H, a friend of mine from Boston, contacted me a few days ago. I hadn't talked to him in years, ever since he left to join the military. He was at a crossroads; his girlfriend had gotten pregnant and he had just lost his job and with little experience, not even a US citizenship, he had little choices. I assumed he had gone to Iraq and, he told me, at one point he was set to be deployed but it was cancelled. Now he is scheduled to go in February.
Anyone remember when the deployment in Iraq was expected to be a short commitment and now we are planning months and months ahead of time?
He looked me up because he's in Boston for a while and wanted to get together. When I got in touch with him I told him the whole story. Boston's getting old, he says, as soon as he gets back from Iraq, he wants to move elsewhere. This led to me giving a long talk about the advantages of Chicago and now he wants to come up and visit. He's easily persuaded, which is why he joined the military in the first place.
Boston seems to me to be the training wheels for city living. It's not a harsh, not as crowded and not as recognized as a top tier city. Bostonians will doubt this claim but I always thought of it as
remedial New York in a way. I'd never live in New York but Boston is good practice if you're going to.

B wrote to me also. He's my oldest and one of my closest friends. He's married now and has at least one kid, a son. I think he has a daughter now as well. We hadn't talked in a while until a few months ago when I sought him out and wrote him a long letter. I plan to keep in touch, if only by email. He's got an awesome wife too; cute, sweet, honest and devoted. As a bonus, her family is from New York and were connected at one point too. If anyone deserves such a person B does, I know he's gone through some bad relationships as well. Gives us hope.

I just realized I haven't left the apartment in days. After I realized I wouldn't go see my family, there was little to go out for during the holidays and though I'd like to go out and do some things my main concerns are getting into grad school, finding a better job that fits with school, writing and planning on buying a condo. Any time out of the apartment takes away from those.
My beard has grown and I look a little like Saddam Hussein. Never mind the fact that I look nothing like him at all and my beard isn't even a quarter of the length, I do have the grey streak.
Been invited to a New Year's Eve party. I may go but I'm not sure. C is probably working and though I've hardly done anything at all on previous New Year's Eves I think I'd feel it was wasted.