“I have been looking at tree squee for two weeks now”—Dad
My parents came to visit this weekend and it was lovely. They brought treats for Sophie and Picasso (which they devoured) and helped me plant my tree in a pretty planter from Mom, and fixed my futon, and all those good things that parents do. Now my apartment is fixed and clean and missing them.
In other news, I got my work laptop (a macbook pro) and am trying to learn my way around everything. It’s a fantastic computer but since I use a lot of tools at work, learning all the nuances of software development on mac tools is more involved than I had expected. So far though, I’m very impressed. I’ve got a lot of projects coming together between work and independent stuff so it’ll be nice to have the option of working somewhere with fewer distractions.
So that’s what I’ve been up to since I know I’ve been out of touch with pretty much everybody for a few weeks. Everything else in life has gotten out of control busy, but really that’s how I’m happiest. You will probably continue to see less blogging and more producing for a while…I really mean to write more but it’s so hard to write entries that reflect my actual opinions and wouldn’t offend anyone I care about. I really hope that the internet doesn’t make people as boring as virtually all people with office jobs (what with their lame, generic PC humor).
This weekend I got a letter from Duke asking for money and telling me about some students who would benefit from my donation. For fun, I decided to look one of them up on Facebook to see if he was as much of a douchebag as I expected. You will be satisfied to know that he met my expectations and more. It reminded me how once, long after I had quit the rowing team, I was on my way to the grocery store and decided to walk past my freshman dorm. I saw a girl walking out with all the rowing team issue gear on, her hair in a high ponytail the way I wore mine. She looked like me. She looked tired. I wanted to hug her but instead I just watched her walk away, assuming she, like a former me, did not have the luxury to notice bystanders; she was just doing the next thing that had to be done. I felt close to her. I was obviously projecting, but really projection must fuel most random acts of kindness. This letter invited me to project my own (not stellar) Duke experience onto this triple-majoring nerdy frat-boy all-star, but I had the facts and it was impossible. I know that most times I write about anything of substance, someone I care about is probably just a little alienated by my views, and for that reason I try to write them only when I have time to think them over, which is rarely.
And now I’m going to stop writing because I’m distracted and when I stop caring about what I’m saying, I type and say completely random crap that doesn’t have any meaning or utility. I hope you all have a great week.
And thanks for coming, Mom and Dad. I love you.