Dec 23 - Back in MN

Once again I've gone awhile without writing. It's mostly because I'm back in Minnesota at Mom's house and there is only a 28k dial-up connection here so I tend to stay off the computer.

I got back from Hawaii on the 15th and immediately rented Blue Crush on the 16th to feel like I was still on the North Shore with Britt and Andrew watching amazing surfers and topping it off with yummy fresh tuna buritos from Chollos. In all honesty, at the end of two weeks in Hawaii I felt like a million bucks. I found myself feeling better than I had in probably three years (that would be since living in San Diego). It was like some kind of cloud had lifted and had brought out a wave of energy and optimism and fiesty vigor; a kind of unflappable pleasure in being alive and in the heady desire to dive into the world around us.

But hey, let's face it....I'm back in Minnesota now, in the snow and the pale winter sun. It's a world you do not dive into, but rather tiptoe gently around until it softens in March or April. We just passed the shortest day of the year, so the sun sets around 4:30 pm and I fell like I spend half my waking day in the dark.

But even that too isn't all bad. The sun comes out during the day and sparkles off the snow and that's magical.

Even better I've gone to hang out with Lauren and Emily twice this week, and that really cheered me up. They're fantastic. I'm lucky they're here. And relevant to this blog, they got me a surprise Christmas present of an entire Lonely Planet book of funny signs from around the world. It's funny as hell! I'll have to scan some of them and post them on this blog. Thank you guys!