I miss New York ( Read more... )

$100 ticket for fare evasion. Or a court summons on Christmas Eve. Bugger.

I just booked a one-way flight to Amsterdam.

Exactly one year after a slow-moving train brought me there from Bruxelles.

I am excited and nervous and I want to stay but I need to go and and and.

4 January 2010.

The top of the Spanish Steps in Rome. I met Alex there- just left of that middle lamppost to be precise. I remember. Perched atop the wide banister, legs dangling carelessly over a nasty drop, the mint-green dome of the Vatican glowing against a peach-colored sunset as hundreds and hundreds of black birds wheel overhead in lazy aerial ballets. ( Read more... )

I’m disappointed you lack the courage to even see me. You think you’re doing your future wife a favor- in reality you’re doing her an immense disservice and insulting your feelings for each other by insinuating they’re so fragile they’d be gravely shaken by an hour in my presence ( Read more... )

Amsterdam from 26 May to 22 June.

One of many incredibly valid reasons to be happy.

Others include-
the trees waking up and the sunshine casting prisms on the sidewalk when it filters through the new leaves;
receiving the highest mark on a tough exam I hadn’t prepared for;
eating homemade empanadas while watching the sun set over the power plant ( Read more... )

Things kill me ( Read more... )

And on Saturday my grandmother passed away.

My mother is a mess.

I have very few words to describe the last 2 weeks.

Here are a couple: “finally over.” Thank goodness.

I am trying to compose a coherent entry … but my life is so chaotic right now and my issues so mismatched that it would almost be offensive to group them together. So I will start with the topic that is ironically the easiest and leave the more complicated problems to another soon-to-come installment of my thrilling life ( Read more... )

The itinerary?

• Paris from tomorrow to 1 January.
• Bruxelles from 1 to 3 January.
• Brugge from 3 to 4 January.
• Amsterdam from 4 to 10 11 January.
• Berlin from 10 11 to 15 January.