We’ll take two waters, one of them with vodka, please
Katie F —
I spent today at your apartment, so first off, thanks for that. I worked on an ephemeral message sharing web application. I was supposed to spend a little time doing that, and a little time working on a few other things, but I was having a hard time putting it down. I spent most of my time ignoring how potential users might use it, and focused on getting different parts to work. Releasing some sort of application that people can poke and prod has been a desire of mine for a long time.

I spent the day with Luna. She helped me write. I even took her for a walk when she was gracious enough to let me put on her leash. When I left to meet Maxy for lunch at La Mexicana (in Kentucky, not Ohio), she wouldn’t go in her cage, she tried to eat my shoes, and delighted in bolting around the apartment.

Although Cincinnati, OH was originally on my list, it got taken off when I thought that you would be moving out of the city. And then put back on when I found out you both would still be here, and I needed to kill some time in the Midwest before attending a wedding and then heading out to the colonies. It wasn’t until we went downtown to dinner at Taft’s Ale House and a cocktail at Sundry and Vice that I started to see Cincinnati for a city. The times prior that I’ve been, I was young, or playing ultimate frisbee (a harsh form of tourism is ultimate, as you travel everywhere and see nothing).

We spent time trying to track down our last eight New Year’s Eve celebrations, it was a reminder how important it is to make some documentation of the events you partake in, but to balance it with living the story rather than writing it (at least while it is taking place, I recognize the irony as I write this). I think one of the powers of social groups (humans might call it friendship) is that we form a collective memory. I loved, growing up, hearing from others about my parents, and grandparents. My parents couldn’t remember every story, but they probably had just as many as we have now. They didn’t have every picture, but they probably lived just as many “kodak” moments. Not every moment is worth remembering, not every meal is worth detailing, not every concert was worth hearing, but the ones that were. They have a way of making it back to light.


Someone has a photo, or a ticket stub; someone is telling their friends, is telling their neighbors. So, I think we should rejoice that we were able to figure out significant events with the power of thinking, and checking different photo albums online. We don’t all have a photo of each one, and yet, it still happened.

On a separate note, we watched an episode of Naked and Afraid where the contestants don’t make any money, they prance around nude on television, and hang out with a stranger, while trying not to starve to death. I found my calling. I will be finishing the final 21 days of my journey, naked and afraid.
Yours —
IAN
Noted:
- Today is the first day I’ve written code in over three months

