So you know how you think you’ve got something all figured out? Like, you’re choosing between A and B, and it’s a really hard choice, but you finally pick one, and you put a lot of effort into getting comfortable with that decision, and then all of a sudden C comes into the picture, and you’re like, WTF?

Yeah, it’s like that.

As of tomorrow I will have been living in Cincinnati for one year. That is, three hundred sixty-five days. Or, one twenty-second of my age. I.e., four point five four five four five four five four (…) percent of my lifetime.

One whole year.

I find it hard to believe that this much time has passed since I graduated from Carnegie Mellon, since I packed up my dorm room and moved in with Andy, since I started working and paying bills and living life in the Real World.

Especially in the region of the Real World called Cincinnati, Ohio.

Growing up in Texas, I had enough geography to worry about in my own state, so I didn’t think too much about the rest of the U.S. or the world. Case in point: at age 4 I thought that because (a) Grandma lives in Florida, and (b) I have two Grandmas, then (c) there must be 2 Floridas. S-M-R-T!

With that said, it should come as no surprise that I knew nothing about Cincinnati until Andy moved here for his job, and even then I only learned it was in Ohio. “That must mean it’s close to Cleveland, right?” “Um… no.” “Oh.”

When I got here, I saw that there wasn’t much diversity (black and white and not much else), and I didn’t have any friends, and there was NO FREAKING BUBBLE TEA*, and naturally I thought, “This isn’t going to work.”

But a year later, when Angie came to visit and I drove her to places like Eden Park, Fountain Square, and Jungle Jim’s, I realized that somehow Cincinnati has grown on me. And I don’t mean like a fungus. More like a new haircut: you don’t like it at first, but then it gets a little longer, a little more familiar, and you realize it actually suits you all right.

Actually, that analogy doesn’t really do justice to how I felt driving down I-75 with Angie, telling her about the traffic patterns and the weather and my favorite places to eat. What I felt was ownership of this place, this small Midwestern town that I now belong to. Cincinnati has become my home — one of my many homes — and I’m happy, because I used to be afraid that that might never happen.

I’ll admit, Cincinnati didn’t sweep me off my feet the way Madrid did, but not every romance is going to be a whirlwind or a fairytale like that. Doesn’t make it any less meaningful.

All this introspection comes at a good time — the one-year mark — because I’m typical and I like to think of my life as having milestones or landmarks. I think this is one of them. I think this is going to be a pivotal moment, a turning point that could make or break me. I’m about to take a big blind leap into the unknown. And I’m glad I’ll be doing it here, in Cincinnati, where I’ve learned a little bit more about myself by learning a little bit more about where I am.

*Update: I have found bubble tea! See comments below.

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On a somewhat related note, I finally found what I’ve been searching for. It’s what this next year will be all about:

After showing one of our favorite professors (Scott Sandage) a picture of our pup:

“Is that your dog?”

“Yep.”

“And that’s his real face?”

LOL yes, believe it or not, that is his real face.

There’s something new blowing in with the wind. You can see it coming.

In two weeks, everything will change.

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Last week Sally, my trusty Canon S60, up and died on me. It was heartbreaking, poorly timed (as Angie had just come for her visit), and a needless, senseless death. One day Sally was working, the next day not. And all that happened in between was that she slept in my purse.

I don’t suspect any foul play, but I can’t help wondering about her cause of death. Unfortunately my current situation dictates that I replace Sally rather than autopsy her. So in the spirit of moving on, today’s photos are brought to us courtesy of my new Panasonic Lumix LZ8K. He/she is as of yet nameless, but not to fear, that will be remedied soon.

I received a promo in the mail yesterday for the SUN Magazine, which I had never heard of in any class or literary circle or Web site. But Curiosity got the better of me, and I opened it up. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found inside.

Dear Reader,

Years ago, I was trapped in a newspaper job I couldn’t stand. Then I heard Graham Nash sing, “Make sure that the things you do keep us alive.” The next day I walked to work, quit my job, and kept walking. Better to be a pilgrim without a destination, I figured, than to cross the wrong threshold every day.”

Continue reading →

There’s this pesky parasite in my fingertips called the Internal Editor. He doesn’t like to let me free-write. He insists upon a certain measure of Quality — unless I’m typing in Gmail Chat — and he doesn’t care that Quality slows me down whether she’s just sprinkling herself on my work, or outright smothering it.

I’m considering chopping off my fingers just for the sake of getting rid of the Internal Editor. He’s THAT bad.

Broken camera = sad, sad Stan.

Dude, when did this happen, and why didn’t anyone tell me about it?

It looks great!!

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From a cute article Alex sent me, titled “Your Friends Are Not Watching the Same Show You Are”:

To summarize the potato salad theory, fanfiction works for readers because the readers are already coming to the story with enough history and background to enjoy the story without piles of world-building and setup, much like stories that feature historical or mythological characters. We are bringing our own utensils and plates to the picnic, not expecting restaurant service. That’s fanfic. When it comes to our source material, we’re all bringing very different things to the table, and that’s going to affect what we consume.

As it happens, these preferences not only inform what we choose to watch in the first place, but also what we see when we get there. As when we sit in English class and interpret poetry, we each have our own particular take on the canon that’s unique to our backgrounds and histories.

And that’s okay.

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Angie goes home tomorrow. :(

But we had fun while she was here!

Last weekend Ryan, Andy and I went down to Newport and noticed a little carnival. Thank god we checked it out, because if we hadn’t, we would have missed out on MOUSE 25¢.

Go, Fast Eddie, go!

Always remember the distinction between contribution and commitment. - John Mack Carter