London is the bomb

I was in Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square on Thursday night -- left by probably 11:30pm (they found the cars at 1:30 and 2am). Funny because this is a tourist area (Picadilly is London's answer to Times Square) and I don't go there often. But I was there Thursday and maybe I walked by one of the cars earlier in the night, or maybe I passed one of the suspects on the sidewalk. You never really know do you?

It's a big story in the news, but I really haven't heard people talking about it. At all. Everyone just gets on with it. They're practical and pragmatic almost to a fault. But it's kind of interesting to see an almost opposite reaction to scares here. Not much as far as changes in routine; no one proposing a radical campaign or promotion. No ribbons. Then again I guess nothing actually happened so it's probably not fair to compare and contrast too much.

Might go to a Bollywood party tonight.

Hair by Fairy

So at Hair by Fairy yesterday, my plan was kind of impacted by the fact that my hairdresser didn't really understand English. So when she said "how you want?" I told her using mostly hand signals.

Anyways I sort of look Spanish or something (?) Definitely more European than my last cut. I kind of like it.

Really it was the outcome my friend Brad Miller was looking for last time he was in London. He wanted a fashion mullet but came out looking exactly the same and with £15 less in his pocket.

Brad- next time you're in town I'll take you to Hair by Fairy, where you can't help but get a stylish Euro doo.

Happy weekending everyone!

100 posts

Wow.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

Can't believe I've already been here for 4 months. Thank you for your interest in my life. I promise to continue delivering thoughtful insights on expat life and editorials on life is general. I will not waste your time with superfluous notes or exhaust you with mundane details. This is my continued pledge to you, my readers.

In other news, I'm getting a haircut later today at Hair by Fairy. Prob gonna do the normal 'take a little length off the side and back, keep the top a bit longer, sideburns to the middle of the ear, sides overlapping the top of the ear just a little'. So I'm keeping it pretty business but might have them mix in a little faux hawk/Hoxton fin for the weekends.

One dish

Is there a limit to how much Pesto Pasta w/ Cherry Tomatoes, Spinach & Pine Nuts I should be eating? Because I'm sort of restraining myself and still eating it 3x a week minimum.

I'm a big fan of the Sainsbury's expression of this dish, which uses spiral pasta. The alternative is Marks & Spencer, who uses more of a noodle variety and incorporates more greens.

This is one meal I think I could actually make myself, but having an unlimited supply might not be a good thing.

Elevenses

Great discovery today: elevenses.

This is recognized as an acceptable daily recurrence which means: snacking -- to the point of eating a small meal -- at around 11am.

I'm always thrilled to work non-standard meals into my schedule. That's why I'm such a fan of Spain and the whole siesta tapas-and-beer in the mid-afternoon thing. I already regularly celebrate "second-breakfast" before I go to bed, which results in a sort of 6-tiered approach to eating:

8:30am: breakfast: cereal. or a granola bar.
11am: elevensies! will prob consist of a croissant or bagel or something.
1pm: lunch... soup and half sandwich or a panini.
6:30pm: supper: peanut butter & jelly on a bap. or some pasta. (*gym days only)
9:30pm: dinner: another panini or some pizza or pasta.
11:30: second-breakfast: cereal. sometimes cheese.

With my new swimming regime (the one where I act like I know how to swim laps, but usually take a break and rest after each length because I'm breathing so hard), I need every one of these calories. Last night I swam 7 laps, and afterwards I was so tired I could barely stand. On my walk home I looked like a 3-year old or a drunk (3-year olds and drunks walk in the exact same manner). I think maybe my mechanics are off.

*on many non-gym days supper is substituted by a loaf of bread known as Guinness. And the gym is replaced by some sort of dancing.

USA! USA! USA!

Last night I watched the US play Mexico in the Gold Cup final (soccerball).

If hardworking, undersized, unspectacular footballers were at a shortage, the US would be a sitting on a goldmine. And so would England actually.

Apart from me, there were 5-7 US fans (one of whom I apparently played soccer against in college) and 10-15 Mexico/anti-US fans. The Mexico supporters were pretty loud. The only US supporter who yelled anything would only shout "GOOCH!" everytime Onyewu didn't mess up. This is another problem American soccer fans have.

If you didn't already know how popular the US team is here, take this into consideration: the game was broadcast only on Al Jazeera 2; audio was provided by an Italian radio feed. So it's about the same level of popularity as it is in the US really.

We won 2-1. GO AMERICA!

The US team, who I hadn't seen play since the World Cup last summer, looked about the same. They still run really fast and work really hard, but are lacking in quality when it comes to touch, and timing when it comes to tackles.

As usual, we fielded a great goalie who got extra practice because of our casual approach to possession and our tendency to stab and forget about marking.

So it was nice that we won, but I'm looking forward to the US developing a world-class playmaker or two that will raise everyone's level. I'd be really happy with a ball-hawking central midfielder and/or a quick-triggered stricker. I'm only sorry it couldn't be me.

Sorry for all the soccer posts. I'll try to get back to random irreverence soon.

Breaking up is hard to do

Henry for £16M? It hurts more today.

It's like getting dumped and being left with the bill (funny that my friend Brad Miller used a reverse strategy once -- he "forgot" to take his wallet to a Valentine's Day dinner in the hopes that he would get dumped).

This really sucks. I'm going to eat ice cream and chocolate and watch Pride & Prejudice while wearing an oversized t-shirt.

Goodbye Henry

This was tough news to wake up to. Thierry Henry -- arguably the reason why I started supporting Arsenal years ago -- is leaving the club.

This has been rumoured for sometime, but news coverage here (especially sport) is more tabloid speculation and misleading headlines than actual coverage. And having just bought a season ticket for next year, I was definitely looking forward to watching Henry lead the young Gooners to some silverware next season.

I'm not completely devastated by the news. He has been a distraction ever since he got knocked out in the World Cup final -- worrying about board departures and complaining about the team's finish even when he was the one out with an injury most of the season.

But still, he's Henry.

I wish his departure could've been bundled with a major signing -- bringing in a Samuel Eto'o or a David Villa to fill the scoring void. I certainly think they could've demanded more than £16M for the transfer. If he does end up at Barcelona they've got money to burn and were offering £50M for him last summer.

Whatever. We'll just have to see. This sucks. That pub crawl is sounding like a better idea now.

Uncle Ic

My favorite nephew's name is Jeremy. He calls me Uncle Ic. My other nephew's name is David.

Then again it's not really a fair contest -- Jeremy wears the Mexican wrestling outfits I buy for him. David can't really do anything because he's 1-day old.

So that was all just an elaborate way of saying that my sister had her second child yesterday. That we know of. And I'm now the proud uncle of two. That we know of.

My sister's getting pretty good at this whole childbirth thing. I'm still a little bitter that she never commented on or otherwise acknowledged my heartfelt happy 30th birthday post from a month ago. But whatever, keep populating the earth with descendants of Glenn. Plus it only strengthens the reference on the old resume/CV about me being avuncular.

Me in the Bath

Not what you were hoping for, I know.

Bath is about 100 miles from London. This equates to 1.5 hours in train, or 4 miserable hours in a bus.

If you need a handy guide for Bath's proper pronunciation, please refer to my earlier post.



We should all try to be more like Edward.



Lots of canals and damming mechanisms and the occasional bloke who looks at your camera when you take a picture and appears to be from New Mexico.



There was a boat festival. Boat people are the same everywhere in the world: festive and dangerous.



That second picture is of a bridge. I know, I know -- it looks like a street. It's just a fake street that's actually a bridge so get your head around it.



Another picture of the canal. That's Anisa taking a picture by the way. And then there were also some nice fields for rugby and cricket. We watched a bit of cricket.


So really a pretty nice town. Within 30 minutes of Stonehenge as well, which I didn't get to this time around. Lots of water, very European, and I liked the emphasis on sitting in hot water.

And if you haven't been paying attention, there's some sort of hobgobblin fetish there, and the town of Swindon, which is between London and Bath, is home to the world's most focused fire department.

QWERTY

If you're still in the camp that thinks the Internets [sic] is like a truck, as opposed to the correct analogy (a series of tubes), this post is going to blow your mind.

What if I were to suggest that the current layout of your keyboard's keys was arrived at in an effort to be inefficient? Prepare yourself, because that's exactly what I'm proposing. I know.

Today's keyboards are modeled using a QWERTY formation (type the word Qwerty and you'll quickly discover why). The popular story for why keys are arranged in this formation is that the most commonly-used letters were spaced out all over in an attempt to slow typists down and thus prevent typewriters from jamming. Common sequences of letters were also separated so that the majority of words required switching back and forth between hands to reach certain keys, which in the world of typewriters meant the hammers would be less likely to interfere with one another.

These days we continue to use QWERTY even though a potentially more efficient layout is now available. Dvorak is the last name of a dude who realized we weren't using typewriters anymore, so why not put all the most commonly-used keys in the most easily-accessed places on the keyboard (the home/middle row). Lots of nerds [or people like my brother who are just smart and adapt well, and who are also nerds] use this layout now or toggle between the two.

I'm hesitant to change because I fear change, and also because all my shortcuts [cut, paste, undo, do whatever I just did again (Ctrl-Y), bold, italicize, underline, etc.] would be worthless.

An analogy to this entire debate regarding long-term efficiencies gained through change vs. the economic and social costs of change can be seen in the whole Go Green revolution: it's not just fashionable to use energy-saving stuff anymore, it's also cheaper. And still the actual amount of people converting is tiny. We're used to paying electric and water bills and we know how much things will cost each month. To incur a large one-time expense would disrupt all of that, even if longer term the benefits were clear, both to our pocketbooks and our world.

Some other interesting keyboard notes to wow your co-workers with:

1. You can type the word Typewriter using keys in only the top row in QWERTY format. Supposedly this was done to make life easier for hunt-and-peck typerwriter salesmen.

2. Thousands of English words can be typed using only the left hand, while only a few hundred can be typed using the right hand. So left handed people can all stop complaining now. Forever.

3. The first email ever sent said QWERTYUIOP, which is the top row of the keyboard. The second email was spam for male enhancement/free college degrees. The third was a 419 scam. The fourth was probably a hilarious email chain sent between me and my friends that started at roughly 9am and wrapped up at approximately 6pm.

Buffalololo's

Apparently this is a proper sentence: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

That's because Buffalo refers to a city; a buffalo is an animal, and; buffalo is a verb which means to bully, confuse, deceive or intimidate. Wikipedia has a whole entry on it.

Therefore "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence, which is easier to read with a few substituted words as "Buffalo bison whom other Buffalo bison bully themselves bully Buffalo bison".

Take that to trivia night!

Oh and I realize this makes for two pretty lame posts this week. Sorry dudes. I've got some great stuff in the queue like:

1. Pictures from Bath
2. This one time I had a dream that I would die on November 22nd which I kind of believe.
3. A couple of interesting stories that I either randomly remembered or someone reminded me of. One involves me breaking my collarbone. The other involves Injuns.
4. QWERTY v Dvorak keyboard configurations: were you aware?
5. Maybe something about people getting pushed in front of trains.
6. Maybe something about how much I love hot water in all forms: Hot tubs, steam rooms, Hammams, showers, etc.
7. Maybe the transcript of the toast I didn't give at my friend Brad Miller's wedding.

So lots in the pipeline.

Ukulelele's

Apparently there is a shortage of ukulele's in Britain currently. So that's another completely random thing that I had wanted, but now can't get my hands on for some inexplicable reason.

[If you didn't believe me, here's the pudding. -- er/uk]

Papa

Everyone knows how much I love my mom. She gets a lot of attention on this site, and quite frankly I think it's going to her head.

Growing up everyone told me that I looked just like her. I assumed this to be true until I saw a black & white picture of my dad as a teenager. Give me horn-rimmed glasses, a plaid button-down shirt, tight pants (actually I've already got tight pants), a perm, subtract 10 pounds of muscle (adding back 10 pounds of brains) and you've got the technicolor version of Glenn, 30 years younger.

Seeing that picture spurred an amazing argument a few weeks later that ended with me yelling: "We fight because we're exactly the same!" It was incredibly dramatic. I'm not sure how he kept a straight face.

These days, my dad and I are still stubborn, still analytical, still perfectionists. Neither of us shies away from telling the occassional bad joke. I hope the comparisons continue from there because my dad is decent, honest, kind, smart and funny. He takes chances, takes things in stride, gives everyone a fair shot and tries his hardest at everything he does. If you've never met my dad you're missing out on more than just the chance to see a grown man wear a headband.

My dad is my hero and trying to document all the things I owe to him, all the things he's taught me, and all of the ways I model myself after him was never going to fit on one page. But I'm glad I gave it a shot. I love you dad.

Eric

I know tomorrow is Father's Day, but

This is more of a post for me mum. I bought another plate and another bowl and another glass. And when Anisa was here she bought a pot. I'm really accumulating quite the kitchen set. At this point I'm completely competent in the creation of the following foodstuffs:

1. [English]Muffin with butter & jelly.
2. Bagel with peanut butter.
3. Bagel with butter & jelly.
4. Bagel with cream cheese.
5. Yogurt.
6. Yogurt with granola.
7. Yogurt with granola and fruit (I invented this).
8. Cereal.

This list is only going to expand.

Quittin time

It's 6:30. And Friday again. And mid-June already. And how am I 27? I need a nap.

All caught up

So last night I finally caught up.

My clothes were clean. My dishes were washed and put away. My mini-fridge was stocked with a diverse and fresh sampling of groceries. I just finished reading this book (The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman, which is highly recommended) and caught up on my New Yorkers. My fingernails and toenails were nicely manicured. I had already been to the gym -- even went to my first session of yoga which left me in pretty bad shape. Had typed my page of the dictionary, caught up on my budget, straightened out the house and bought new toothpaste.

All the items on all my lists were crossed off.

It was kind of boring.

McSweeney me.

My favorite book publisher, McSweeney's, is having a bit of trouble with finances. Like true artists, they've sacrificed fiscally irresponsible creative output.

Anyhow, they're having a bake sale. Only with books.

Of their notables authors: Dave Eggers, Nick Hornby, Ben Greenman, David Byrne (yeah that David Byrne) with special appearances by Jonathan Safran Foer and many other brilliant names, both established and (more commonly) emerging.

Of their notable (or at least eye-catching) titles: What is the What, The Polysyllabic Spree, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, The Secret Language of Sleep: A Couple's Guide to the Thirty-Nine Positions, Here They Come, The Pharmacist's Mate, Superbad, English as she is Spoke, Jokes told about Babies in Heaven

You've probably never heard of most of these, but I promise that your investments will be rewarded ten-fold. These guys are like The Royal Tenenbaums for books. Or Broken Social Scene for publishing. Whichever you prefer really.

As always, I'm probably too enthusiastic about making recommendations.

They also do quarterly DVDs of random shorts and other obscure footage (which they call Wholpin), quarterly books of essays (which they call McSweeney's Quarterly), a monthly music magazine w/ accompanying mix CD (which they call The Believer), and I think they have a Book-of-the-Month club. So you can subscribe and get really satisfying stuff delivered to your door regularly to remind you that you should read more and watch less telly.

Oh and next time you're in San Francisco, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago or Ann Arbor, you should make a point to stop by one of their 826 stores -- these are retail stores for McSweeney's merchandise, but also home to free writing/tutoring centers supporting local students who want to learn how to write good. And they usually have a theme, like pirates or superheroes, so they also sell stuff like pirate merchandise and superhero accessories. It'll make sense when you visit. Kind of.

And if you've read this far, just know that the best book I've read recently is What is the What, by Dave Eggers. This is a novelized autobiography of a Sudanese refugee who walked, as a boy, from his home in Sudan with the Lost Boys to Ethiopia, then Kenya, before ultimately being resettled to Atlanta. Really really brilliant. And proceeds for that one go to one of a few different charities. Come to think of it, if you really want one just let me know and I'll buy you a copy and write it off to good karma.

London paperboys

So I used to be a paperboy. A pretty good one for that matter. I once won Paperboy of the Month which entitled me to throw the first pitch at a minor league baseball game. I was really skinny back then. You should see the pictures. I looked ridiculous.

As good as I was at the job, I never would've been as successful if The Goshen News had been a morning paper. And I'll never live up to the elite paperboy status of my dad, who won Paperboy of the Month for basically an entire year. His reward was a hatchet/knife combo set in a leather pouch, which he promised to give me when I turned 14. But then he never gave it to me. But that's cool because I knew where it was in the garage and I would take it and go into the backyard and hunt groundhogs while he was at work.

London has paperboys and papergirls delivering free papers every morning and afternoon. In the morning you can choose from the titles "Metro" and "City A.M." City A.M. is only distributed in the financial district, and is more business-y in focus. Metro is basically the morning equivalent of the two afternoon papers "The London Lite" and "The London Paper" -- tabloidish format, lots of celebrity and gossip and sport.

The afternoon papers are in some sort of huge competition for the market, with the prevailing thought being that only one can succeed. They both have the same articles and nearly identical pictures. They both excel in posting lots of misleading headlines and badly justapositioned pictures of celebrities next to them (last night there was an article "Police shoot dead woman" next to a picture of Mischa Barton).

(By the way the only celebrities of interest here are: Kate Moss, Amy Winehouse, Pete Doherty, Mischa Barton, Elton John, Paris Hilton, and George Michael -- so basically Britons are only interested in famous trainwrecks.)

I was briefly in The London Paper's corner, until I found out that Rupert Murdoch was the money behind it. Now I tend to refuse any paper given to me except for City A.M., and instead pick up discarded copies for my celeb & sport fix.

Bath also had some obsession with hobgobblins

Never really figured it out.

Fire departments don't need slogans

On the bus ride to Bath this weekend, we rode through Swindon (yes, the same Swindon that's been immortalized in The Office as the second, and ultimately deemed redundant, Wernham-Hogg Paper Company branch).

Well, the Swindon Fire Department has a motto: Put it Out. Right Out.

That's certain to convince people that if their house is on fire, there's no one better to call than the Swindon Fire Department. Assuming they live in Swindon.

Bathing

Today I'm daytripping to Bath, which people here pronounce "Bath".

Running for president

A few nights ago I dreamt that I could finally touch my toes. This is something I've never been able to do, so I woke up feeling pretty proud of myself for no reason.

I've always suspected that I have a long torso, long legs and short arms. If that's the case it's not really a fair measurement anyway, right? And besides, I've been told that my lateral flexibility is quite good.

The fact that the test is flawed hasn't stopped me from trying to improve on it, even though until recently I wasn't a fan of stretching at all. (Do Lions stretch before they go on a hunt? No. I trained for and ran a marathon without ever stretching.)

Despite all my attempts, I've never really even made progress. And then for one entire day I truly believed that I could do it. And then I tried and failed and realized it must have been a dream. So that was disappointing.

Now I'm back in the same place I was over 10 years ago at Goshen Middle School during testing for the Presidential Physical Fitness Challenge. I can still totally own the Curl-Ups and Shuttle Run. I can make a pretty honest attempt at the 85th percentile for the One-Mile Run. I own the Pull-Up bar...

...But I can't even register on the Sit & Reach. I can barely reach the ruler, let alone extend beyond it. I'm just not Presidential material.

Cuckoo for cocoa puffs

I've done it. I've finally purchased a dish and a bowl. In combination with the silverware I acquired on my recent trip home (thanks Anne!), I now have everything I need to enjoy things like:

1) Cereal
2) things I heat up

Funny that I've gone so long without cereal. And milk for that matter. My record of eating out for every single meal (aside from granola bars or a smoothie for breakfast) ends at roughly 3 months. It was a good run.

For cereal, I'm likely to be a fan of Honey Shreddies. They just seem more appealing than regular Shreddies. I'll probably give Ricicles a shot as well. And I'll have to decide between Weetabix and Oatabix at some point. Might as well consider Oatiflakes as well (they claim to be Oatily Different but I'm not convinced). Then there are Malties, the dark horse.

Actually the only cereal I've tried here has been Crunchy Nut, which is ludicrously tasty. That's even their slogan: Ludicrously Tasty.

In addition to cereal, I also found bagels at the grocery store. I'm still searching for English Muffins. They have loads of regular muffins here but no English Muffins...

If you know where Estonia is you're smarter than I was five minutes ago

Tonight England play Estonia in footie-ball. Estonia hasn't scored a goal since 2005.

Still, because England's so bad/poorly coached and because athletes are so careful about giving other team's something to rally behind, all the England players have been saying things like: "Estonia are a good side, very tough to break down, very good at set pieces. They almost scored against Croatia at the weekend."

They almost scored!

Come on England. I really need you to whip them and get some momentum and arrogance back to ensure that you qualify for Euro 2008.

Estonia are bobbins. They are really bobbins. (I don't know what that means but I read it somewhere.)

er/ukipedia

I need to figure out how I can get my own profile page on Wikipedia. Seems like I should be able to add one myself, seeing as how...

1. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia.
2. An encyclopedia, encyclopaedia or (traditionally) encyclopædia[1] is a comprehensive written compendium that contains information on all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge.
3. I am a subject. So there is knowledge pertaining to me -- who I am, what I do, why I do it. This is knowledge worth preserving for no other reason than bandwidth, but still.
4. I am the foremost expert on that particular branch of knowledge (not that this last point matters much on Wikipedia, where everyone has a virtual doctorate).

But it seems like they don't really want you doing this:

It is not recommended to write an article about yourself. If you are notable, someone else will notice you and write the article.

Well what if the people who notice me aren't really the "randomly-proactive-enough-to-do-something-pointless-like-add-and-footnote-an-article-on-someone-I-know" type?

Worthless friends aside, if there WERE an entry on me, these items would need to be included in the construction if it was to be a definitive and comprehensive biography:

The Early Years
skinny, mother's worst nightmare, played a lot of soccer, pretty good at temper tantrums, dressed poorly

The Formative Years
skinny, mother's dream, still played a lot of soccer but also became more acceptable socially and so diversified his time between some other stuff too, like girls

As a YUPPIE (or YUMMIE -- a modified term used by my friends which substitutes Professional with Mennonite)
writer, expat, financial analyst, marathoner, photographer

In the Future
screenwriter, triathlete, small business owner, larger business owner, father of 5, husband of 1, philanthropist, internationally known blogger personality, that guy who saved all those people


I'm sure I have other attributes and defining characteristics from different times in my life. And I'm sure you'll remind me of them. Be nice.

I've got to keep on moving

Moved again today. Just offices this time though. And just down the street really. The new suite is located in...

1 Liverpool Street.

What a great address. It just feels good.

My moviefilm

I'm done with it. Almost. Need two things from you to finish it:

1. You know when you get your haircut and they fasten that bib/robe/cape/garment thing around your neck to prevent hair from getting on your clothes (although it inevitably does)? What is that thing called?

2. There's a scene in the movie where John, our hero, sings a song with Chino, John's Bolivian host-brother nemesis-turned-friend -- what song should they sing? I'd like it to be something sort of retro. And with some latin influence. I'm especially excited to hear submissions from Brad Hoffman and Luke Mullet.

Next step will be to start sending these around. I'm compiling a list of folks to send it to -- if any of you know of someone who should be on that list, please let me know. Fame and fortune depends on it.

I love my friends

So I've received some unexpected and really sweet responses to yesterday's post. For the record, the post wasn't intended to be a cry for help. It was triggered by a quasi-nostalgic trip back to my home for the last 4 years and a conversation about... budgeting.

The latter concerned break-even analysis -- how spending 99 dollars when you make 100 puts you in fantastic position, but spending 101 puts you in an awful spot. I sort of projected that onto my last relationship, which I'm still trying to make sense of in a very low-effort way. Maybe I was trying to be all freakonomic, or maybe I was just trying to sound vulnerable and be provocative. I think pro/con lists are sort of ironic since the items are basically immeasurable. But I tried anyway. More likely breaking up just sucks regardless of how good the decision was and it leaves behind a residue that's tough to get rid of if you're a big softie like me.

I'm actually more optimistic than ever about the ladies. Seeing my best friend -- a unique character with some HUGE baggage (just kidding Brad) -- find a perfect counterpart should give us all hope. Plus I'm in Europe.

To regret or forget

Was it worth it? I'm tired of revisiting things. I'll let my readers decide.

PRO
1. Got a few t-shirts that I really like.
2. Was introduced to Broken Social Scene (at present my favorite band) and the joys of oysters and soft-shell crab.
3. Know better what I want and don't want, like and don't like. And know better in general.
4. Had impetus for a quick escape which landed me on another continent. You may have heard of it. It's called Europe and apparently it's pretty interesting.

CON
1. Kind of sold out (went to an Eagles v Redskins game, hung out with a dog, experienced a few other social and spiritual dilemmas).
2. Developed a resentment for Subaru Outbacks that doesn't seem to be going away.
3. Afterwards, I connected on an emotional level with some really awful pop songs.
4. Temporary but debilitating heartbreak.

That last one may be inaccurate. I don't know if there's a word that could replace heartbreak that means "to be confused and upset that I couldn't figure out what happened and what should've happened and why I didn't fix/change/end things earlier and why I was so inarticulate and lame in the aftermath and why I was more consumed with figuring it all out afterwards than I ever was while it was going on". If there is a word that means that, I'm 3/4 of the way through the dictionary and haven't found it yet.

Whatever. I'm curious to see what you think. In the meantime I'm going to go out this weekend and try to do it all over again.