Escape is not an option

Being home is so amazing. I mean, in the initial rush of everything, I really only have time right now to remember how much I missed everyone down south, and I feel like come my departure, I might hit tears at some point because of all the emotion that will hit me when I realize how many people and how many places I'm leaving behind. I'm in such a flurry right now, juggling seeing everyone and getting prep'd to go (which will eventually include packing) and just generally getting adjusted to the new life that is rapidly approaching in under one week. I mean, come this time next week, it will be 8:38 in the morning and I will be waking up in Paris! AHHHH!!!!

So, to be honest, I'm filled with so much hope and confidence and excitement to go to Paris and so much doubt and fear and confusion at what I'm leaving behind that it's just too much to handle anything else. Had a great Thursday-into-Friday...Jason and I went up to visit Vincent at his new apartment in Upland. The highlight was probably the, I think we determined, four-and-a-half hour conversation Vincent and I had from 11:30-4 last night - a conversation that was epic in proportion and reminded me of the types of conversations we used to have as teenagers riding home from school, the conversations that really cemented our friendship. One thing has changed, though - I think at this point both of us are really much much much more open to listening to what the other has to say, because we know how much we each have been through and we've been through it all together. I'm so grateful to have that. It sounds corny, yes, but I am grateful.

In other news, I finished just about the greatest novel I've read this year - Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. I don't think that since A Home at the End of the World have I read a novel with characters I can so directly identify with and that I can so view as completely human and come to life. Middlesex had that quality for me too, and (ironically) Pride and Prejudice. I don't know how these authors do it, and I know that it's probably a pretty unique thing for each person and that different characters become real to different people, but wow. It's like reading about yourself, which makes the failures of the main characters that much harder to take and makes their successes so much more thrilling and relieving. It's almost like someone had said to you, "Here is a glimpse into your future - here's where you'll learn about heartbreak, here's where you'll find your self-confidence, here's where you'll grow up," and you just read along, astonished at how much of the past the tale has predicted and worried a little about the mistakes you're going to make in the future. Anyway, if you haven't already read it (I mean, c'mon, it won the Pulitzer - where have you been? where have I been?) I highly highly recommend it.

Yes, well, that said, it's 11:48 PM, and I need to go to bed to get ready to see my dad tomorrow and perhaps to reveal to him some big news (I mean, the chances are getting rarer and rarer). So, I hope everyone is as excited about what lies ahead as I am, and I bid you a humble and appreciative adieu. Until next time...when, it is entirely possible, I could be somewhere in Europe!