so, austin. and colombians*. and new year's.

whoa.

things are fantastic, thanks for wondering. sorry for the blog silence. it's been all i can do to keep my liver working these past few days. we've been celebrating, but hard, since we got here, and that means drinking, dancing, eating, and repeating as necessary. and these colombians, from the looks of it, believe in the necessity of lots of repeating.

but i have done some more tangibly productive things since i got here on monday night. (i would take it back to where we last left this neglected little blog, in ohio on saturday night, but the drive was more or less uneventful, and thankfully more smooth than less. i will make the following comments about the drive: 1) arkansas is boring; 2) bill clinton comes from a podunk town (i know since i drove by it); 3) seeing people smoke cigarettes at gas stations mere feet from the pumps is a terrifying, startling and thrilling experience. more about it in a blog soon to be blogged on a blog near you.) we hung out at cat's house monday night, and then on tuesday went to buy party supplies--hats, honkers, banners, poppers, and the new-year's like--for the big fiesta. also, we went to sign my lease and pick up the keys to my apartment. it's small but cute. just the right size for just me, and it's in a great part of town, right by the ut (u of texas) campus. i've still got to buy furniture and stuff, but that's for today and tomorrow and the weekend. i'll probably move in (i.e., out of cat's house) on sunday, with any luck. tomorrow i've got my interview at manos de cristo, the non-profit i've been talking to for awhile now about a job, and hopefully things will stay on the right track there, too.

so you'll hear no complaints from the tooks on the austin experience so far. i'm still in the burbs right now, and so i've seen lots of freeway, but what i've seen of the city seems very nice indeed. i'll try to keep blogging on a more frequent basis to keep you all posted on my impressions of the city, and on when you should make plans to move here.

my new year's love to all, and hope you're not feeling last night too much when you read this. my phone number's still the same, everyone, so feel free to give me a holla. i meant to give you all a call last night, but i only managed to talk to marissa before my phone went all tweaky on me. but i'll be in touch during these next few days just to say hi and happy new year. here's a shout to central ma and the following families: ruderman, stein, enlow, reville/perkins, athy, huppert, rosales, braun, fishman, gemma, manasra, and de santis. let's stay together, you guys. whether times are good or bad, happy or sad.

croon al green with me,
TR

[*for those of you not yet in the know, the colombians are my girlfriend's (whose name is cat) family, both immediate and extended. and during these functions, everyone gets down. even grandma. actually, especially grandma.]