Hi ho, hi ho.....it's off to work I go?

Amazingly enough, after a year and three months, it's time for me to head back to work. Gone are the mid-day naps, matinees, afternoon runs and lounging around at Starbucks to do some reading and writing on a nice day. Gone are the flip-flops and t-shirts. Gone are days of sleeping in because.....hey, what did I have to wake up for?

Am I excited or nervous? Actually, not at all.......I'm ready. It's time for me to get back into the work force and get back into the flow of what most people call a 'normal life.'

More later......

Good conversation and bad baseball

It's a good thing that my partner in conversation was from across the pond and didn't know much about baseball because the product on the field was extremely sub-par. Missed double plays, fighting for infield pop ups, and who can forget the batter who made it first on a strike out?! Such is life for baseball fans in the DC area as we get treated to bad baseball in a great park. Needless to say, the Nats lost 8-4.

Luckily for me there was great conversation, and interesting topics at that. Questions that I had no clue existed a year ago popped up and I kept thinking.......'a year ago, I would have answer that this way, but now, I have to say this.' Different perspectives were presented to me and I provided my own insight....and after all was said and done, I still can't say I'm more informed on the questions presented. They did cause me to think about my life and the decisions I've made in the past.......and after all that, I think Don Henley said it best......."the more I know, the less I understand."

More later.......

Glimpses and wonder

Every once and a while you get a glimpse into someone and their life. You see them and you see that inner sparkle in their eye and you wonder. Could this be someone who I could spend a long time with? Or is this someone who just is a friend? This person knows a lot about you......could it be? You think about it a lot......and you wonder. You wonder if this is the true reality of the person before you. You wonder if this glimpse into this reality is going to last the distance. You wonder if this is someone you can grow old with. You wonder if this is someone who's ready to take the next step. Then you take a step back and realize.......that person is not just yet ready for the next step. And then you wait.......and wonder and what glimpse you'll get next.

More later.....

Where's the fork?

So, it had been a long time since he'd eaten without silverware and after my Pops got over the initial shock of not having any silverware, he finally settled into the food itself......which was simple yet delicious and shockingly plentiful.

We were out and about in the U St. area of town, once known as the 'Black Broadway' of Washington, DC. When in the U St. area there are two things you should definitely check out......Jazz (as this is the birthplace of Duke Ellington) and Ethiopian food. The DC area has about 85,000 Ethiopians that reside here, making it the largest Ethiopian population in the nation, and the best place to get some good food. At first he tried to make a taco with his injera and the succulent pieces of lamb. He quickly realized he would run out of the almost pancake type bread. Then he watched me eat a couple of times and realized he needed to take some pieces of bread and just grab the food. After he got it down, he washed it down with some Tej, Ethiopian honey wine, and he was truly immersed in Ethiopian food and drink.

With our plentiful meal behind us, we sauntered down to the Bohemian Caverns to check out the Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra. The Washington City Paper calls the Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra the best reason to go out on a Monday night and they didn't disappoint as we caught most of their first set. Twelve members (one percussion, one upright bass, one pianist, two trumpets, two trombones, two alto saxes, two tenor saxes and one bass saxophone) provided us with some catchy tunes and good times.

A short bus ride back to our respective homes and it was a great evening in U St.

More later.......

1 Down......a few more to go

Nope, I'm not talking about beers here, instead I'm talking about baseball games! My Pops is up in the DC area this week for a conference and we are squeezing in some baseball games before and after. The plan is to hit up a game at the Nationals new stadium (against our hometown Astros) before his conference starts. After the conference is over, we are heading up to Baltimore for an Orioles game at Camden Yards. Then it's up to New York to fulfill a childhood dream for my dad and check out a couple of games at 'The House that Ruth Built' as it's the final season for Yankees Stadium.

Our week of baseball started off great as Sunday was a beautiful day for baseball. Hot, sunny and not so terrible humidity greated us as we arrived at the Nationals new stadium in Southeast DC. Luckily we were on the 3rd base side as the sun dipped behind the stadium mid-way through the 4th inning and kept us from burning too badly.

On the field, Brandon Backe pitched 7 scorless innings and was helped with some run support as the 'Stros bats came out during the last game before the All-Star break. The Astros also made some good plays out in the field with Darin Erstad and Ty Wigginton making a couple of standout plays with their gloves. Put it all together and it works out to be a 5-0 win for the hometown Houston Astros.

A great game for both of us to see as it was a chance to see the hometown boys play well. It was also a great opportunity to spend some quality time with my father. But the best part was knowing that I was one game down......and a few more special games to go.

More later.......

Great in Bars.....Not in Interviews

It's a pretty popular question that pops up in conversations among strangers outside of the professional realm. People usually ask it in hopes of gaining some information as to the person they are having a discussion or conversation. In fact, someone once told me that's it's one of the Top 3 questions you can expect when meeting someone in this country.

"So, what do you do?"

Seems harmless enough, right? In fact, it's usually a great conversation piece in most of the places I've been hanging out in recently. People seem amazed and interested to hear about my travels and I'm happy to oblige with answers to their genuinely interested questions. And I'm not going to lie, I love answering the questions! Not for vanity sake, mind you, but because it reminds me of how special and neat an opportunity it was to take some time off just to travel. It also takes me back and makes me remember the sights, the smells, the colors, and the feelings that I was going through when I was traveling. When I first got back, my mind was still fresh with all of the memories, but now it takes me consciously thinking back to refresh my mind of all those memories (that and reviewing the blog!).

Somehow, when you are trying to explain your year long absence from employment to a recruiter for a company on the other end of the phone or a desk, it doesn't quite go over as well. What ever happened to companies wanting well rounded employees who can bring life experiences to the work force? You try and do your best to pitch it to them that this is something you wanted to and saved up for and it's an experience of a lifetime, but then I seem to come off almost as defensive. I just can't seem to figure it out.

Needless to say, the search for employment continues.......

Shantaram

"For this is what we do. Put one foot forward and then the other. Lift our eyes to the snarl and smile of the world once more. Think. Act. Feel. Add our little consequence to the tides of good and evil that flood and drain the world. Drag our shadowed crosses into the hope of another night. Push our brave hearts into the promise of a new day. With love: the pure, ineffable yearning to be saved. For so long as fate keeps waiting, we live on. God help us. God forgive us. We live on."

This is the last paragraph from the greatest book I've ever read......Shantaram. It took a long time, but it was worth it.

I'm going home

After a long journey, both literally and figuratively, physically and emotionally, I'm starting my journey back to the city that I love so much. Through the course of my travels, I was constantly asked many questions about DC and why I love it so. Well, what can you say about a city like DC? It's a great mix of north and south, it's a city that has an international flair while still being very American, it's a good mix of public and private transportation, it's a picturesque city and a city of change. As winter fades and spring begins, I'm coming home to start my new season of life. The cherry blossoms are out and the tourists are sure to be flooding the National Mall and I'm actually looking forward to what life has to offer me.

It's taken a few months to get to a better place, but I'm slowly working my way towards that better place. True, my heart is still heavy and I will carry that heaviness for the rest of my life, but eventually it will all work out how it's supposed to work out. There's a balance to life and eventually, the bad times will turn to good. You must experience the dark to appreciate the light.

More later.......

The Best I Ever Had

Listening to more country music and this time it's Gary Allen and a beautiful song:

So you sailed awayInto a grey sky morning
Now I'm here to stay
Love can be so boring
And nothing's quite the same now
I just say your name now

But I'ts not so bad..
You're only the best I ever had
You don't want me back
You're just the best I ever had

So you stole my world
Now I'm just a phony
Remembering the girl
Leaves me down and lonely
We'll send it in a letter
Make yourself feel better

But I'ts not so bad..
You're only the best I ever had
You don't want me back
You're just the best I ever had

And it might take some time
To patch me up inside
But I cant take it so I
I run away and hideI might find it in time
That you were always right
You were always right

So you sailed away
Into a grey sky morning
Now I'm here to stay
Love can be so boring
Was it what you wanted
Could it be I'm haunted?

But It's not so bad..
You're only the best I ever had
You dont want me back
You're just the best I ever had

The 'Real World'?

I'm sure that all traveller's who are on the road for a long time experience what I'm going through. And, I'm pretty sure that what I'm feeling right now is nothing special, but still, it's causing some unrest these days. I'm a bit distant in conversations and people are starting to notice. What can I say? Something is on my mind.

After spending an amazing month out in Arizona and the great Southwest, I'm catching a red-eye flight back to the east coast. Is the dream life coming to a close? Should I get an apartment and a job and slip back into the 9am-5pm reality that's almost expected of me? Or should I throw it all in storage and keep on moving down the road with the few possessions that I have in my bag and create more memories? What is the 'real world' after all? What is success? Is it going to work, buying a home, building a family? Or is it building memories and friendships while trying to see it all? Don't most people on their death bed wish that they had seen more of this world?

I guess it's true, the hardest thing in this world is to have a choice........and these are the questions that face me now at this junction in my life.

More later.......