It's a place I'd like to be

E-word,

This live version of Tugboat Captain is amazing. Thanks.

Have fun in India. I envy you, and am kicking myself a second time for having an opportunity and not taking advantage of it.

Lately I've been having difficulty concentrating. It's actually been fairly busy the last couple of weeks. Since coming back from North Carolina for Thanksgiving, it feels like times just running away. Today is going to be pretty chill, finally. We're getting some work done on the house, but otherwise the only plans I have today are to go to the gym. I'm going to try to drag El to a museum today as well. Maybe I can get her to go ice skating? That might be a tough sell.

Your latest posts have got me thinking about a couple of things, and reminded me that I've been wanting to ask you about how you cook your oatmeal. Lately I've becoming a steel-cut oatmeal devotee, but I'm not a hundred percent certain that I'm preparing it correctly. Like, I don't know exactly how mushy it should be. Do you have a certain cooking technique you employ? Also, does it always stick to your pans during cooking, is that just one of the downsides to having yummy oatmeal? Also, how like, chunky should it be?

I will write you a story. I will add some discipline to my life, and start writing. You know, it's not like riding a bicycle. I'm not saying I forgot how to write, I can string a sentence, but, you know, writing is not, god I don't know what I'm saying. I'll write you a story, and thanks for asking me.

I'd like to see S Pugh-Kebabian. Heh, I don't know what the Pugh Kebabian part means, but I do know the S part. You know, it's nice that we can actually talk about old times. It's always been a detrimental part of my personality that I have few people I can talk to about old times. Also, you haven't been such a soulless businessman to not see me, so there is that at least.

Okay, I'm going to go. I hope you have time for a final post before your trip.

Take care, man.

Toe

A Video to Cheer Us Up

It's a place I'd be happy.

Three years ago this month

Toe,
In December 2005, we were writing about not writing our stories anymore. I was hopeful that my new job would me more energy to write. What happened?

I know what happened. We didn't write. It is really that simple.

I started writing another story recently. It is far from done, and it seems OK. I just need to write more.

Will you please write me a story? I want to know where Charles is today, and what stories he is writing now.

Anyway, happy December 2008. I hope 2009 is a good year.
Love,
E-Word

THOSE DANCING DAYS

Dude, I love them. Thank you for the intro.

Onto another beer. I am a little drunk.

Little creatures

Toe,
I agree, by the way, with Nelson--I think when you do have a kid, all that other stuff flies out the window.
Love,
E-word

What kind of souless businessman am I. Next time I am in DC, period, whether it is on business or not, we need to get together with S.

Facility Lounge

Hey Toe,
Sorry I have been so absent from the log. We are leaving the country for a few weeks next week, and I have been trying to catch up on work. One of the projects I am working on I could have finished a month ago, and I let it sit because it wasn't really urgent. Now I realize it has all these problems.

I was working late on this. Now I am stopping, drinking a beer, and eating some dinner. I roasted some potatoes and rosemary in the oven, and I'm eating it with steamed broccoli and stir-fried tofu. I type while I stand at the kitchen island, my laptop perched on an dry, clean edge of the linoleum. Kitchen computer use is a little tricky, I think.

So, dude, are you turning 40? That is insane. You were like fresh out of college when we met, I think. I am probably totally wrong on the age, but I think I am close. I still remember going to the Writers Center for that class, with my good friend and, at that time soon-to-be, yours, S. Pugh-Kebabian. I remember consistently thinking you were the coolest person in the class, mostly because your stories cracked me up or disturbed me more than anyones. I still recall the day S. and I made conversation with you. We were in that lobby of the Center, goofing around, and you were kind of nearby, and I think she said hello. Then I said hello.

That was a while ago. Mid-1990s. Seems like a lifetime away, and at the same time, pretty recent. Time does move inexorably on. (Good word, by the way--inexorably.)

We need to get in touch with S. Next time I am in DC on business, we have to. I have squandered my trips there, in this regard. Not that I ahve truly wasted them, but I think of the times I have mentioned her, and the way we three used to be good buddies, and I think, why haven't we all three been sitting at that restaurant, getting drunk and talking? If my client flies me back to DC in the Spring, which I think they will, we should all get together.

Back to the present. I have been working too much. And this beer is going to my head (Great Lakes Brewery Christmas Ale--I highly recommend it). Next week I am leaving the country for another terrorized country. Strangely, I am not too worried. India is such a huge place, I feel like, eventhough I will stick out as a non-Indian, chances of us getting bombed or attacked in any way are slim to none.

I will try to call you this weekend. Hope you and El are doing well. Good luck with the real estate stuff!
Love,
E-word

And by facilities I mean faculties, lord help me.

I threw out the phone to try to get through to you.

E-word,

We're getting up there in age. It's kind of ridiculous how old we're getting. Inexorably. Nothing we can do to stop the marching. Like, it doesn't matter how old we look, or how old we feel, none of that changes the amount of time we've actually spent physically living. I know that you're over 40, and I'm nearing 40, and that's just, like, wow. Are my facilities diminishing?

I'm definitely experiencing some existential anxiety.

Here's to some teen-aged hope. Those Dancing Days.

Love,

Toe

Will I see you tonight

E-word,

Happy T-day and all that. Man, I've abandoned many posts lately. Hopefully I'll stick it through this one.

So in I what I guess would be considered news, El and I are house hunting. Housing prices have dropped pretty significantly, and deals are definitely popping up here and there. We just recently lost a contract on a house that I really liked. El was okay with the house but I loved it. It was a center colonial built in 1945, and the back and one side of the house actually faced park land. I have mixed feelings about not winning the contract- While the house was lovely, it was pretty small. The house was also pretty darn expensive (I think the sale price ended up being around 520k), and since we haven't yet sold my townhouse yet, there was the fear that I would have to float both mortgages if I couldn't sell my townhouse, which I couldn't do. I would also have a mortgage that was literally 2 1/2 times more than my current mortgage! So I'm somewhat relieved, but man, the house was beautiful.

We spent T-day in Durham with my brothers, their wives, their children, and also my sister in-law's brother and fiancee. It was a full house for sure, and we had a great time. I really enjoyed being an uncle, reading books and playing with the nephlets and niecelets. I also quite fortunately did not have to change a dirty diaper, but I did accidentally grab my nephew's thumb after he had been sucking it for about ten minutes.

So, I guess life goes on. We're getting our house ready to put on the market, and while I know the timing is bad, I think we'll still come up positive on the property, and it'll also make us more able to jump on something we really like. I still have a job, I still think about God, though lately all I really want to do is watch Pixar movies and read comic books. When I say things like that, I wonder how in the world I'm going to be a father. El is NOT pregnant, I'm just speaking hypothetically. 'I'll read to you tomorrow night, son, can't you see I'm busy reading comic books? Let's play later, can't you see dad is watching Wall-e? Can't you just sit still and watch this with me? Son, can't dad get just a little bit drunk without you crying in the corner? I mean, damn, can't you just sit in your shit a little longer, it's not like you haven't before!'

I dunno.

Love,

Toe