Monday, June 13, 2005

where have you gone, joel dimaggio?

I know, I know, school starts and I suddenly get crappy at posting again. Sorry about that. I'll try to be more interesting and post more frequetly. Then again, you don't really want to read about what I do in Japanese class every day, do you? So I guess take it as it comes.

Last Thursday we had a lot of fun seeing Shawn and Jessica and their boy Luke. They all seem pretty healthy and happy . . . or at least they pretended to be happy to see us, so that's good. We met them down in the Lancaster area, which turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected (the area I mean, not meeting them. We were looking forward to that). There are a lot more Amish people down in that area, so it was fun to see people working in the fields and riding around in buggies and the like. We'd like to go down and spend a little longer; some of our friends here recommended some cool stores (with Real Amish Products!) and gave us a map that includes all the covered bridges in the area. So that should be fun. Plus there are a lot of outlet stores down there, so good shopping.

This weekend was a lot of fun too. We're trying this new thing where one of us plans the date for one weekend and the other does the next weekend and stuff . . . just so it doesn't get too boring. So on Friday night we watched a vampire movie and drank root beer, and on Saturday we went to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith and cleaned the house. And this was Amelia's week to plan! She's pretty cool. It was a nice relaxing weekend after the long day down to Lancaster on Thursday, so I enjoyed it a lot. Plus it's nice to not have to think of stuff to do.

Also, this weekend I got a letter and a picture from my buddy John. I had written him a letter a few months ago, and he wrote me back and sent me a picture of his family (we hadn't seen their baby yet). I realized that all this e-mail and computer business has made actual letters very very rare for me. I get cards from my mom on most holidays, and my grandparents write me on my birthday, but that's about it. Back in the day, before e-mail was so omnipresent, I used to get letters at least once a month, maybe more. I had a good friend in Topeka who wrote me all the time, and I passed notes in school. Then I went to Japan and lived for letters for two years. Then Amelia went to Japan and I got her weekly letters for two years. Then we got married and I was near most of my friends and my letter-writing skills just went away. But there's something nice--and a little more personal--about getting a real letter. Johnny's letter was typed, but he still took the time to write it, and print it, and address an envelope, and mail it. It made me feel important. So here's your mission for this week. Write someone a letter instead of an e-mail. I promise you'll make their day.

Unless you cuss them out. That would probably just make them feel bad.

Tomorrow, sushi!

Writing that last line reminded me of horoscopes that always close with meaningless advice. If I were to write your horoscope today, this is what it would say (I don't have the energy to write 12 different horoscopes. This will have to do no matter when you were born):

A new vest and a dynamite blasting cap will get you the answers you've been looking for, but watch out for high fiber and a man with a pointy stick. Tomorrow, take time to decipher the code.

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