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Wednesday, December 16th, 2015 A long day of travel: flying to Newark airport, the train to Penn Station, subway to Grand Central, another train to New Haven, then a shuttle bus to the corner of Chapel and Temple street onto the green of Central Park, ending under a purple sky. Unseasonably warm, dense air. On foot to the Courtyard Marriott, my right knee complaining from all the schlepping of carrying my bags. I'd managed, in a momentary lapse of judgment, doubly triply quadruply burdened by the heat, my sweat, the overboiling of humanity swarming under New York's Grand Central Station, to break the tow handle of my luggage. Thus I carried it like some atomic weight for much of the journey. After settling in under the hotel's mediocre WiFi, I marked out a couple highlights on a paper map and made the trek across town, a solitary walk through downtown New Haven which was nearly silent at 8 PM on the Wednesday the week before Christmas. The pizza (or "apizza...

Hola! Or, perhaps an "aloha" would be more accurate? I am leaving for Maui in a couple hours, having decided to join Jenning's marital festivities after all. A rash decision, made in a fit of desperation, and one that certainly bites on a financial level. It's amusing that even at my age I still have problems sleeping, with the foolish fear of missing the flight. Well, I did miss one major flight, back in Denmark, but that was a simple mistake of dates on my part. Anyway, yeah, Hawaii. I keep thinking of how this might be the last few days of my life -- fall into a volcano, or eaten by a shark, etc. It was a nice life, though I am sorry to leave so many days half-lived. More sorry to those I was a dastardly bastard to, a cowardly scoundrel. I don't know that I deserve anything like forgiveness, but I certainly feel that I am wiser now, eyes more open to my actions. Should I happen to make it, I'll be back by the 29th. No plans for New Years. Not that I rea...

I was in Windsor, of all places. A wretched hive of vice and ramshackle buildings: spotless white casinos next to tenement complexes and boarded-up houses. I went to visit a friend, an old acquaintance from my Canadian Space Agency days. He has not changed in the least. We talked of our days at the CSA, of the work, of our bosses, of the astronauts. I enjoyed meeting the other Asians in Windsor; apart from some tourists, I think I may have been the oldest Korean there, which was very novel. However I'm not inclined to go again anytime soon. And next time I shall stay at a hotel! A short work week, this one; I will be leaving for New York on Thursday to visit family. After this, I shall rest my liver I do so swear it. I do somewhat lament my accidentally booking for the 9/11 weekend, oh vey. I rather forgot that the date means something down there. On September 9th, 2001 I was in the living room watching TV and my mom kept saying, "Oh my God." Spent a frantic h...

Washington was... well, it was alright. I can't really say that I had a great time, but perhaps I went with the wrong impressions or expectations. I did get to see much of the National mall , and passed by the White House every day, due to the hotel's location. While I didn't take part, I was at the anti-war protests on Saturday. It felt weird to be witness to something you might read on Fox News . The city itself? Uhmm... well... unfortunately I didn't really get a chance to feel it out. Our hotel was right downtown, in the business area right beside the major political buildings and the tourist stuff. I do feel a tinge of regret now, for going -- I missed the rest of the TIFF, including a chance to attend the closing gala and the Polish festival . In turn, when I tried to get home Roncesvalles was still closed off so I ended up taking a taxi. I wanted to drive up to my parent's place to drop off and pick up some stuff before the week started, but it turned out th...