Friday 5: Off-Balance

I'm back from vacation and I have a TON I want to write about here, which is good because it'll make up for my relative silence during my absence! Bad news is that it might take a while to construct proper blog entries out of my travel notes (a habit I've picked up in recent trips: taking notes during my vacations so that later I can actually remember what I did), and the longer something takes the less likely I am to do it. So until then, a Friday 5!



What most recently made you giddy?

Two things: dancing at a really good wedding, and watching the bats emerge at Natural Bridge Caverns. Those two memories alone are worth every penny I spent for this trip.

The groom and I (center), crashing a Lunar New Year party in 2010.

Mexican free-tail bats outside Natural Bridge Caverns.

What most recently left you agog?

Sometimes the Friday 5 teaches me new words. I always took "agog" to mean "shocked" or "surprised"; I double-checked just now and instead it's "full of intense interest or excitement."

Pretty much my whole trip to the US had most recently left me agog, I suppose. I packed a lot into just three weeks of visiting!



What most recently left you aghast?

Despite all of the good vibes and good friends in my trip, there's no denying I picked a tumultuous time to visit (which, welcome to the next three years). Neo-nazis demonstrating publicly, counter-protesters being injured or even murdered . . . and the worst part is I'm not even surprised.

A close friend of mine and his girlfriend are great admirers of James Tiptree, Jr. They saw me off from Boston with a copy of Her Smoke Rises Up Forever (though I think I left it in Albany, or possibly Old Orchard Beach), and one of the stories in there seemed all the creepier in light of contemporary goings-on: "The Screwfly Solution."



What in your life is the most higgledy-piggledy?

Landing the next student or project is always higgledy-piggledy. Freelance life!



 What was your week a mish-mash of?

Maine, Massachusetts, Copenhagen, Stockholm. I was all over the place this week!