celebrated my 10,000th day on earth.
published my first paper. (helps sas, stata, and sudaan healthcare analysts transition to r.)
woke up in greek cyprus.
flew to egypt. museumed. discovered four thousand year old cairo chimps with true-to-life genitalia.
metroed to giza.
rode a horse to the pyramids.
watched the last sunset of the decade.
expected as much.
walked by the nile.
flew to amman, bused to the border, noted the jordanian prussian soldier gear.
hitchhiked to jerusalem, with..
neon cauliflower
and mountains of spice.
didn't negotiate hard, paid $35 for this.
saw the sights..
hats
yasser araf-hats
why didn't i think of that-s
..to ramallah..
and her uninhabited settlements.
and her ill-advised children's toys.
and her americana.
..and her unfairly delicious sundaes.
turned south to sunday mass in bethlehem.
onward christian tourist-pilgrims.
baby jesus wuz here.have a favorite palestinian t-shirt: "guns & moses" / favorite graffiti: "one wall two jails"
saw the dead sea, a failed historic site preservation attempt.
flew to new york city. worked from my remote office for a few days.
hope / resolve to travel while working remotely in the future. better to ease into a city, and stay connected to my career at the same time.
read a long way gone, a memoir written by a fellow graduate of oberlin who (nobody knew) had been a child soldier. worthwhile, but strangely edited: "this is your time to revenge the deaths of your families."
stopped reading karen armstrong's buddha halfway through. a mix of contextual history, religious philosophy, and physiological explanations, the author strays from her stated goal of biographing too often to maintain a captivating storyline.
1/7