I haven’t posted in quite a while. What’s up with that?
Lots of personal and professional upheaval in the last six months. Not just for me, either. I had to stop myself from shooting my mouth off on more than one occasion. Now that I’m working full-time again, I have to observe certain protocols.
I never wanted to be one of those people pontificating on events of the day. More accurately, I don’t mind leaving the door open for that sort of thing, but I would hate feeling obligated to belch out a thousand words every time some politician or pop star says/does something stupid.
To put it in mathematical terms:
Professional obligation to avoid talking about certain issues +Personal disinterest in many other issues +General upheaval associated with moving and working full time =————————————————————————————————
Several months of radio silence
I can’t say things will change dramatically, but interested parties may notice a renewed emphasis on posting every once in a while.
As I write this it is still June 1 according to Central Daylight Savings time. June 1 is the birthday of my friend Peter Marks, who died in 2009. He would have been 37 years old today.
I think of him often. Every time I hear the song “Roxanne” by the Police, for example. Peter enjoyed singing that song with my name in place of the titular prostitute. Now, every time that song pops up on the radio I can hear him crooning that those days are over and I don’t have to sell my body to the night.
I think of him chuckling at me from beyond the grave and I cannot help but smile.
I have another post about Peter that’s maybe three-quarters complete. It’s about the sense of loss I felt when he died, and is kind of a downer (go figure). But it’s his birthday (for another half hour or so — more on the West Coast!) and I’d like to commemorate the occasion with happy thoughts. So here’s a picture from a whale-watching day trip I took with Peter, his wife, and a bunch of our Bungie pals back in 2002(?). It was the first time I shaved my head; it was also the day I tried licorice ice cream for the first time, and scared people by opening my mouth to reveal my coal-black tongue and teeth. I also got a brutal sunburn. Perhaps someday those pictures will surface. For now, here’s a lousy pic of my good friend Peter staring off into the distance, probably smiling at something only he can see.
