2008-03-03
Giddy from the Estonian Update
I spoke with Adam today. It was great to chat with him again. He finally caught me using Skype. Last time he called from Estonia I was in the middle of my European Geography class at Macalester listening to a student give his report on Estonia. It was a really bizarre coincidence. I felt the phone vibrating in my pocket and only later realized it was Adam. Craziness!
I'm glad to hear he is doing well over there. Got away from the Baltic Times and is now running with the local coffee shop mafia! Has to leave Estonia to stay there legally and because the damn Schengen Agreement keeps expanding he is basically forced to run to Macedonia or Turkey. Bizarreness!
But the coolest thing is that he got back into Lost while he was over there. So much to talk about concerning not the Russian minority, or how exhausting teaching is, or how weird it is that a coffee shop mogul wants to have Adam start a second chain for him and is willing to fly him to Macedonia on the coffee shop's tab... but Lost! I am hooked after last week's episode, and now Adam is watching it over there and there is this social connection. You know how friends lose contact or things over which to relate when they are separated for a long time? (By the way, I don't know who "you" are, but I figure if you have read this far I must know you so I will speak to you as a friend.) Well, with the modern network society that we live in, it is possible to maintain a social connectedness that would not otherwise exist. I remember way back in the early 90s, when I was stuck in Hungary with no phones, no email, and a really unreliable, shitty postal system. There was no way to keep a "constant," as they would call it in Lost, between there and home. But now we have constants! It is great. Even if it is merely a television show. I can't go to Bullwinkles with Adam and hypothesize about how much salt it takes to tear out the roof of my mouth anymore, but I can chat with him about Jack's odd disposition toward Aaron.
I am struggling to make sense tonight. I just spent 12 hours preparing slides for Cartography this week and experimenting with Mapublisher. It was really fun. I also crafted a map test for my European Geography class, put together an assignment for my Human Geography one, and outlined the semester up to Spring Break.
Time for bed, I guess. I'm nervous about Tuesday, but you know... if I am right about the Democrats not being able to win an election handed to them on a platter, I will feel a little redeemed. Even if it means the US economy and the world's stability is destroyed for another four years. At least I can pull that pompous "told you so" mentality that I try so hard to hide from everyone but Birgit. Of course, the problem is that everybody can say "told you so" about something; so I would prefer having to say it about something else, like... "I told you they would let people up the Leaning Tower of Pisa again someday." But if I have to settle for John McCain winning being my moment, I guess I will. Beggars can't be choosers.
Another week... I'm going to have fun, Damnit!
I'm glad to hear he is doing well over there. Got away from the Baltic Times and is now running with the local coffee shop mafia! Has to leave Estonia to stay there legally and because the damn Schengen Agreement keeps expanding he is basically forced to run to Macedonia or Turkey. Bizarreness!
But the coolest thing is that he got back into Lost while he was over there. So much to talk about concerning not the Russian minority, or how exhausting teaching is, or how weird it is that a coffee shop mogul wants to have Adam start a second chain for him and is willing to fly him to Macedonia on the coffee shop's tab... but Lost! I am hooked after last week's episode, and now Adam is watching it over there and there is this social connection. You know how friends lose contact or things over which to relate when they are separated for a long time? (By the way, I don't know who "you" are, but I figure if you have read this far I must know you so I will speak to you as a friend.) Well, with the modern network society that we live in, it is possible to maintain a social connectedness that would not otherwise exist. I remember way back in the early 90s, when I was stuck in Hungary with no phones, no email, and a really unreliable, shitty postal system. There was no way to keep a "constant," as they would call it in Lost, between there and home. But now we have constants! It is great. Even if it is merely a television show. I can't go to Bullwinkles with Adam and hypothesize about how much salt it takes to tear out the roof of my mouth anymore, but I can chat with him about Jack's odd disposition toward Aaron.
I am struggling to make sense tonight. I just spent 12 hours preparing slides for Cartography this week and experimenting with Mapublisher. It was really fun. I also crafted a map test for my European Geography class, put together an assignment for my Human Geography one, and outlined the semester up to Spring Break.
Time for bed, I guess. I'm nervous about Tuesday, but you know... if I am right about the Democrats not being able to win an election handed to them on a platter, I will feel a little redeemed. Even if it means the US economy and the world's stability is destroyed for another four years. At least I can pull that pompous "told you so" mentality that I try so hard to hide from everyone but Birgit. Of course, the problem is that everybody can say "told you so" about something; so I would prefer having to say it about something else, like... "I told you they would let people up the Leaning Tower of Pisa again someday." But if I have to settle for John McCain winning being my moment, I guess I will. Beggars can't be choosers.
Another week... I'm going to have fun, Damnit!
