SEIU

The last day of summer? Say it ain't so! Well, I flagrantly overstayed my SPF at the beach today in an effort to soak up every last drop of sun. God willing and the bottom don't drop out, there may be a couple of beach days left in the year yet.

It isn't good for me to be alone. Someone wise said that way back in Genesis, but maybe I'm just now getting around to agreeing. Being alone means lots of time with one's thoughts, and oftentimes one's thoughts aren't good company. The mind wanders, and it settles on troubles of the past, unresolved emotional damages, questions of why that will never be answered. (Don't ask why questions, Anne Lamott's friend Father Tom says. He's probably on to something there.)

I miss things a lot. Very specific things. Last week I missed the Borders store in that enormous Berjaya Times Square mall in Kuala Lumpur. It felt omniscient to me, safe, comforting, like a big bookstore hug. We stayed for hours. I bought a fantastic book by Jonathan Safran Foer. Don't spill any coffee on it, Liza dear.

Then I thought about waiting for a bus on the side of the road in Kuala Lumpur, waiting and waiting and being not sure if we should just get on the next bus because it seemed like ours would never come. So we did, we hopped a random bus, and we got to where we needed to be. Oh God, there's that pronoun. I thought that I had ruthlessly eliminated that pronoun from my life. Epic pronoun fail.

Today I missed the New Siam II Guesthouse in Bangkok. As far as I can remember, this is the only place in my travels that I have ever returned to stay on multiple occasions. I love the tiny triangular shower, the echoy corridors, the Asian satellite television stations, the "Please Don't Flush Your Toilet Paper" sign that is a little more informative than most others. Actually, it answers the why question, so take that, Father Tom.

I miss my Grandma, my scooter, Marilyn at Wagor Bilingual Academy, McKays Used Books and CDs, the feeling of knowing that someone would be waiting for me when I got off of work on a Saturday. I miss Carolina beaches and going to Argo Tea with a friend.

Last week we found out that our bank branch is going to be permanently closed next March. This does not mean that I will be losing my job. The bank has said that we will all be moved to other locations. But this potential reality shift causes me two conflicting emotional responses: relief and trepidation. First I'm thinking, sweet, here's my exit. I don't want to stay in banking forever, but it is a bird in the hand at this moment of 10% unemployment. I should seize this opportunity next spring to quit and take some more time to travel before I (at least attempt to once again) enter school next fall. Once I'm in school, it is pretty much a career-track sort of thing, so this would be my last chance to really have a wide-open travel experience. If I chose to be moved to a new location instead, there's all sorts of starting-over trauma involved there. But then I would have a job to help me transition into graduate school, pay the bills, etc. Some interesting choices ahead, I guess.

Going down to Lynchburg this weekend to hang out with the family. Let's be optimistic - it should be a fun time. Ideally I'd like to just carry my luggage on the plane and not have to check any bags, but with the amount of patience that I am going to have to pack, that might not be a possibility.

I found the perfect location for opening up a Taiwanese tea shop today. It is a tiny storefront and has cute counters and basically no space - ideal. Sadly, the monthly rent is $4,800. I don't think I've saved up quite enough to buy a couple of lid-sealing machines and get this venture off the ground yet.

Currently Watching:
Brokeback Mountain

Currently Listening to:
Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens