revjim.net

I'm back in Syracuse again. I'm starting to get used to it. Not Syracuse itself — there is still much to explore — but the whole travelling bit. That whole thing where I work alone, and watch TV alone, and eat meals alone, and go exploring alone. That part where I don't have any real friends within hundreds and hundreds of miles of where I am. The part where I'm almost content because I've found the dry cleaners, and the restaurant I like when I don't feel like finding something else, and that place I go at night when there's no where else to go. That part where the hotel staff greets me morning and night in the same way a neighbor might at the mail box in the afternoon or while pulling their trash bins down to the road before work on Thursday mornings.

I've planned a bit better this time around. I've brought along image management software, image editing software, a card reader, and materials with which to do an expense report. That should occupy any idle time I might have after the sun goes down. In fact, If I only had my truck, a proper kitchen, a more suitable internet connection, and a DVR, materially, I'd have all the comforts of "home". It's those other things about "home" that are hard to even define that I've yet to find here — and, by my guess, it'll be a while still before I do.

Of course, in all my planning, I managed to forget a few more important things, one of which was my jacket. I imagine it's pretty common for one to forget their jacket when traveling from a warm climate to a cold climate, so I don't feel too silly for having done it. Quite happy with the jacket I already own, I picked up something cheap and mostly suitable at the mall on my way out of the airport. Unfortunately, it was a bit too cheap as I've broken a zipper already and quickly realized it offers little to no protection from the cold, even if the zipper were functioning correctly. So, tomorrow I'll be off to look for another.

I've got a billion things swimming around in my head, and none of them really make much sense right now. I'm just sorting out an awful lot of stuff — from friendships, to career moves, to financial matters, to family planning. A lot of the things I consider usher in a deep depression, while others seem to make me giddy as a child. It's a strange mixture, really. But, I'm sorting it all out, slowly.

Last weekend I did a photo session for a band (four members of which are good friends of mine), had sushi with some friends, met two other friends for coffee, and then spent Sunday at Easter dinner with my family. It was a much needed stirring of emotional, mental, and creative stimulation that I'd really like to repeat.

On that note, I'll be back in Texas from the evening of the 20th until the morning of the 30th. If you'd like to get together then, I'd love to hear from you — for coffee, photograpy (in front of or behind the camera, clothed or otherwise), shopping, music, gossip (friends, celebrities, whatever), parties (of the cocktail, keg, dinner, or debaucherous variety), dinner, movies, games, anything! Phone, E-mail, Twitter, Text Message, IM, whatever. I'd love to hear form you.