No More Apologies

I have come to realize that I cannot post nearly as often as I would like--nor can I post with the creativity I would prefer. This will be my last apology for being M.I.A.: I am sorry. (Speaking of which, you should check out the new M.I.A. video for "Born Free" knowing that it will be quite violent.) This post should serve as a brief update on my life.

I have spent much of the past month studying so that I can now operate up-to-par with Zingerman's Roadhouse standards. Grueling and challenging at times, the process has ultimately been rewarding. I am all the more knowledgeable about food (production to plate) and enlightened by the organization's philosophy about people, community, and service. I am still loving my job, and I am looking forward to the coming months that are the Roadhouse's busy season--the other night a drunken and proud father of a recent grad insisted on telling me quite the animated joke and then confessing he would stop drinking Johnny Walker Black.

I recently soaked in a few rays while repotting C's and my cucumbers, pimento peppers, and zebra tomatoes.

Recently, I have been observing C and others go through the graduation process and have thus been brought face-to-face with one of those moments when events facilitate reflection on time passed. A flash to me last year would yield an image of a zealous and confident young man ready to start a summer job in service at a popular local business, planting a garden, enjoying the company of friends in an Ann Arbor summer, and secure in a future with the Peace Corps. If I have learned anything in the past year (which has been difficult, to put it mildly), I have learned to be humble about what I do have and to recognize how fleeting what I have can be. I appreciate my position in life, right now, and I do all I can to live contemporaneously with joy in that appreciation.

Still, the fact that I have come full-circle (in a way, when considering the similarities between my basic life description then and my basic life description now) has brought me to some questions that I have not yet been able to put into words for others. My language seems to fail to capture these reflective and thought-provoking circumspections.

Soon, I will begin learning some basic Mandarin. I have made it a goal to begin calligraphy as a hobby come August.

Otherwise, some recent intakes...
Movies I Have Seen Recently and Recommend: "Revolver"
Book Recently Finished: "No One Writes to the Colonel" by Marquez
Book Recently Began: "Steppenwolf" by Hesse
Music on my Mind: The xx, Groove Spoon, RJD2's "The Colossus," Caribou's "Swim," The Twelves remixes, The Glitch Mob