Wow! Seems I managed to live through an entire summer without a blog post. In truth, as far as summers go, this one has been remarkable in it's unremarkableness. Normally there's some fantastic voyage or a momentous life altering event to remark on. Instead this summer was marked by only very good voyages and multiple small life altering events. Also, I've noticed an historical trend of me complaining about a lot of things in blogs, so either I've ran out of new things to complain about (doubtful) or it's just not worth the effort.
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| Dragon*Con 2013 at the Marriott Marquis |
Since last I wrote, I've ventured to San Diego (which we all know is German for a"whale's vagina"), Minneapolis, Atlanta a few times for a few minutes, Sint Maarten, Boston, Indianapolis, and Seattle. Pretty much a domestic summer with the one exception. And all but the the aforementioned exception were mostly friend driven. And it was a better summer because of it. I'm not going to lie though, it was pretty freaking cool chilling on Maho Beach and be blasted by jet wash.
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| KLM B747-400 "The City of Atlanta" arriving at SXM shortly before the massive wake turbulence that almsot knocked me down |
However, it was still the summer of friendly fun. Cali with Maggie, Minneapolis to see the always entertaining Chandra (with Angel accompaniment) and just relaxing with a campfire by the lake, then a quick trip to the ATL to make the rounds with the Lewii and TanJoe and celebrate the birth of Yinyer in true Sunday-Funday style (and also perhaps frightening the poor bartender). Back to Boston for another Red Sox game with Jersey, this time in sweltering heat. I can't win with the the weather there. Up to Indianapolis for a day trip for Drum Corps Int'l finals, but mostly to see Shelley. Finally back around to ATL again for a long visit and indulgence in fantasy, this time crisscrossing the northern half of the state to spend time with friends and family, and made a couple new pals. And finally closed the Summer season with an adventure to Seattle with Heidi and a visit with a pal (thanx for the city tour Anna).
A brief synopsis of some of the travels:
Sint Maarten: The aerosexuals "Mecca". The legendary airport's runway is so close to the runway you feel like you can grab on the landing gear when the planes pass over you on final. I think in the past perhaps some one might have. Add Caribbean Island time mixed with some Dutch flavor and you have good idea of what fun can be had there. Lots of beach time, lots of Corona, lots of rum drinks, and lots of girls in bikinis (or less, remember it is a Dutch posession). And if you can handle the summer heat (which honestly isn't any worse than Louisville, and you have a sea breeze) there's good deals to be had in the summer off season. I found a room that I was frankly weary of because it was so cheap, but turned out to be clean and more than I needed for a few days. It wasn't the Ritz but it did the trick.
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| Air France A340... little blurry trying to catch on the fly by | |
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Boston: In addition the fabulousness that is Jersey and the history that is baseball at Fenway, I had a chance to hang out at the Harpoon Brewery (practically Jersey's next door neighbor). I'm not normally a giant Harpoon fan, but I found some of their seasonals and small batch brews very tasty.
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| Fenway Park Sox vs Yankees |
Seattle: What a nice city. This is my second visit to the Emerald city (the last one consisting of spending enough tme to see a baseball game, sleep, and fly out after a DMB weekend at Gorge). For some reason I never pictured Seattle as hilly as it is. It's a bit like San Francisco. Of course we did all the tourist stuff; Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, and by far the most interesting to me part, the Boeing tour. Boeing's Everett plant, being another Aerosexual holy temple, was incredible. Not to mention the fun of seeing them assemble life size airplanes like toy models and looking on in amazement, evening knowing how the science says it works, that those beautiful machines make it into the air.
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| Seattle from Queen Anne hill |
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ATLizzle... and back again. Labor day weekend brings the annual nerd pilgrimage to Atlanta for the Dragon*Con. Since we first discovered this event about 5 years ago, it's become a mainstay for my yearly schedule. This year I went all in with a room at "geek ground zero", the Marriott Marquis, and full costume. it was even more fun than the past. Late nights at raves with light saber wielding dancers to seeing the childhood TV heroes live and in person. It's all about living in the fantasy for a while, and a good distraction from real life. The only downside, extensive lines and standing, which took it's toll (more later). It was good to spend time with Maggie, Kara, Charity, and Darci (and her friends.. who were great roommates for the weekend). After the con and recuperation and a side trip to Seattle, I was back in town for Mumford and Sons! They are one of those rare bands that sound much better live than on the albums.
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| Jedi Life. |
In between I spent the time working (more than I care to) and adjusting to living in the new place. I've discovered I have some very friendly and entertaining neighbors who also enjoy huddling behind our fence (that keeps the 99% out) and watching the late night goings on outside the bars across the way. Is it wrong of us to encourage the drunks to not take any crap from the bouncers.... just to see them laid out? Seems kind of mean.
On the downside, a few (so far small) health issues threw a crimp in the summer fun. From a flare up of gout (first one in several years) to what I think is a recurrence of a back/leg issue from a few years ago. Turns out I can't apparently rock all night and stand in uncomfortable boots for hours on end without consequence. I'm hoping it turns out like last time, in that the body heals itself and everything returns to normal. But only the impending doctor visits will tell. In the mean time I'm walking with a little bit of a limp and there'll be no 5k's for the time being.
So, that to me is an average summer. I've come to realize I tend to live in what others possibly think is an alternate reality from the rest of the world. I'm ok with that, since it makes me happy (for the most part). I will acknowledge by bar tabs have become both more frequent and more expensive, given the ease of "walking" home from across the street. But I do really like the new place, and it is set up for visitors (HINT!). Well, nto exactly right now, due to shoddy original construction the balconies are being enclosed. And that is a real pain in my arse... it's very hard to day sleep with walls being removed above your head. But it is temporary. Now, I need tog et back to living this charmed life. Trivia tonight I think, followed by doctor ordered "taking it easy" time with Netflix or a book (since I learned at Dragon*Con there's a lot of TV and literature I need to catch up to be well versed in the costumes).
Well, that was summer, bring on the Fall!
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| Sint Maarten Sunset |
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