Even though my days are free, as are the minutes on my cell phone after 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, I never call people. Even the people I know who live in NYC I rarely call (Craig’s 4 blocks away!). I mean to send presents to friends in Japan, South Korea, Louisiana, Virginia, North Carolina, California, and Maryland. Believe me, I have good intentions and always say I will. I think I don’t because it makes me sad. I miss everyone! I miss New Orleans and Baton Rouge. I miss the cypress trees and the moss and the alligators and sometimes I miss my body being covered with welts left by mosquitoes along with the smothering, 110% humidity weather. The 5-minute drive, or bike ride, to a friend’s place no longer exists, nor do the nights out with $1.75 Dixie’s and familiar faces everywhere. Grrrrr! This growing up thing is over-rated.

I guess the big city is cool with its infinite number of activities, social events, art and culture. Sure I like the free displays of madness I catch walking down the street or riding the subway. But, it doesn’t compare to hanging out on the stoop with friends, discussing life and all it’s meaning…and dreaming.

By the way, this is my first ever, very short post even though I’ve had a head on good ol’ killoggs for a while. My mind is too full right now to write any more and I don’t feel like butchering the English language more than I have to. Not to mention, there’s a loop in my head repeating ‘graduate school, graduate school, graduate school…’ and it’s making me nuts!