7000 pushups

has it been a year already?
i'm still piecing together all of these 'goodbye' parties that i've had. Really some wonderful memories with those people. And then dreading going back home to the madness that would be the summer of 2010. The madness and sadness of leaving, but never really saying goodbye. It was a summer of love last year, one we'll try to remember through our ages.
These days, i'm still settling in, but more like hitting the ground running or just hitting the ground and eventually rolling. Rocks still come to trip me up, but the long road lies ahead.
Trying so hard these days to immerse myself into the work so that i can keep some of the homesickness and loneliness at bay. The weekends can be unbearable, i still dread them most days.
But the crew here is getting ever closer, bound by music and poker, over bbq ribs and under the rain. Its becoming a family that i hope will last at least as long as LEGO pieces stay solid (obligatory i know).
Of course I'm making the best of it! Life is forever an adventure, and i may be that nomad who finds his solace on top of mountains, in front of seas and in the midst of millions of people. I have a place to call home, but as the days pass it slowly slips away leaving me but a citizen of the world...and so - forward I stride.

Ha! Last year i was sticking it out at the hotel svanen eating ramen dinners (those now relegated to late stays at work). I desperately waited for Yvonne's calls and frantically woke at the crack of dawn to put on my headset before work. I really miss those days already. I charged myself 7000 pushups for the 35 days in solitary confinement (With 10 days of conjugal visit -=D). Two hundred a day on average, making up what i missed on the following day or days. It wasnt uncommon to have to do 800 in a day or worse, but they got easier.

I watched Casablanca twice yesterday, more and more gut-wrenching each minute to tell the truth. But there i found a kindred spirit in Rick, the guy left in the rain with a comical look on his face. In my case, i was the one that left, but that doesnt matter. I also aspired to be this imperfect character, flawed and hopeless; clinging on to happier times while sticking his neck out for no one-at least he made it seem so. Maybe i could be strong enough to think for everyone, to let the captain sign the papers and make up lies to get people on the plane.

This is what this time does to you though, looking for ridiculous parallels to incredibly nonsensical, over dramatized stories. I'm so glad i have work to go to! (Today was spent rolling a car around the office back and forth along with serious debates on aesthetics and building very slowly as to get it 'just right).

Its so strange, back home in 3 weeks. Its gonna be a LONG 3 weeks. Deadlines, side trips, moving. Easy pickins, 200 pushups a day and making up for it on the weekends. 7000 again? i've already lost count, but at least 2000 so far.