Caught You Up

Well, hello there. I reckon I oughta fill you in on what's doing, invisible audience. My blog activity has been sparser than what had been, even my celluloid and music analyses. I have some good reasons:

1. Way deep into finishing a research poster for the American Academy of Audiology convention in Dallas, April 1-4. Yikes! That's only a week and a half away! Still trying to finish my narratives, stats, graphs, in time for FAU's graphics dept. so they can create the product. Doesn't help that as I type I'm battling something ressembling a flu. I'm about 70/30 on the nap/being productive ratio scale right now.

2. Been bringing my work home with me more and more. Ugh. Just ugh.

3. Been assisting in the planning of a wedding. That's right, mine! Of course, more extensive notes to follow.

4. Haven't seen too many movies, even on DVD. Just too occupied. I still have to write a review of EUROPA, and I still have THE FOUNTAIN and DAY FOR NIGHT to watch. Nothing I really want to see in the theater, although I am curious about WATCHMEN. I have to type up my first entry in the They Might Be Giants portion of the "Wiseacre Duo" series, too. This thing may never conclude!

4. Thanks to Facebook, I've been reconnecting with peeps from all periods of my almost 40 years. A few weeks back, we attended the big 4-0 celebration for a woman I hadn't seen in a long while. Actually, it had only been 7 years, as she had come back to visit a friend who happened to be in my church singles' group. The birthday girl was and is one of the sweetest people I've ever known. She is dating another of my high school classmmates, a guy who I had more of an adversarial relationship with in the 80s but lately, since seeing him at my 20th a couple of years ago, he has been much friendlier. They are a fine couple and I am pleased as punch for them.

I also had a wonderful night out at Charley's Crab in Palm Beach with another old friend I had originally met in jr. high school. Last time we spoke was circa 2000 at the late Maya Azteca, a Mexican restaurant in West Palm Beach owned by friends. He was about to move to Alaska at that time. Prior to that, I had run into him at Respectables, a local club, in 1994 after not seeing him since graduation.

We spent 3+ hours catching up on each other's lives and of those people we knew and know. It was a great meal, too. Best swordfish I've ever had! I had several glasses of wine and got a bit carried away during one reminscence, enough to shatter one of them. The waiter took it in stride, drolly informing me that I had just broken an extremely rare bit of glassware passed down by the Countess Something-or-Other. He was quite funny. Also gave us an interesting history lesson of his over twenty years of service to the restaurant.

Almost flew to NYC this weekend to rendevous with some undergrad friends, all of whom I have maintained contact with regularly even before I succumbed to the FB phenom. Would've been a blast, but another time.

5. Had some hearing aid training seminars, including the most recent, in Baltimore, MD. Another where they comp your airfare, hotel, and copious amounts of food and drink. The seminar itself was about a 6 overall, but I did take away some new bits of knowledge. The big thing these days with hearing aids is the implementation of Bluetooth wireless technology. With a device reseembling a remote control, one can pair the aids with cell phones, mp3 players, etc. More tutorial. I ran into 2 former grad school classmmates, and because of them this trip was far more entertaining than it would've been. More catching up, more recollections. More libations.

Speaking of which, after the opening night dinner, I also met up with some friends who live in Baltimore. One of the classmates joined us and we socialized in a joint called Friends, a spacious bar in the Fells Point district. There were only two others there, one of whom was the bartender. We played cool tunes on the jukebox and laughed a lot. Had an Irish car bomb. Oh, dear. This on top of all the wine I had already downed at the dinner and a few more beers. I paid dearly the next morning. I'm not 25 anymore.

Things will continue to be quite busy from now on. Conventions, birthdays, weddings, honeymoons, and more. I'm sure there may be another Facebook engineered meet up or two.....

Comments

Popular Posts