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Funeral Blues
W. H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

The DC trip was a rousing success. Michela and I drove down Thursday afternoon through hardly any traffic, and had a fun chill evening with Josh, who played way too many Paramore videos for us. Then it was up early, drop the MCATeer off at the med library, and sit in a wee glass room and wait for the interview fun to begin. The tour was a joke — I’m spoiled as I spent many years on campus — but the people we met, particularly Donna Sullivan, were fantastic. I got a great picture of what medical school at GU would be like. Plus, the interview was laid back and fun, and the weater was gorgeous. It was so nice to be back in Georgetown …

After that, it was a big ol’ BBQ dinner in Arlington with the Spenners, the Tants, the Stroineys, the Palmas, a Bueno, a Newman, a Canary, a Shnek and a Williams, and a Tom and some Rob and Marissa. Poor Michela, stuffed into a back room with 17 years of my history. She did well, though Mindi had cougar claws on for some reason.

Some more quality time with Josh, and then it was up early for a nice walking tour of the Mall. Michela had never been to DC, so the proper thing was to play host. Of course, there are so many new things there (the WWII memorial, the Korean War memorial) that I was quite excited as well. The pics are pretty good. Then, a traffic-free scoot back up to NYC and Bob’s your uncle, back home.

Now that you’ve heard about it, go check out the pictures!

And then, on Monday, I got to meet the foster kittens. Four of the sweetest wee things on the planet. And I get to visit and rile them up and then leave so they keep their foster mommy up all night. Sweet! I only wish they’d stay kittens for longer …

… since I figure that even though I’m going down to DC today for a few-day trip, there’s a ton of snow down there and the trees are shy. Still, it may be warm on Saturday, so there’s hope. Haven’t been showered with pink petals in years.

Why DC? Well, tomorrow I’ve got an interview at the Georgetown Universty School of Medicine. It’s my alma mater, I was there seom ‘91 to ‘95, so I figure I definitely want to talk to them. Plus, Joe’s family was so helpful during the application process … thanks Joe! 

Another reason? Michela’s never been to DC, and she can visit some friends and tour museums (of which she’s fond) while I tour the hospital and get grilled in my monkey suit. Plus, it’s high time she met some of the Bardonians and Ducksters.

We’re leaving in a few hours, wish us safe travels … and I should have pics posted up when we get back! If you’re in the area, we’re doing a dinner reunion thing at Tallula’s in Arlington on Friday, around 6:30p. Come on by!

this morning, sonny and i followed ali out to the marine post, for a short am workout. these marines must be suffering — they can’t get out for a decent run due to security concerns, and their treadmill is for the birds. they’ve got a nice set of free weights tho!

we came back to the heavenly smell of fresh-baked muffins. thanks, mum and cris! tasty, too. a relaxing, slow morning, getting ready to go back to the holy sepulchre for owen and jacob’s blessing. father luke, the sardonic franciscan placed in the holy sepuchre (he’s hilarious, and a good, good man; he has some interesting takes on the other churches sharing the space), did the blessing. troy and kath, godparents for jake, and pat and mindi, godparents for owen, stood for the ceremony. there were fantastic readings from the bible, and from william blake, and children’s stories.

after the blessing we went over to the monastery for a bit of shopping, then grabbed some of the (2nd?) best shawarma in jerusalem. mmm. i could eat this stuff forever. from there we met father luke again, and walked the stations of the cross in reverse. we got a lot of history on each station, and there were readings from the guidebooks where appropriate. when we finished up we said goodbye to father luke; some of us went over to notre dame (!) to prepare for the dinner party, and some of us went back to the house for mum and the boys (and jackets, and party favors, etc etc). cris and kath and i went back to the house, and stopped for a bit of shopping — cris and i were stunned as kathleen haggled with the shopowner for a pair of leather sandals. she’s a natural!

the party was for jake’s 1st bday ever, and for st. patty’s day. we all got lei’d, and battled the kids with the noisemakers, and had some wine, and had some great food … an amazing time. happy birthday jake!

quote of the day, from kath: “cris, the only name you haven’t said is mindi. are you sure she’s in the other car?”

i got a great compliment from cris — “matt has embraced his inner israeli.” i did a bunch of driving today, and i think i’m good at it … being a new yawka, jersualem has held few surprises for me as a driver. fun stuff.

up at a reasonable hour on tuesday (7am!) for a drive out to ein gedei – a spa on the dead sea. we popped out to the back where there were two lovely tubs of mud available. cris, pat and i got out their first, and i was *ahem* lucky enough to snap a few shots of their frolicking. frolick, gentlemen, frolick! the others came out and then there was generaly dirtiness — with the goal being lustrous skin and a new sheen to the pelt, er, hair. the mud was cold, very very cold, but that didn’t stop us from a bit of mudwrestling.

you’re supposed to let it dry, but the cold winds cut it short a bit — so it was a good idea to hit the sulfur showers. it was *not* a good idea to get any hot sulfur water in the eyes. into the spa to shower and back to the resort, pack up, and off.

we stopped at a macdonald’s .. fascinating, it was very similar to the ones back home. although the counter worker had a new and interesting way of taking and managing orders. on the road again, back to jerusalem, for lunch at the consulate.

we met the folks our hosts work with, and heard all sorts of interesting stories, including the one about the poorly-made grenade being thrown over the wall and sitting there for months — it landed in a tree, and the dogs couldn’t sniff it out. when it was found, the israeli bomb squad came … one israeli specialist walked up, looked at it, and kicked it. the marines all took a big step back. turns out it was a big ol’ dud — still, yet another new and interesting way to do something!

we had the bestest armenian pizzas and palestinian pizzas (both are called sfiha), some of laila’s homemade hummous, some yummy shatta (made from peppers) … and got to take it all home for us. which was great, as dinner was about 3 hours later (pasta and meatball spice). we had a speaker, who told us about the early situtation of the iraq invasion, and how the US markets itself to the local communities in places like israel and iraq.

quote of the day: “this invasion will be business casual”

so where were we? oh yeah:
- the czech got married last weekend, which means bardo was in town, drama and joy and dancing and drinking and puppies were to be had by all! look here for pictures as soon as i can get around to it.
- miss esquire was in the DR, and got back on wednesday, browner than a nut with bikini lines, with all sorts of fun stories and insect bites. ask her about mud jeep wrassling, her fondness for the french, and greasy broccoli. you won’t regret it, though she may …
- two weeks later, ESAR is alive and well and boonches of us gathered for a picture fest at the ritz on tuesday. i now have literally hundreds of photos, none of which are nearly embarassing enough. of course i’m buried under photos at the moment, so give me some breathing room to sort them all out …
- rode to PA last night on the VFR, spent 15 minutes, and came right back. because …
- she’s getting prepped for my track days next week at beaverun, with jiffy! you can bet it’ll take a sandblaster to remove the permagrin after two days of pure (yet sedately controlled, mom) adrenaline ….
- and immediately following that, should all my tupperware be intact, i zip up to new hampshire with some brooklynites for 3 days of mountainous riding with the vifferisti — yep, it’s the latest WDGAH! maybe after a few track days i can keep up with the gps-geezers, but i kinda doubt it …

so i know i’ve beaten this drum before, but i’ve got to bring it up again. i was downblue for a bit some months back, and was talking with disco about it. here’s a direct quote:

Here is a little exercise for you: Think of a time period in your life when everything went your way, when life seemed to offer you choices, not compromises. You aren’t supposed to focus on a single day, such as the day you graduated college or a great Christmas, etc, but on a season when everything seemed to fall effortlessly into place. What was it about that time that was so great – was it good friends? Life choices? Seemingly endless possibilities? A solid partnership? Most people when asked this question have similar patterns, mostly, and maybe surprisingly it is a full life- friends, a support group, interesting hobbies, and love of their job …

this summer’s definitely turned around. yeah, there are problems and issues, and even these past few weeks have had challenges (from annoying to seemingly cataclysmic), and drama, and rough patches, but … i definitely feel like i’m in a good season. effortless isn’t how it’s been exactly, but no doubt i’ll romanticize it as such a few years down. life is full, life is friends, life is two wheels, life is folks, life is laughter, life is good …