Wake Up!

Arcade Fire @ The Mann Center tonight. They were really solid. Thanks, Alex.

Active Sunday (For A Change)

Most Sundays are spent in recovery. Not that I drink or do much that needs to be recovered from, but until this weekend I was busy every weekend this summer. Sundays were either spent lounging after a friend left from visiting all weekend or driving back from New York, or something else uneventful. It makes sense, then, that my first slow/low key weekend would find me busy on Sunday.

I have been reading a decent amount this past week. I have read the first five volumes of Scott Pilgrim as well as 2.5 more volumes of The Walking Dead. If you are not a comic book person then you might scoff at this being listed as an accomplishment. To me, however, this is a step in the right direction. I have somewhere between 75-90 minutes on my round trip train ride every day where I am able to be productive. Over the past 6 years of my life I have worked 9-5 jobs that I had to drive to. By the time I get home I don't feel like reading either. This time around, though, I am trying to use this time. I am both able to be in transit and do something else. For a few weeks I would read the paper, do a crossword, fall asleep, etc. Those weeks I found myself very tired getting into work. I started watching movies to keep myself more mentally engaged.

With the stack of Scott Pilgrim novels in my possession I decided I would give reading a go. I have a hard time staying awake on the train while reading, but I thought that since comics have images to them and have a faster pace I might be able to get into the routine of reading during these trips. After 5 days I knocked out all five volumes. I then used my low key weekend to plow through the rest of Vol. 2 and then Vol. 3 & 4 of the Walking Dead.

Today I woke up and quickly finished Volume 4 of the Walking Dead. I then drove to Delaware to pick up the next volume. I returned home and watched the Phillies game until it's rain delay. Then I drove to a my friend Alex's house and together we jouneyed into the city to Dave & Busters for a free Penrose show. Our parking voucher gave us 5 dollars off of food, and checking into using the app FourSquare we each got free $5 game cards. So I proceeded to eat, watch the remained of the Phils at the bar, kill some zombies, and then watch Penrose while sitting on the water with a great view of the Ben Franklin bridge over my shoulder.

For what is typically a day spent on the couch, I really enjoy this Sunday. I am also looking forward to this week for no other reason that for what I am going to read. After picking up the next volume in the Dead series, I also borrowed the latest Scott Pilgrim and the novel World War Z from Alex. Can't wait to get started on them.

Debris

A few days ago I could not make a legitimate post because we had no power. I had to post using my phone instead. Driving around over the past few days, it is really become apparent how bad this storm was. I heard on the radio, damage wise, this is the worst storm to his the Philadelphia area since 2006. People are still without power, and we are really fortunate to not be in that position.

I took some pictures today of some of the damage at a friend's house. Some places are much worse than others, but his front yard is pretty bad. Incredibly, last I heard, there were no serious injuries despite all of the damage. That's unbelievable considering how some places look.

Getting Better

Today was much better than yesterday. Camp, MS, the kids - they're all still on my mind constantly. But things picked up a bit. I was more motivated, it was a nicer day and I just felt better.

Today Alex and Maria were back and to make up for yesterday I went to them for breakfast and lunch. Total bill - 6.60. Where else are you going to get a freshly made egg sandwich and coffee and later a freshly made chicken parmesan for that cheap? I actually think it might be cheaper than eating at home and bringing lunch. This part of my day definitely was helpful. Also the commute in the morning, as I had to drive, went well. They day of work was filled and positive and meeting up with old co-workers afterwards was a really nice close.

I got to spend some time with a good friend and my sister, picked up a bookshelf as part of the basement transformation that will hopefully be occurring soon, and I got to talk with some of my GO! team members.

Nothing overly special really happened, but I still felt like today was a big improvement over yesterday. Let's hope tomorrow continues that progression. If all goes well, the Thank You cards will be finished tomorrow and I will post about camp.

Goodnight.

The Rain Won't Stop Us

And it didn't. Today was a great day, after a great weekend. When I woke up today I didn't think I had enough energy in me to get through the day. Last night's party was a lot of work. It is not easy to have a 25 person party in your apartment - the organizing and prep work, cooking ,etc. Luckily everyone was awesome. I had a lot of help from Claire (especially as the party wrapped up.)

When all was said and done things could not have gone better. We had so much extra food and for an apartment that has been ordering/buying every meal out of having no time to go food shopping - that's nice. Having 10 of your best friends dancing around your room with christmas music playing - everyone doing their best charlie brown moves and such is just amazing. Ill have some pictures soon.

Today we had our gift exchange and I was really impressed at how creative, thoughtful, or interesting the gifts were. Headed into the city while some friends and my roommates lunched on some of the left overs. Met up with my sisters and grabbed food at Max Brenners. If you have not been there - you should change that. Order everything.

Made it Rockefeller with them and Alex and took some pictures with the tree despite the rain. Also, a brave male proposed on the ice. He must really have had a good feeling about that one to subject his future wife to the cold rain for it. There must have been a good inch or more of water on the ice that he knelt in, too. It was great - everyone watching cheered. What it must feel like to get engaged in that setting or any where you have a slew of people applauding/cheering for you.

We finally headed home on the 7 pm bus following the eagles game via gamecast, car radio, and then tv when I got home.

Tomorrow is my dad's birthday. He turns 51. This is why i am home. It is also why, in a few hours I am waking up to make him pancakes. He doesn't know this. Nor did he know I was coming home tonight. If you know me, you know I like surprises/big gestures. So I sneak home, show up - and make him an actual meal to eat before he heads to work on his birthday before most of the world is even awake.

Night everyone.