Chess BOXING!

E-word,

You know, in a way the drafts that never get published are the ones that are most meaningful. One day we'll compile them into a post.

I did get your phone message, and I am very excited to see you in January. Your timing is very good this time around. I won't have classes to go to, and while work has been busy as hell, I still have to eat dinner so meeting up will be grand.

It's interesting that you tucked you garden away for the winter. I actually don't know what is involved in doing that. My parents had a big old garden, and I remember my brother and I throwing rotted tomatoes and cucumbers at one another. They would burst like balloons on contact. Anyway, what I'm getting at here is I don't know if my parents really did anything at the end of the year, but again they over-fertilized and tilled every year, so maybe they didn't worry so much.

I can also see how working at home and in the midwest may have some romantic appeal, but at the same time there has to be some way to counteract the isolation of it all. I'm not saying I have any antidote, but I hear what you're saying. At work it gets frustrating being around people who talk too much or much your shit up, but there is a constant hum of activity.

Well, the only antidote I have is for us to get together and drink and talk shit. Mostly talk shit.

But to answer your other questions, well, I don't really have a life. When school ends I'm going to try hard to have a life, but right now all I do is spend inordinate amounts of time at work, and the rest of my free time worrying about school. I have one class left, and I can't wait to be finished with this crap. Thanksgiving was good, it was just me and El. I cooked up a turkey, some mashed potatoes, and vegetables. It was good. I did get your message, and I can't wait to hang out. I will, however, be in Seoul for the holidays, which will be nice. We're planning a side trip to Tokyo, a city that El and I both really enjoy. It's also nice visiting a place that has currency problems, because the dollar is not brutalized over there.

I miss you too, my brother man.

Toe