This weekend Cate came up. It was Parents’ Weekend, not Girlfriend Weekend, but it was nice to have her around all the same. We watched a few movies (The Langoliers, Mind Hunters, and American Gangster), hung out with many people, and had nice alone time, too. We will have been together for two years in just a couple of weeks, and I’m constantly amazed that I’ve been able to hold onto something—anything—for that long. Long distance relationships are tough, but this has been a really formative and important event in my life. I hope it keeps right on being formative and important until I die.
MJG’s been writing (by hand!) in journals lately. The fact that he actually just filled one astounds me. I don’t think that I’ve ever been able to keep a handwritten account of anything for more than a week or so. People think that journals make good gifts for me because I like writing; I’ve got a small stack of them, ranging from nice leather-bound volumes to those thick, book-sized ones with the tiny grid instead of lines. The truth is, I hardly even write notes in class. I feel bad that I have zero impetus to self-document the old-fashioned way. It’s a bit of a lost art, I think.
I do, however, have a great appreciation for pens. I’ve found the perfect ballpoint: the Zebra F-402. I accumulated a small stash of these during my days working at Staples, and they last forever if I don’t lose them; I just recently threw one away that I’d been carrying for at least a year.
One of my best friends from high school, Glynnis (who has been blogging since we before met in middle school and is much, much better at it than I am), is spending the year in Paris, attending classes at the Sorbonne and the American University. She’s keeping a blog about her experiences with French culture, and I love it. I’m not even that interested in French culture; I think it’s just interesting how people from different countries interact.
Speaking of cross-cultural interaction, I’m currently working with two other students from last semester’s Philosophy of Education class on helping the Refugee Empowerment Program, an after-school tutoring program for refugees from Sudan and the surrounding region. If you read this and live in Memphis, consider volunteering every now and then. They could use it.
