Where are we now?

So it's no secret that Jess and I have a sudden urge to remove ourselves from Brooklyn only to visit occasionally in the future. I think something has happened in the last twenty years. New York is not the rough and tumble place it was when I was growing up. The Bronx aren't even scary anymore. Everyone wants to live here now and everyone is working so hard to stay here that the quality of life is severely diminished. Why should I be working overtime... without getting paid for overtime? If everyone else is doing it, it doesn't mean I have to and if I do have to it doesn't mean I am going to stay. There is a better life out there. I feel like I am in a sequel to Kafka's The Castle. I feel like I gained entrance into the regal dwelling but keeping this post is compromising my life, my health, my whole being. I feel like I got in and have learned that it's not worth the effort to stay. I can't complain about my time here, if nothing else, I met Jessica and that is worth enduring far worse. I am only glad that she wants to leave as well and that we should be gone by summer.

Holidays, 2008

Well, I'm glad that's over. Had a rough season. It started out well-enough, when I got engaged to Jessica. Her step-father, unfortunately, passed away less than a week later. On December 23, my great-uncle, whom I was very close to, passed away as well. They will be missed.

So the holiday season was a whirlwind of work (everyone wants to post programs by December 31 in my industry) travel, funeral pereparations, future nephews stayinhg with us in Brooklyn, a funeral, Christmas parties, another funeral, Wii and no running.

It was good to wash away 2008 with cocktails provided by Death and Company and begin to think again about the future.

I must say that I am happy with my Shea Stadium project, my semi-usual running schedule and the number of books I read in 2008. Perhaps in 2009 I will finish a marathon or write a novel. I expect to do both in my lifetime. I wonder which will happen first.