h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yeah, well what I mean is, you don't have to have anything meaningful, or profound, or poetic to say...you can just come by and sit on the swing for a minute.

Went to a concert the othe day. Had an old guy there that played an old guitar. Sang about cabins deep in swamps, and alligators, and voodoo. Stuff like that.

Amazing guitar player.

Thought of you.

*****

...I'm kinda...

Scared?

right now.
Yael seems worried. Her family seems worried about her.

I feel helpless.

*swings for a while*

Got any lemonade?

Yep, you look like a man who could use a swing. And a lemonade. A hard lemonade, at that.

So, what's all the worrying about?

Long distances?

And her family is worried about her? Well no doubt. They're worried about her safety, I'm sure. SHE MET A MAN ON THE INTERNET!! You know, every parent thinks only rapists and con men lurk on the internet, just waiting for some young unsuspecting mark to come along. After all, you're not exactly a nice Jewish boy from the neighboring town.

But all of that is something that Yael will have to convince her parents is not true. You can't do anything. She will have to do it.

**grr** Gotta go now, my boss is telling me I can leave early for the day. Better take him up on it before he changes his mind. I'll be around some here this weekend, or e-mail if you need someone to talk to.

Take care Dan, and sit on the swing as long as you need to.

I like the way you think. Better make it a double.

I think everything's okay, though.
Have a good long(er) weekend, Jay.

*swing*

Yeah, that's just something she's going to have to work out with her family all by herself. Sorry. I don't think there's anything you can do but stand by and be supportive and wait.

It sounds as if she is very close to her family. If that's the case, then trust me, you'll never have a good relationship with her without her family's blessing.

I hope it works out.

*****

So tell me about this swamp guy with the amazing guitar. Is he from around here? Who was it?

I do love a good guitar man...

Looks like it's all working out.
Assuming my passport arrives (no reason it shouldn't...) I leave on the 2nd of February.

Still can't really believe it.

One year ago, I had just come to Seattle from Portland Oregon, after having not talked to any family or friends for months. I was depressed, suicidal, and alone.

If you had asked me where I'd be in a year's time, I'd have said six feet under.

It's with a feeling of pure joy that I wake each morning.

*****

So how you doing? Everything okay?

*sigh*
She's busy today. Please don't think I'm settling to come talk to you. I would more, if I had more time to.

...or I'd just talk to her, more. Way it goes.

http://www.babygramps.com/index.htm
That's that guy I saw.

He plays local, looks like. You should come up and see him, someday.

...you probably have lots of these kinds of acts, down there. Up here it's a novelty.

We might be getting snow today. Eh. S'what they said...

*swing*

...
See ya 'round, Jay.

Thanks.

Hey, don't I know you? You sort of look familiar...

Yep, as you say, way it goes.

Hey, glad everything is working out, your trip sounds great. I hope it's everything you imagine it to be.

Baby Gramps sounds interesting. We call it 'swamp blues' down here. Yeah, it's pretty popular. I don't know if he's authentic enough for us, though. I'm missing a lot of our local music. The hurricane really played havoc with our musicians and their homes. A lot of them have scattered all over the country, and I can only hope that they will return one day. Our area has such a unique sound, and I hope it's not gone forever.


So, anyway, have a good trip, and I'll see ya around...

Heya Jay. Haven't been up to much.
Hope life is going okay.

Hope Santa brings you what you wanted. Christmas, and all, ya know.

*swing*

Funny, I was thinking about you at 3:00am this morning.

Sort of odd, as we haven't really spoken in a long time.

I hope your trip to Isreal is everything you want it to be. Good luck with everything.

Jay

...why were you even up at 3AM this morning? Everything okay?

...wait, isn't 3AM this morning redundant? ...well, it could be 3AM a week ago, nevermind.

Been meaning to talk more, and I will, once I get my computer together, but for now, time is precious.

Thanks for the well-wishing. We have a lot of stuff yet to overcome, but looking back, we've already made it most of the way.

I'm sure everything will be fine.

...
Still scares the hell out of me, sometimes.





So with everything that's been going on down in New Orleans, I still haven't heard much in the way of reconstruction. ...not the Civil War kind, the other kind.

Is the idea to rebuild as it was, or are they going to start with a blank slate and try to make things better?


*****

And in the meantime, has there, in your opinion, been any change to the surrounding areas? ...what I mean is, I've heard Baton Rouge took in many refugees, so has it had to permanently change as a city to handle that situation, or will it go back to the way things were, once New Orleans does?

Just stuff that I think about at 3AM, sometimes.


Havagoodun'!

Well, I wasn't awake at 3:00am intentionally. I'd been to a local coffee shop with some friends and had a couple of cups of cafe au lait and some sugary beignets kind of late last night, and I think a combination of the caffeine and sugar made it hard for me to go to sleep last night. Eh.

So, anyway...Yeah, no doubt life has changed in Baton Rouge. For a long time I was waiting for normalcy to return, but I guess this is as normal as it's ever going to get. This is the new normal. I won't bore you with the details, but yeah, everything has changed.

As far as rebuilding (we prefer 'rebuilding' to 'reconstruction', you damn yankee) there have been several suggestions thrown around, but there are way too many special interest groups right now, and no one can agree on a plan. I'm glad none of that is my problem.

And the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin has completely lost his mind. Have you heard his comments on MLK day about God wanting New Orleans to be a 'chocolate city' again? Dumb ass. If you haven't heard about it, here's a couple of links:

http://www.nola.com/archives/t-p/index.ssf?/base/library-93/1137481502176100.xml&coll=1

http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index.ssf?/base/living-5/1137567673272460.xml

But speaking of the city, just before Christmas I went with a friend down there. Many of the little shops in what's known as the French Market area around Jackson Square have re-opened, as well as most along the French Quarter and the Bourbon St. area. Those areas were the least damaged. I even managed to do most of my Christmas shopping there. I figured most of those people busted their ass to get their shops re-opened, hell, I'd go spend my money with them.

After shopping, we drove around a little bit. It was simply unbelievable. Pictures on TV do not convey the absolute total destruction of the biggest part of the city. It's so very sad.

Eh, anyway, things are OK with me, I guess.

Hope you remember you have friends out here.

Jay

*shrug* Rebuilding, it is.
...chocolate city, though...

Who does he think he is, Willy Wonka?

And doesn't that stop all the accusations of rasicm, when the town is statistically one race?

I mean, chances are, any arrest in Compton, CA, is gonna be a black guy...

Chances are...

Whatever.

*****

24 hours to go. ...sorry, song by the Ramones. "I wanna be sedated."



See ya 'round, Jay.

...I'm not sure how to comment in your latest journal entry...

I know.

I've been thinking about that, lately.
Haven't really been all that great of a friend.



It was a really strange time in my life, that I came back here, and we started talking. I was very depressed, and suicidal, to varying degrees. And homeless, and all kinds of bad stuff.

And very lonely.

So I really appreciate you talking to me, through that time. Being a friend. It was worth more to me than I can calculate.

All that is pretty much behind me now. But I don't want to think I no longer need you around. I'd like to still be your friend, Jay.

I guess I'm just still kinda new at having friends. Even if I had known about 246548, who's to say things would have ended differently?

It's just that, well, it's like my whole life has started over, and everything kinda got reset. Thanks for posting here. I've been meaning to, but...
I don't know why I haven't.
Thanks.


*****

Moved in to my new apartment. I like it. It's small, but all I need. Don't have a television, so I read a lot. Go for walks.

Thinking of getting an ant farm.

And Yael is coming, end of August.
Life's okay, up here.

Looking into going back to school, sometime.

How are you doing, Jay?

I'm sorry you can't seem to see the world around you.
Love usually has the opposite effect.





I really hate this thread.
I'm not going to be posting in it anymore.


See ya around.