In A While Crocodile

So I gotta confess that the reason for my lack of posts has been "Tropico" which I have been playing like a fiend. It's really just AOE without the warring and tactics. Just you, your people and your island. I love it. I think I've gone insane...

In other news... yah had a great time during my birthday and the day after and the day after that. Birthday (Friday) was spent here, in Mass. with Rich and his mom. You know, it was the typical (heh) opening of presents, playing Tropico, going out to a restaurant, stopping for some yummy pastries (for later) at a bakery, and grabbing a delicious scoop of Cookie Minster ice cream at the nearby Cold Stone Creamery. Then it was to NY to hang out with my family. Lovely time had by all. I got money and some clothes and a new, Panasonic system, from which I am listening to Howard Stern as I type this... heh It's so neat!

Oh yeah, I got to see Mike's campus! Boy was it chilly walking around. It wasn't bad though, a nice view of the mountains. Which were those? Catskills? Peekskills? Some kind of "kill" I think. Is that all part of the Adirondack Mountains? Oh wait. I got it! Surrounded by the Shawangunk Mountains, nestled in the Hudson River Valley. (It's close to the Catskills). The whole area is my kinda place. God the chill in the air, the beautiful green mountains, the local people with their apple orchards and apple picking and in the near future "pumpkin pickin'". The smell of pine trees and pine needles getting caught in your hair. On campus some trees had already started to turn their beautiful hues, from green with veins of red to flaming red and orange. I think I would choose to live around there if I could.

I guess that's how I pictured New England to be, but I missed it by a few hundred miles. I'm nearer the coast than the mountains. Oh well. Maybe I'll drive up to picturesque Vermont and live there. heh. But then I think I would get a nostalgia for the ocean. I had some unforgettable moments in those last few days of summer, before class starts and it's too cold to go sun bathing on the beach. Early mornings, huddling for warmth with Rich, walking Nantasket, watching the sun rise over the ocean, grabbing a bagel and orange juice, watching the quiet, empty beach and the road come to a bustle, filling up with dog walkers and retirees, getting one last romp before heading south.

The only place I have ever been that's had both mountains and ocean was in Cagayan de Oro, Phils. The town I spent 4 years of early childhood in. Strange how I remember so much of what was around me. I remember waking up, our house facing the mountain ranges of Bukidnon and going just a few houses down and finding myself at a beach by the sea. I think it's because of this that I'm always trying to find something that suits both my longing for the looming mountains and the salty air of the sea. Perhaps Alaska? Haha.

By the way, Cagayan de Oro city has come to mean "The City of Golden Friendship". But I think it used to mean "river of gold", back in the days when they found gold in the rivers... "kagay" meaning river. However they made the change when they saw how welcoming the peoples were.

By the way, yes! today is the day for new polls. I really do apologize for that. Also Julie I'll send you your letter pretty soon!

Ok I gotta go take a shower! eww.

Have a wonderful, beautiful day everyone!

Me.



Oh happy happy belated "Autumn" everyone. Say that with a NY accent! (Private joke).