yesterday i saw my brand-new nephew, new to the world for just two days now.. even though my fondness for children has been on the wane lately due to my attentions having been captured elsewhere, he conjured up anew in me all the latent instinctual adoration, just by being tiny, fragile, and human. welcome, jovan, to the world!

the cover story of the current issue of the willamette week should be familiar to the oldest of us (i guess that’s just you and me anymore, scott) – it details the death, by her own hand, of our classmate and friend boris dolin’s older sister. she was my older sister’s friend, too; my parents and brother went to the same gym as she did and saw her often. she was manic depressive, and the disease finally won.

i got a reminder, too, while i was visiting my new nephew, how all things in life come and go, but no matter how ‘over’ anything may seem, it never really is. so, hey, if you’re reading this, drop me a line. i’ve got a bottle of wine with our name on it, and ron stein still plays every sunday night.

[aside: the voice on the other end of the telephone, while remitting an absolutely bizarre request, sounded awful, too; entirely gone was the old-time lyricism and joie de vivre. i really hope i'm not such a monster, in the general sense, that i naturally invoke that kind of distress and nonsense in people. that would be ... a bummer. : ) unless i could control it...hmm....]