Obviously, I haven't posted anything in a while. At some point, your new environment doesn't seem new anymore, and you no longer feel the need to indirectly tell everyone that something happened. I'd much rather have an actual conversation with someone.
Since my last post:
The bike has been awesome, but it's currently inoperable. I'm becoming quite a gearhead. I have removed the entire engine (long story as to why) and am overhauling the carburetors. It's fun, but I can't wait to be riding again (especially before it starts getting cold). It should run even better when I finally get everything back together!
My girlfriend of ~10 months, Kathy, will be moving in with me soon. It's exciting, scary, comforting, and disconcerting. Maybe it's finally time to be an adult. What it basically comes down to for me is that she's practically living with me anyway, and we can both save a lot of money in a very expensive city. Sorry if that kills the romance for anyone. She's also a really awesome girl.
I have been refreshing myself on Spanish lately and am probably as close to fluent as I have ever been. That is not to say that I can actually understand any of the Spanish I hear around here. But I could tell them that I don't like taxis and would prefer to take the subway. Or that I don't like milk in my coffee.
On that note, I just started learning French, too. Kathy and I are making plans to go to Paris next year sometime, and I would like to be able to speak some. They're not paying me for this, but I highly recommend the
Pimsleur language programs. I used to think I sucked at foreign languages, but I'm realizing that sitting around memorizing vocabulary and verb conjugations eliminated any chance I had of actually learning something.
My job is going OK. I'm finally getting the hang of it, but I can't say I'm passionate about it. The pay and the cool co-workers make it bearable, though. I'm still struggling with staying in a boring but stable and responsible career versus doing something completely stupid and exciting. If I don't post again within 3 hours, I ran away on my motorcycle and am writing a novel while sitting on a ledge in Machu Picchu.
