Sulphur and Endorphins

“I've, tried my best to leave... this all on your machine...”

Listening to Iron and Wine (yes, again) at 11:47pm -- and considering all
the possible reasons that most public clocks in Italy are stopped forever at
some obscure time like "3:01" or "8:42", why they will never see the hour
and minute hand converge, why they will never to let the left-over soup of
tourists and those in-transit know how many minutes late their ride home
is this time, as they suck down Marlboro Lights in 3 second-pulls.

Time has changed. Until now, I've been trying to keep the updates coming.
I was being really scientific about it, too. This is where I started, this is what
happened after, and this is what I expect next. Then sometimes I'd follow up.
Life no longer functions this way. So I'm going to stop keeping track and just pour.
Observe:

Yesterday, January 13, 2007, what should be the dead of winter, I was two
hours northeast of Rome right outside one of the victims of World Word II,
the bomb-pocked medieval village of Viterbo. I didn't spent much time in the
village. My sister, Ed and I went almost directly to the "Terme" or baths.
Post-volcanic, free-for-all outdoor Jacuzzi. I boiled in sulfur for a
long-lazy afternoon, in water that the earth has been spitting up since
Dante Alighieri.



I've been in Europe for almost three months now. And I'm not settled in. We
are always waiting for something. Internet. A job. A cheaper room to rent. A
visitor. This past weekend was one of the few times I've taken to stop
thinking for a second. Ho fatto un po' di relax.

And i've finally been able to. I have a job. Jessica doesn't, anymore. But
that is OK. We have internet. HSBC seems to have restored our money to us.
My birthday is in a week. Today, as Jess and I walked home from the train
station after a lovely lunch with Valentina-- I was hit with a good feeling,
a bit of a wave the way it came over me, that I was very happy to be where I
was, happy to have Jess with me, and yeah-- life is difficult, trains show
up late, buses take hours to arrive and nobody owns a schedule, we lose jobs
as soon as we get them, our landlord is ripping us off, Telecom Italia is
ripping us off, we've been cheated and swindled, disappointed and frustrated
-- but yesterday it was January and I went swimming, and as of right now,
12:09am, 3:01, 8:42... right now, I am contentissima.