Citizen Reporter

I didn’t think it was possible for Jetleg to get worse, but mine has. So naturally instead of trying to sleep, i spent time doing work, messing up my blog, posting a new videoblog, and finally finishing Jamie’s book, Envy the Rain.

Jamie handed me his book during one of our dinner’s in the East Village during my still fresh-in-my-mind visit. I was very excited, having met Jamie a little over a year ago, it seemed like we were good friends right from the beginning. During that same period when I met him here in Amsterdam, he told me about his book. And although I had read some rave reviews and love the man’s blog, I held out til I arrived in the US to get the book and start reading.

Shocking as it may sound, it normally takes me months to finish a book. I read a chapter per night, or less. This manner of reading usually leads me to lose interest or forget where I was anyway. But with this book it was differentl; perhaps because I know him in real life, or because I read the blog regularly, or maybe just because it was so well written, I could barely put it down since day 1.

As I read about his trials and tribulations, there were so many familiar themes and scenery: new jersey, new york city, amsterdam, paris, and of course – a troubled love life. Not that my personal life looks anything like the one presented in the book, but as I read it… I felt like it was me… Is there any clinical term for that? Sympathy pains? Empathy? Whatever the reason, I somehow felt a sense of comradery and commiseration with Jamie. I’m not even positive those two adjectives describe the feeling, but i think it was related.

Beyond the emotional connection, as a brother who has lived in Amsterdam for going on four years, taking occasional trips to Paris, I felt his descriptions for the sites, sounds, and smells of the two cities was in tune with mine. He captured much of what I love about this city in a only a few chapters, which made me feel even more connected with the story.

That’s pretty much my bookreview. I don’t have a powerful conclusion to inspire you with or wrap it up in a neat little bow. I would say that instead of browsing the corporate shelves of whatever mega book store, head over to the known universe and pick this book up. Tell ’em bicyclemark sent ya.

Now I can go back to not finishing books.

I cruise around the US capital with my buddy D-Rock behind the wheel and we discuss important and unimportant issues like two old creepy guys.

AudioCommunique #91(mp3)
34min+, 80kbps, 20Mb+

Discussed:

Me at newark airport about to leave
Drock in the Zipcar
Soundseeing in the heart of the District
The perpetual campaign problem
congress and reform
fiddling with XM radio
my cab ride
an inpromptu debate about free trade and movement of jobs, which I seem to have lost and ends abruptly because we arrived at our destination suddenly.

music:

I’m from New Jersey song
Postal Service – The district sleeps tonight
Interpol – Evil

It is apparently still jesus’s birthday today, if you’re into western mythology as much as I am. And like so many families, mine too has its get togethers here in New Jersey, where family and friends sit down at a table together and eat food and talk about things. Being the debate and dicussion magnet that I am, you can imagine that every year some kind of debate breaks out at the table where I’m arguing one unpopular opinion against someone else arguing another. Being the younger generation, you can also imagine my opinion is usually a progressive, pinko-communist, radical, leftist one. But this tradition gets me thinking….

Remember that famous quote, maybe from Churchill, that says something like anyone below the age of 30 that isn’t a liberal (that poor misused word) has no heart, and anyone above the age of 30 who isn’t a conservative has no brain? – Well I think of that quote alot. I look at those around me and my own behavior, and I ask myself – has our rhetoric changed? Am I becoming more conservative as I age? Are they? The answer, by-and-large, is NO. I’m, in fact, just as radical and idealistic as I was back when I first awoke from my teenage political sleep.

However I do detect another change taking place. With each passing holiday meal, and plane ride to wherever, I may in fact be getting sloppier with my arguments and – what scares me most – is that I get lost in my own point. This from allegedly well educated and articulate me. -Who blogs everyday.
-Who was instrumental in the founding of pod-journalism.
-Who claims to be a world citizen….

It could just be overeating and excessive northeast travel that is getting to me… but those are my thoughts. -Happy festivus all ye little who’s in who-ville.

Just arrived back from DC, and I have plenty to talk about, but zero time to spare. I actually have a work deadline for tomorrow and I won’t be sleeping tonight. The fun-filled DC stories will come later tonight, for now I’m still reminiscing and looking over photos from my visit to Philly and how nice it was. Here are some photos to tythe ye over:

Leah and I riding bikes back from her work across from the Eastern State Pen.


The three men that gave me shelter, love, and internet during my time in philly.