So, yea I thought I would start this blog. It might be fun to do while I am in New York.
I hope however, that it does not interfere with my journal writing. Of course such
a public forum can't be as confessional as my journal, but I am concerned that it might
steal my favorite thoughts away from the private journal. We shall see.

I just finished This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is amazing the amount
of melancholy that comes with finishing a book. However, my response to this book
is not the traditional response. I do not miss Amory Blaine like I missed Dorothy
Day or Ender Wiggin. I missed Day because she was doing that which I want to do.
I missed Ender because he was that which I want to be. Amory is different. Maybe
he hits a little close to home. Maybe we are searching for the same things. I don't
know. All I know is, when I wake tomorrow, I will not long for his company.

It is funny though. At the end of the book Amory thinks back to his senior year
at prep school. That year which seems like a thousand years ago was only seven.
My senior year was only seven years ago as well. I too have been thinking much of
that year. Or more precisely, I have been thinking on the seven years.
Oh the places I have been and the things I have done.

I have smelled the incense of a Buddhist stupa and slipped in the blood of Hindu sacrifices.

I have lighted candles in Catholic cathedrals and knelt at alters in Pentecostal meetings.

I have seen the Sistine Chapel and heard the echoes in St. Peters.

I have mused over the works of Monet and smiled up at Andy Warhol's Chairman Mao.

I have smelled the inside of medieval European cathedrals and reclined in the stadium seating of contemporary American Mega-churches.

I have tasted love and the lack there of

Oh the things I have done and the places I have been.

Amory Blaine sets out on a new path after his seven years. Will I? I don't know, but
one thing is for certain. I have to start a new book. I am trying to decide what book to
read next. I imagine this will be the last book I will read before I set off for New York.
I picked up Eudora Welty's Delta Wedding. This would be a good choice to end the summer.

Any suggestion?

Any way, I am off to bed.