June 2006 Archives

we've been home for two weeks now.

returning to america has been like going out for milk and coming home to discover that nine months have gone by.

anyone want some milk? it's a little sour.

people keep asking me how it feels to be back. i have the same answer to that question as to the one about how the trip was. good? bad? strange? itchy? expensive?

mostly i'm happy to see friends again. to check in. to take a nice steady look at san francisco and realize that i'm just not ready to set up shop here again.

i mean, it's hysterical here and everything, but watching drunks duke it out on the 49 over the denunciation of wetbacks only amuses for so long. after that, it's back to work. and as happy as i'll be to fill in temping at the symphony this summer, i don't think i can face the prospect of working there full time again.

this leaves me with the question of what the hell i think i'm going to do in new zealand? it's either get a job, start a business, or hope my wife decides to go into bio-chem.

i have a decent business idea but know nothing about business. i could apply to work at WETA -- it seems they're recruiting animators and if they're recruiting animators, they prolly need some support staff, too? i could try and return to the life of a freelance tech writer by learning ruby on rails or whatever the kids are using these days to make the web all purty. i could also try and get some part time gig to keep my end of the money coming in while i write up this sci-fi novel that's been in my head for a few years.

it's about very dense people.

it's not autobiographical.

i wish i could say i'm relaxing but it honestly feels like i need to stress out first, then start relaxing. i hope i'm 2/3 of the way through the stress out. i suppose i'll let you know.

ed tells about a book, he thinks it's Iduru by William Gibson, in which jet-lag is explained by the fact that your soul is attached to you by a string. when you travel by jet you move too fast and your soul has to catch up. that's jet-lag.

in my case, my soul caught up but was moving so fast it passed me and now it's bungeeing back towards me. i should have it slam into me (perhaps with soiled shorts) any day now.

we got back to SF on thursday and i've mostly been lying low. my folks have a grand apartment on russian hill and it has all these exciting accoutrements like sheets, water, and a refrigerator. we did make it out to corg's house-cooling party for some ring toss and then to stern grove on sunday to chat through aimee mann and seu jorge's sets. the music was fine but actually being in the company of people i know is much more exciting.

i've given directions to strangers twice since i got home. that feels nothing short of bizarre.

i've also been slowly moving all the photos from my old-skool homemade web pages into the new photo app my moms got me. that means i've had to look at them all, copy over the captions, and remember.

there's some really funny stuff in there. games of punk rock kickball. pie fights in the park. costume parties. an engagement.

so yeah. we're back and waiting for our souls to catch up. hope to see you soon.

this past week has been of the intense variety.

physically, i went from equatorial ever-summer to antipodial winter. the sun disappeared. the warmth hid out.

emotionally, i descended upon my mother-in-law and devoured her crumpets (not a euphamism). i also for the very first time met my sister-in-law. briefly. i met her briefly. but i know what she looks like now. i am positive that she exists.

intellectually it's been a knock-down punch with a sack of pennies.

we've come to australia so i could meet bartlebee's grandparents. we planned on spending a month or so here before flying to new zealand to find an apartment, some jobs, a life. but reality kept kicking us in the shins.

it kept kicking with a question. that question being: what do we want to do?

we want to live in another country for a while. we want to have someplace like home for a while. we don't want to travel anywhere for a long stretch. we want to unpack. bathing would be nice. i'm also sort of keen on a burrito.

and the rumbling in our heads found some voice, somewhere in malaysia, with the idea of "why don't we go home for a bit?" it just sounded good. comforting. it fought with "let's go to new zealand" and it fought hard, but in the end we just don't want to go to new zealand right now. we're exhausted. and it's winter here.

of course we failed to realize that australian travel season is begining next week and all flight prices double. so we did the only thing we could think to do: we bought a ticket home for next week.

i'm still not 100% sure we're making the right call but when are you ever? we had to cut our australia trip a bit short but we'll be back in new zealand in a couple of months and we can easily visit again from there.

the other point that swung the vote for me was this; we were going to want to visit home eventually. it wasn't ever going to get cheaper than now and now we don't have jobs or an apartment or obligations we'd need to duck out of. now we can go home for as long as we want, abandon the snorkle and hammock in favor of some wooly sweaters, be there for my sister's third baby and my mother's 60th birthday, and eat a burrito.

so frankly i'm sort of spun out today. like i've been wrestling with myself for a week and finally one half got pinned.

i also turned 34. it involved a steak, a half-pound beetle, and a vastly terrible film.

i'll tell you about it when i see you.

it's my birthday.

i got a prezzie early.

from my ma and da.

check it out to see our malaysia photos.

i'm still tweaking it, but will try and get all the photos transferred over there soon.

let me know if you find any bugs or anything, please.