moreso than the Brooklyn or the Manhattan) and enclosed in such a way that you have a literal dozen angles on the suspension span, the cars, the subway tracks, the support structure, and the river. The bridge gave a splendid view of both Downtown and Midtown, but the bridge itself was the most thrilling thing from the inside. When we touched down in Manhattan, we stopped at a 31 Flavors so Jess could get ice cream and me a donut. Then we continued on, winding through Little Italy and Chinatown and City Hall, and then crossing the river again by the Brooklyn Bridge. We followed Willoughby back through the Fulton Mall, got home at about 3 AM, and finished watching Enemy at the Gates. We walked about nine miles in four hours; last summer I went twice that, but distance cannot make up for a lack of Jessica.

Of course, there were other things going on last week as well. On Friday, we met with Marco and Scott for some bar hopping and political talk. We watched the Yankees getting spanked by the Giants, which was nice. Friday was Manditory Cleaning Day and we're still in the middle of the mess from that. On Saturday, after about two hours of sleep, we went out for breakfast at this little taqueria up the street where we've never been before (they had a great breakfast bargain) and hit the Farmers Market before heading home around eleven. We napped for most of the day and watched two episodes of Lost, which we are currently obsessed with. On Sunday I went to church and helped prepare a meal at a Quaker Friendship Hall for people in Downtown Brooklyn. Then I walked up to Park Slope through a massive street market and past some beautiful abandoned textile works. We RPGed with Marco and Scott until 8ish before going home. Mojitos and more cleaning.

It was quite a week.

I said I name the year each year. The year that has just passed; I named it the Year of the Hidden Rain. (If you think it tends toward the melodramatic, you should hear what I called them in high school...)

- ALMANAC SAYS -
Start to address stomach problems by first eliminating caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco.

- NEWS OF THE WEEK -
Report: China exceeds U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions.

- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
What is Grimace?

END OF POST.