How is it that I manage to stop drinking and then get sick? Maybe the alcohol was killing the germs around me… Anyway, I’m thankfully not too sick, and if I keep this post short and go to sleep, I won’t get any sicker.

The weekend was great. The photos that came back of me from the weekend, like the one at right, made me realize just how goofy I can be. It was nice to have time with friends out of the city — driving in a car with NYC friends is sort of surreal. Fun with 5 guitars there, though I certainly had trouble keeping up with Alec, Anthony & Molly. Finally, I love Taboo.

Sunday evening, we celebrated the first night of Hanukah at my mom’s, with potato pancakes, homemade donuts, and topped off by some guitar playing with Dave Sibek and young Monica. I tried a little harmonica, too, though I had no clue what I was doing.

I’m busting my butt at work, trying to get my ducks in a row for vacation. Speaking of which, I’m hoping to send back some stories from the road. Might post them here, might send them by email. In any event, if you want to read them as they come back, e-mail me and I’ll put you on the list.

A word more about the trip. I’m in an interesting limbo state of calm, fear, patience and anticipation of my approaching adventure to Southeast Asia. I received an invitation from Aji (a friend I made whilst living in Bangalore, India) to stay with him in Singapore, so that gives some definition to the first few days of the trip. I can’t even begin to describe how psyched I am to see him again. I must admit that I doubted I ever would. And Elbert and I had breakfast today to do some planning, though it’s obvious that neither of us are particularly that interested in planning… we just want to go, and be there and be there and be there some more. We mosied our way through some rough outlines anyway, and talked about gear and told stories from previous trips. So all in all, I guess I’m in a consistent state of excitement that’s tempered by fear of traveling on my own, sadness about being away from friends and family for the holidays and for Dad’s birthday, and relief at being able to wholly stop thinking about work for a while. It’s the kind of feelings that I’d definitely have to do something about, except I know that the dates are going to flip by and I’m going to get on a plane, and the reality will take over. So I can just feel them for now…

And sleep on them. Bonne nuit!