Ladies and gentleman, the week of my farewell is finally upon us. Hold up, don’t get the wrong idea, the blog will be trudging along. Not only will I be finally leaving for Colombia but this Wednesday, March 31st will be my last day working for NASDAQ. Am I disappointed, sure. My true source of income will be null until I find another job. Thankfully, NASDAQ is treating me nicely and I can easily survive for quite awhile before I have to find something else. As mentioned, I also say farewell because on Friday, April 2nd, I will be departing for Bogota, Colombia for a three week vacation. As far as I’m concerned it’s well deserved. The last time I left the country was to watch my brother compete in Canada (which doesn’t really count, although there was that whole passport dilemma) and prior to that was the time I spent in New Zealand (which feels like centuries ago). I have to say I haven’t exactly done a ton of research for the trip, although I did watch Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations: Colombia” which gently informed me, that should I choose, I can dine on pig ears.
As for the blog, my loyal readers, I am very happy to tell you that it will not stop while I am away. You will see your weekly events schedules for LA and SF as well as the scheduled two book reviews a week. I am going to try and enlist my brother to update my twitter so the people who use that for notification will know when the new posts are up. And don’t worry, I won’t actually be doing the writing when I’m in Colombia (I say that now), instead I will truly be vacationing. Although, I am sure that I will be reading quite a bit and visiting any and all book stores I come across. So don’t be too surprised if you see a rogue post in there sometime.
Before I go I would like to mention a few things. This past week sucked. Not the whole week, just Monday through Friday. You would think that with my upcoming trip, a new phase of my life beginning and so much to look forward to that wouldn’t be the case. But, it was. There were tears (not my own), a goodbye or two, deep discussions (oddly enough none of them, yes more than one and with more than one person, were on the phone or in person, damn you internet), high emotions, promises made (that I regret making) and several instances where my newly acquired optimistic attitude smacked me in the face. I’m fed up with a lot of other shit but in the end it doesn’t matter and you don’t want to hear it. I’d like to think I’ll come home from my little soiree and all will be well… we’ll see.
And with that, I bid you aideu and I will see you again the last week of April.
Monday, March 29th
@ 730
- Arthur Phillips, author, will be at Pegasus Books in Berkeley reading from his latest novel The Song Is You. The book clearly has something to do with songs and such as is almost to be expected with a novel about songs is love. Ahh, that word, how it makes me feel….
Friday, April 2nd
- Yours truly, want to be writer and unemployed student of the world, will be on an airplane headed to Colombia where I will indulge in… (whatever your dreams desire).
Saturday, April 3rd
@ 3pm
- Gordon Edgar, cheese connoisseur, will be at Omnivore Books in San Francisco discussing his book Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge. In case you were wondering TheFreeDicitionary.com defines “Cheesemonger” as “a person dealing in cheese, butter, etc.” More than guide book apparently Mr. Edgar goes in depth into the field of cheese. Mr. Edgar is the “cheesemonger” for San Francisco’s pretty awesome Rainbow Grocery and in his book tells tales of cheese and his interesting industry. If you’re a cheese fan this may be kind of interesting for you.
Sunday, April 4th
@ 4pm
- Hugh Raffles, author, professor and insectologist will be at Mrs. Dalloway’s in Berkeley reading from his latest book Insectopedia. I’m not huge on insects, they don’t really bother me but would I want to be around them all day everyday, no. This book on the other hand looks pretty rad. It’s a series of vignettes that depict “a mesmerizing exploration of history and science, anthropology and travel, economics, philosophy, and popular culture that shows how insects have triggered our obsessions, stirred our passions, and beguiled our imaginations.” Sorry, didn’t feel like summarizing or restating, quotes work better anyways.
