The last couple months have mostly been a blur. As I mentioned, I spent very fast 24 days in New York which were mostly spent drunk or otherwise incapacitated (read: food comas). After returning, my sleep schedule got all messed up and I was stuck on a mostly nocturnal pattern. Then the last few weeks I was up for days at a time and getting very little sleep in an effort to fix myself. It only caused my brain functions to diminish even further and I was getting really irritable and spacey. Miraculously I was able remedy this problem a few nights ago and I’m already feeling better (despite waking up at 4:30 AM every day).

Hesam and I have started planning our impending trip around the world. We’ve begun researching visa requirements for all the countries we are planning to visit (I think there are about 70 or so on the list) and will soon start working on budgeting and fund-raising. I’m really looking forward to this trip – in fact, I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve had this insatiable travel bug for the last two years and despite having been away from home for four months or more during that time, I still can’t shake it. It’s not about escaping the situation I’m in or anything like that. It’s more like a race against time. Staring into the vastness of the world in front of me, I’m starting to feel like I’ll never be able to experience it all. We’re planning on leaving by the end of the year and will throw a huge party before we go. You’re all invited (and paying for it haha).

My food website is on hold for the time being. I went to a bunch of restaurants on both ends of the country, took beautiful pictures, and ate crazy shit (spinal cord!), but I’m still having a hard time finding the motivation and inspiration to write the content. I’m also having some trouble getting through the thousands of photos I need to edit and archive. I’ve switched over to iLife ‘09 to hopefully make the archiving easier and I’ve started to make a little progress. Click on the “Photos” link above to access my Flickr albums and see what’s new. There should be plenty of new pictures from tomorrow’s trip to NYC in the near future, as well. I suppose I should get the pics from my last New York trip up first, however. [ed: last twotrips to NYC]

Finally, I leave you with two mixtapes I made for that monthly mixtape club I’m in. The theme for this month was “cover songs.” I started with about 300 songs and, through various means, managed to whittle the list down to 42. That’s far too many for one disc, so I made two. The first has a very loose theme and the second is a free-for-all. Instead of posting the tracks here, I’ll just link through to the mixtape site where I left some comments on why I selected the songs I did.

Mix #1 “I Want To Be Like Them” [click for more info]
Mix #2 “At Least They’re Shared” [click for more info]

Or, if you don’t want to read about the mixes and just want to download them, follow this link:
http://www.minusnumbers.com/mixtape

Also, here’s a bonus mp3 for you. I titled my post after this song, but despite the sarcasm I seriously hope everyone’s having a great 2010. It has to be better than that last miserable year.
[MP3] Dismemberment Plan – The Ice of Boston

A wedding or two, lots of flights for work, seeing good friends all over the state, many drunken (and often regrettable) nights, got a new president, lots of ridiculously good (and usually unhealthy, yet never regrettable) food, moved into a new house, began living life in HD, finally returned my Netflix, lots of driving for work, began listening to audiobooks (Jack Reacher ftw), got a Twitter (and still don’t know what it’s for), started playing WoW (I know, I know), watched a ton of hockey, got in multiple car accidents, saw some amazing concerts, commissioned a beautiful piece of art for the first time in my life…

…and then we lost my dad.

Out of nowhere, life changed drastically and permanently and it still hasn’t sunk in yet. Every morning I fully expect him to call me and yell at me for sleeping in and not being at work. I sit on his couch, drinking his liquor, imagining him coming home from work at any moment. I’m in a very surreal place and don’t know what to say or what to think.

This is not a summary of my thoughts on the matter, this is merely an update. When I know what to think, I imagine I will be more forthcoming. But how do you eulogize someone that you can’t admit is gone? How do you eulogize someone that did more in his life than most can even dream of? How do you eulogize someone that meant so much to so many in largely intangible and indescribable ways?

I’m leaving town tomorrow for Indianapolis to accompany Debra to a Split Lip/Chamberlain reunion concert. I only bought a one-way ticket, because I don’t know where life will push me after that. Maybe I will update from the road or maybe it will be another six months. Either way, I have something to find and I’m not sure what it is or where to begin looking. Until we meet again.