Random

Three great things about yesterday:

1. I became an uncle for a secound go-around (smile).  Kyle Austin made me an uncle first three years ago, and he’s as great as ever–only now he has a new role as big brother to (fanfare noises) Justin Magnus Ritterbush.  I know–Magnus!  How cool is that?  I guess a little of my eccentricity has rubbed off on my brother.  Don’t worry, Justin: in a few years, Lord willing, you’ll have cousins named Ransom Jack and Asher Burden, and then you’ll think your middle name downright normal compared with these (grin).

2. I believe my friends ValMoon and Brad the Fox were wedded somewhere down in the DR.  Which means last night was probably pretty darn crazy.  Oh, don’t give me that look!–we were all thinking it…

3. I discovered that my friend Matty and I have a peculiar talent–we are rainmakers.  Instead of the Native American dancing ritual, we need but go hiking and we can make a thunderous downpour appear out of nowhere.  Anytime we set our heart to climb up to Buzzard’s Point, we end up doused by precipitation (grin).  But I was very thankful–Matty is a darn good friend, you all should know, and I appreciate his wisdom and frankness.  Thanks for the talk, bro.

Okay, I’ll add one more: last night I thought about renting a movie or trying to find something to do, but decided at last just to sit down and read.  I wanted some adventurous tale to read, so I picked a few unknown novels off the shelves at my pad here and started into one: Jack London’s The Sea Wolf.  A hand-me-down from my parents’ bookshelves, I think, since there’s no McKay’s Used Bookstore sticker on it.  It’s really good thus far–well written, I have been quite impressed at the clarity of thought in it.  That Captain Wolf Larsen is one serious, godless, semi-crazy cat, let me tell you!  He’s a consistent atheist…anyone read it before?