Toast for Brekkie

Sorted

At home, the junk mail is tossed; at work, the email inbox emptied and tasks prioritized. The bills are paid and the 200 spam comments banned and deleted. And now finally with this entry the blank front page of the blog is filled.

It's not easy returning to the workaday world, but the bright full moon in a cloudless sky, the familiarity of home, and a night of Ruhi with friends eases the transition. I thought I would have a day between Mexico and Chicago, but neglected that I returned to Tampa Wednesday night and departed Orlando Thursday morning. Four hours of sleep and a two hour drive meant the first morning up north was spent napping.

There really is nowhere to begin describing my life over the past ten days. I could write a short novel about my experiences in Mexico, each day a chapter. Ain't gonna happen. Not this year, at least. The good doctor and I do, however, have a plan to blog about it cooperatively. He has a few lengths on me already with his recent photo post. Check it out, his images are breathtaking. How he, a family man, manages to outpace a freewheeling bachelor baffles me. Alas, he's taken the lead.

I could write a review about each of the bands I saw at Lollapalooza and the experience as a whole, but it could take days. It seems when I'm away from work I only create more work for myself. And let's not even get started on the hundreds of photos I took in both places, bringing the grand total to 2500 of photos I need to post to flickr before I'm up to date.

Lay-c suggested I simply skip ahead to Mexico and post the interim photos at a later date, "when I have time." Considering the fact that I'm dipping deep into sleep time even to write this, I'm at a loss as to when that time will materialize. And I tried uploading large batches before, promising myself I'd come back to title and tag them; it took months. I also value the chronology of my photostream to such a degree that my only recourse is to be more selective in culling the herd until I can catch up. After that, I'll need to better manage the balance between the number of photos I take and the time I have to transfer, process, upload, title, tag, and caption them, not to mention read and respond to comments. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy doing it. But I want it to feel more like a joy and less like a chore. The other options I patently refuse, namely stop taking so many damned photos or stop living such an active life.

We had an excellent study session tonight, punctuated with and followed by enlightening and spirited conversations regarding many of my friends' upcoming periods of service in Haifa, life in Israel, and the Baha'i Faith in general. It really is amazing, as pointed out to me more than once recently, how much I have changed over the course of the last two years as a direct result of my association with Baha'is. It's daunting, however, to think of what is required in the years to come. Daunting, but somehow fulfilling, uplifting and joyful.

Change is afoot.