Skip to main content

June to June

Google can waste your time. Case in point: I was noodling in my mind the idea of writing a short blog entry to encapsulate the feeling I have here on a Friday morning - pithy, oh so pithy - and I searched for an image to describe this feeling. Voila' - I'm transported into a blog that chronicled the trials and tribulations of last year's World Cup from the perspective of a couple of fans who witnessed the spectacle from the comfort of well-established UK media channels (BBC, who provided the image here of the Italy-Australia match last year, ITV, etc.).

Instantly, I am transported back to last June. Newly arrived in DC (well, almost, but stay with me here), I was settling in to an apartment near my "soon-to-be-but-never-fully-realized-that-I-would-be-so-lucky-that-she-might-later-become-my-wife" girlfriend. I was settling in to a job that started to make sense after 6 months (I'm not quite there yet - and now another year on! - but that is another topic), and I was preparing for some big upcoming events: my first trip to China and the wildly anticipated World Cup. June to June, I'm engaged (my dreams came true!), I bought a townhouse with my fiancee' (the bills take my breath away!), I'm in a new position in the company (same thing with a different title!), and I'm generally realizing that I have become a full-fledged adult.

Stay with me, my mind keeps wandering. It seems that adult life is relatively more boring. Gardening! Laundry! Running errands! Falling asleep on the couch! (exclamation points added for effect). But in the grand scheme of life and events, the rhythm feels just about right. And of course, there are always the memories, in this case captured sparsely in the blog archive from June 2006. Bouncing back and forth from past to present, I'm enjoying a moment of revelry that wanders between and around moments of joy and exasperation; taking the philosophy of enjoying life and the wonders of this world before life moves on to the next big thing has given me this luxury. And now that I have wasted enough time, I'll snap back to the task at hand by answering the ringing phone on my desk.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Party Like It's 1999

A coworker sent me a meeting invitation to the end of the world.  Fitting.  I'm not sure if I should accept or not (suppose it depends on your views of the end of the Mayan calendar ), but somehow it reminded me of the Prince song on a related subject . Fitting as well that this coworker was not born when Prince extolled the virtues of partying like it's 1999 (side note: I did party like it's 1999 while studying abroad in Milan at that time, which was a heady experience with the coming of the Euro and all.  How times have changed, how the mighty have fallen...).  Time change, sometimes faster than we think, and our cultural references become dated.  Perhaps just like the Mayan calendar falling out of fashion over the last few centuries, until its end becomes a modern cultural phenomenon - or not, depending on your view of things. In either case, it's worth partying like it's 1999 regardless because hey, it will be Friday when this all goes down, and Fridays

Siesta

Every so often, an afternoon comes along that deserves a siesta. Today is such a day. With mid-90's temperatures and a blazing, blue sky, a July summer day such as this carries the conditions befitting of a hour's respite from the day's torching heat and mounting challenges. Good thing, then, that there is so much more work to do and that a pause is difficult to conceive at this point. But it is worth daydreaming - as good as a siesta, just done wakefully instead of eyes closing. In any case, I found this portrait by the artist Roxanne Driedger to be appropriate. A sort of soft tribute to the innocent pleasures of an afternoon nap that seems so appealing right now.

New York Pause

Heading to the Helmsley Sometimes I work in NYC, and this is my office.  More precisely, there is a desk in the upper floors of this distinctive building that has a major thoroughfare running through it that I inhabit while typing up documents and conducting meetings in the city.  It is nothing exceptional, usually the work and sometimes the desk at which I sit, but the surrounding city is commanding, ever-thriving, and never-still. If I pay close enough attention, I am reminded of the countless things that make this city unique among the many cities I have had the pleasure to live in and visit.  But on this brisk morning, when winter gusts barrel down Park Avenue as I hustle the blocks from Lex to the building entrance security guards, I pause long enough to snap this picture.  That pause is enough reminder that I am lucky to be here, and New York City is ready to give me its best shot (I'm still not sure if the city is better personified male or female).  But that is all t