neon epiphany

Four days on or near the water in Maine, seeing old friends was wonderful, although lacking cell phone coverage and internet for that period of time felt… unprecedented. It’s amazing how connected we’ve become in the last ten years that such a thing for so short a time can feel like complete alienation.

Weather was beautiful, and we enjoyed soft-shell lobster and haddock chowder and dodged lobster pot buoys and floated in the coves. Entertainment was decidedly lo-tech: board & card games and puzzles. I took about a gazillion photos, which I’m slowly fixing up for presentation. There’s a nascent flickr photoset:

 
Maine: Labor Day weekend 2004 in Meadow Cove, Boothbay and Ocean Point

… which will be added to as days go by.

Back in Seattle, with a cold, but happy and feeling rested. Read two books on the flights inbound & outbound: the first, which shall remain nameless, featured (I swear) three sentences on average per page. By the nearly intolerably verbose second act, there were a good number of sentences that lasted nearly a full page or longer. It ended, thankfully, before they extended, Ouroboros-like, beyond the bounds of the novel itself and back to the beginning. On the return I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which I thought affecting but very short.

I’m visiting Las Vegas for the first time this coming weekend, which is exciting but a little scary — overwhelmed, maybe, by Vegas-as-myth, Vegas-as-spectacle. Crossing fingers that I’ll be well enough to enjoy in full!