Stranger

In my daily drive back and forth from work, I have begun to listen to Bill Bryson narrate his book I'm a Stranger Here Myself. It didn't initially start out as a book, rather a weekly column in a British magazine. He is from Iowa, but moved to London, married, and had two kids. Twenty or so years later, he returned to the US with his family and they settled in New Hampshire. The weekly article he wrote included his musings and noted differences between England and America. The irony is that it had been so long since he lived here that he felt as though he was a foreigner. It got me thinking about our own situation...
Since we moved up here to New York, we have constantly been amazed at how different things are from what we are used to. The other day we had a conversation about the various things that we missed from living in Tennessee. As I sit here in the lobby at Suzy's school I have become aware of the things I will not miss when we eventually leave New York.
I will not miss the insanely rude people of Westchester County, annoying and loud women with atrocious accents (cf. The Nanny), NY drivers that do not know how to merge, NY drivers who are oblivious to other drivers, NY drivers in general, everyone's sense of entitlement (when most people deserve none of what they expect), the way other people make me treat them, the inadequacy of the grocery stores, price of gasoline, cost of utilities, rent, let me say that again - RENT, prices in general, everyone's materialism, or the dreary weather.
I just hope that when we return to the south, we won't feel like strangers!

Salmon of Doubt

I recently finished a book by the late Douglas Adams called The Salmon of Doubt . The book is a collection of bits and pieces that were found on his hard drive after he died. The last part of the book is a continuation of the Hitchhiker's series, but most of it is just a bunch of random thoughts. I never realized how much influence he had and how truly popular he was aside from the Hitchhiker books. One of his many activities was his avid support of Save the Rhino International. In 1994, Adams and some friends climbed Mount Kilamanjaro in, you guessed it...a rhino suit. Adams never actually made it to the top, but the rest of the group did. This year, his brother and sister are climbing Kilamanjaro to raise more support for the white rhino (without the rhino suit).

It's hard to believe!

I can't believe that my little twin neices are already four years old. It seems like only a year ago that my sister and here family visited Suzy and I in Johnson City. Well, yesterday Cherokee and Shawnee had their fourth birthday and I didn't get to be there for it. It's hard enough not seeing family, but when these little girls grow up so fast it makes it worse that we can't be there to spoil them. When we are there, they seem to be all over us, but it still doesn't make up for the time lost. We wish we could be there - we love you Cherokee and Shawnee, happy fourth birthday! (From left to right, back to front: Cody, Angie, Cherokee, Shawnee, and Cheyanne)

OK, I know...

Yes, I realize that it has been a long time since I last wrote anything. I haven't even looked at my site for the past couple of weeks. In that time, much has transpired. Just to cover the bases - the Holohan's have been in South Africa for six weeks now, we have moved down the road in Tuckahoe to an apartment complex, my co-worker was fired, I sliced my wrist when a window broke and received four stitches, now I have an infection - not stitches - and can't work because of it. So, aside from our best friends moving to the dark continent, expenses because of work, not being able to work and therefore not able to make money, things are cool.
On the upside, I have begun a new book - The Moviegoer by Walker Percy. So far it's not too bad, as with most of his novels, the majority of the action takes place in main character's mind. One thing that has hit me so far is his notion of "the search." Binx Bolling, the main character, is an average guy living an average life with nothing in particular the drives him, just the everydayness of life. In the midst of his routine he has had a glimpse of this idea of a search. He defines it as "what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life." A litter further on he states that "to become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair." I guess that's where I am right now, more than aware of the possibility and definitely onto something. Who knows where we'll be next year. Suzy will finish her master's degree in May, I might get into a school for my doctorate, I may even be teaching - I guess it's all about the search...