Ensconced now in beautiful Fort Greene Brooklyn, one of the best neighborhoods around; all brownstones and creole glory. It's Monday before election and everyone is a bit nervous, but possibly excitedly nervous. Butterflies before a big event.

I saw some theater and had a moment of gastric nirvana, talked pretty late into the night about the coming new world. Today I'm a bit more weary and my thighs are sore as hell -- an alleged outbreak of dirty dancing back at the party after depositing the sister on Saturday night -- but my thinking is that the only way is to move forward and push on through. Can't stop the machine or the machine breaks down.

While I'm certainly burning the candle from both ends (and melting through the middle) that's sort of the point here, elevating my existence, raising my game. There's just something so irreplaceable about the energy here. I feel confident, stronger, clearer. Gonna have to figure out how to visit a lot more often I think.

NYC continues to be a hell of a wild run. I managed a small rally for Halloween after nearly crashing and burning after running our of PlaneSleep energy, made it out into the world. The old neighborhood is indeed changing, though as they say the more things change the more things stay the same.

Bea's diner was closed on health code violations, and the sketchy bar on driggs is shut down -- bricked up the doorway and turned it into an apartment by the looks of things. Fine dining encroaches ever further -- high quality coffee window, beautiful cranberry-haired women slinging cappucino -- and McCarin park is enclosed by highrise condos on two sides now.

Last night I ran with the sister-pal, who's soon to be a Master of the fine arts (I remain a contented Bachelor, natch), and after reliving Pete's Candy Store of most of a bottle of scotch and entertaining a few guests, we went to a party which was literally next door to the house on Humboldt and Devoe where we used to have many friends, held a back-yard Axiom, etc.

It's a good world, here.

A fantastic journey so far.

• Emergency exit row is key. Sitting next to some guy haxing Python too. I was already sleepy and wanted to maximize that, but it was neat to fly along side a fellow traveler.
• Emerging into the new JetBlue terminal at JFK, it's a pretty grand entrance. They've taken over the old TWA terminal 5 and are doing Ildewild proud. It's futuristic, and seems like the kind of place you might go just for a drink (if you could). Second best way to arrive next to Grand Central.
• I love the early AM A-train to L; full of kids on their way to high school. The fusion of hip hop and hipsterdom is in full force with the 15 to 18 set, so expect more of that.
• As planned, I roll out at Lorimer, take in the remodled Kellog diner and massive amounts of new construction, laugh, jump into the natural food store for a Kambucha (gotta keep the immune system up) and walk over to Atlas, which has also gotten a facelift (and some italians), where there are almost as many WiFi hotspots as at my office.
• Here I will work away the day, hopefully picking up some keys soon enough to shower and maybe grab a nap before heading out into the all hallows night.

Woo!

I'm back in the old homestead. It turned out I did have some kind of flu back there in NYC. Suxxorz. I spent a couple days laid up at my sisters, which meant no socializing to speak of. My apologies to all the folks I missed. I'll be back, and I'll make it up.

Still, on Thursday I was feeling about 80% ok, and it was a beautiful day, and it made me realize how I do miss New York. There's something so very evocative about it as a place, makes a young man dream. Perhaps someday I'll make it back for another run at Glory.

For now, I'm totally exhausted and looking forward to a weekend of doing very little, though maybe some writing will be in order.

Well, I'm back in the Big City, trading off two days and a night in the air-conditioning of Bablylon -- corporate HQs, Chilli's bar'n'grill, hotel room, places where people are comfortable with a certain amount of bureaucracy -- for the kind of specific swelter that you only get when your rubbing up hot and raw against eight million or so of your fellow monkeys.

Indian Lake is burnin'
New York's skyline is hazy
The River Thames is turnin'dry
The whole world is a-blazin'

It actually made me sick. Maybe it was my cafeteria salad lunch, but when I got back to trendy trendy Williamsburg and Atlas Cafe, I started feeling ill. When I finally got up to walk to the park and lie down, I made it about a block and a half before bending over and puking down a storm drain. It all happened so fast, and I felt immediately better. So I called up Frank -- who this made me think of thanks to a little bit of shared history -- and drank 1.5L of new water in the park while relaxing sans-shoes and watching the McCarren pick-up softball practice (a random mix of Poles, Hipsters, Dominicans and Orthodox Jews, which made me happy).

New York seems good. The heat brings out some of the best, as does the cold. I suppose we thrive on adversity here. Inexplicably, I don't feel so outraged by hipsters here as opposed to San Francisco. They're less pretentious and somehow more butch; more beards and sweaty white t-shirts, less designer printed long-sleeves.

I'm looking forward to a few more days here and then another weekend in Weshaven. The way things are going, I'm gonna need it!

...adding, I seem to be running a persistent fever even now that it's cooled down and I'm all hydrated. That's not good, even if it does make me feel a little tripped-out. Now would not be a good time to succumb to some damn airplane flu. Bleah.

Some news! My sister (above) somehow scammed her way into this New York City diploma-mill popularly known as "Columbia University." Seriously though, this is exciting stuff. She's definitely moving out there along with her man Scott, and is still waiting to hear from some other schools, but Columbia's MFA Writing program is, as they say, prestigious. So things are looking good. I always knew she'd pass me on the achievement ladder one of these days, dammit.

Also, somewhat selfishly, this is a great reason to get back east more often. I can feel the sweet embrace of her couch already.

For my part, I spent Sunday - Wednesday down and back to the Bay area. It was all business, so not that much fun, but I got the work done and for the first time I tried my new plan of bringing the bike with me and using that to get around the city. Weather was lovely, and it worked out great until I got hit by a car in Oakland: some kid who was already fleeing a hit-and-run with a parked car. I'm fine and so's my machine, but it was close to being awful. Ironically, one of the bits of business I was dealing with was filing for our company health insurance. Cheap thrills.

On the five-hour drive back, I thought a lot about this whole urban/rural living thing I have going on. I've been missing NYC a lot lately, and I've also been pondering what it would take to make living here more sustainable. Girl(s), obviously, but there's also a level of peer-review that I miss, a community of people who I share some ambitions with.

It's proving harder to make those kinds of connections. I don't really do that well at meeting new people without a context, and it's a smaller pool. People seem private though. I don't know if it's just the way of country life, or if, as someone recently pointed out, there are proportionately more people here who are stoned out of their minds at any given point.

Back in the Golden State.

Well, it really does start to feel after my last visit that I might get sucked back into the NYC life. I don't know when or how, but it seems rather undeniable that the value of the peer community there is something I can't pass on in life.

For now, I'm happy to try and work out a bicoastal lifestyle. I don't want to move again; I just want to get back more often. I still want to continue putting down roots in the HC. It's got to be something beyond rambling this time.

That's a pretty lofty goal, but it's more real than owning land in the near to mid term. My ambitions are too impossibly large to be met in rural America. I can see a few ways this could all shake out, and I'm cautiously optimistic for now.

It's nice to be back in the land of ambition and public transport. I'm a little delirious from the over-night flight. It was some crazy United Luxury shit from LAX to JFK: a 757 with mostly 1st and biz-class seating with a little spit of 50 or so coach seats in the back, nowhere near full. They even gave out earplugs and eyeshades, but it still doesn't make 4 hours of half-sleep sitting up truly restful.

Damn. I used to be able to swing these things no problem. It's a little bewildering, makes me feel like a small-towner.

I made my way via the JMZ train to Atlas, an old haunt of mine with crazy wifi. I'm going to head into town shortly to check out the new Advomatic offices and maybe find a couch to nap on for 20 minutes.

Got the boys up here safe and had a productive Sunday doing finances -- expect a year-end report -- and some brainstorming for our big upcoming project.

I'm all packed now. Tomorrow we work the day on this stuff, then I get on an overnight flight to Nueva York. Got a lot to look forward to there, and I can't wait to dip my toe back into the swift city water.

Although there is big business on deck -- I'm getting my flight via a potential client -- I'm not bringing the Suit, but I am bringing all my new Humbolt Hipster/Edgy Biz-Cas stuff. I think that will work better for me.

I'm really stoked at how good the Sixto fundraiser is going. Really awesome to see how people are willing to help out, and that this stuff can totally work. I'll write more about why this is so good, maybe even on my work blog.

Just a quick one: wedding went well. Lots of compliments for my performance which is quite an honor. The families involved are both amazing, and all their contributions were above and beyond. It was a beautiful evening full of laughter, a few tears, and lots and lots of heartfelt love.

NYC in October is possibly my favorite place in the world to be. I'm still looking forward to getting back home and staying put for as many weeks in a row as I can put together, but I'm glad I had this experience to remind me why I love the city and to make me want to come back.

I think we'll just have to be wildly successful and open an office here. It's really the only option.