December 31, 2004
Exercise is just plain magic
Posted that last entry, and drifted off to the gym. W and I both finished the year with excellent workouts. 65 minutes on the elliptical, for me. Plus a good stretch. I'm in a much better mood now. Everything I posted before is still true. I'm still all in-between-y. But I'm feeling much more optimistic and centered.Aimless New Year
See ya, 2004.Last year was too much. And too much of last year is too personal to post. Other people's feelings, other people's privacy. Me, I'm still all in-between. Especially home-wise. Bid on yet another place this week. Didn't get it.
I'm still in love. So's J. I think we're both happier now. I'm still mourning parts of my old life. I'm still looking forward to my new life.
But a lot of the time, I'm very aware of being in limbo. I haven't really moved in here (there's no reason, with travel on the horizon and eventually moving again). I have moved out of my old home. I've been drifting, work-wise. I'm hesitant to take on any real projects right now, since we're leaving soon. So I'm keeping busy with small brainless tasks. Which means money's coming in, but I'm not really engaged. There's time enough for that later, though. There's time enough for all sorts of things.
We'll see what happens in 2005...
December 17, 2004
Visitors!
Abby, Aaron, and Smoooochie are all heading to SF this weekend. Wonder if we'll manage to top October's Barbeethon...December 15, 2004
Vegas by the Sea
We just came back from four days in Cancun, mostly on a whim. About two weeks ago I got semi-spam from American Airlines advertising absurdly low off-season rates, and W and I booked a flight and a room. We had talked about getting away to the sun somewhere, while he regroups after leaving his job, and this seemed about right. We expected oversized and overpriced hotels catering to oversized and overpaid (relative to most of the world) Norteamericanos like us, and we weren't disappointed.Our hotel sat on a platonic ideal of a beach; perfect blue water kissing blindingly white sand. It was one of many similar behemoth tourist havens, surrounded by shopping malls and all-too-familiar chain restaurants. In lazy tourist mode, we didn't do much. Most days we'd wake up, snack, splash and float in the Caribbean until we were pretty sure the waves had removed all of our sunscreen, then stop for margaritas on our way back to the room for a siesta. Later, we'd wander out for food and a dip in the hotel pool. W was tortured all night by an allergic reaction the night before we'd planned to take the ferry over to nearby Isla Mujeres for snorkeling (the man can get vicious itchy hives sometimes), so we missed that. Still, I was happy enough just staying put.
I kept being reminded of Las Vegas while we were there, and I know why. Cancun was selected by the Mexican government in the late sixties as the site of a mega-resort to exceed Acapulco. The first hotel went up in 1972, at which time the area was home to maybe a few thousand people. Today, countless hotels crowd the beaches of what was once a tiny island (now tethered on both ends by bridges) and the nearby town is home to a cool million people — all of whom (as far as I can tell) work supporting the tourist trade.
W was a disappointed not to have seen more (uh, any?) of Mexico, I think. And he's got a point. I'd imagine that the New York, New York Hotel in Las Vegas represents Manhattan about as well as this manufactured paradise, with its Margaritaville and Senor Frog's, captures anything essentially Mexican. But we'll have plenty of time for immersive travel soon enough.
The Beach
Me, in Beachwear
The pool, which we had to ourselves after sundown
The mainland side of the hotel strip, on the way to town
Waving not Drowning
Liz Plays Submarine
W Grins
Happy Feet
W
W floats