It's 9am. I'm sitting in a booth at Burger King in Redwood City, eating my breakfast, typing into a laptop, and waiting for the smog check on my Integra to be finished. This is the first time I've ever done this. I couldn't imagine myself laptop-ing in a fastfood restaurant a month or two ago...

On Fri nite, I finally saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Weddings. I've been to more weddings to date than most of you. When I was young, my dad did on-location special occasion photography on the side, on the weekends. I was his assistant. I carted his camera cases, tripods, umbrellas, backgrounds, etc. on dollies to and from the locations the festivities occurred. I loaded and unloaded the film in his Hassselblad cameras. Eventually, I was also allowed to snap a few candid shots, which sometimes made it into our clients' photo albums. I was so proud.

I saw so much during these shoots. Many different kinds of ethnic celebrations. Quinceaneras, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs... Many different traditions. Many different ways to celebrate a wedding. You could tell which ones the people involved had gone all out on, and which ones were thrown by cheap bastards who were just going through the motions. There were young brides and old brides. Long, religious ceremonies, and quick, get-to-the point non-religious ones. Old-fashioned and conservative, or contemporary and open-minded. Beautiful, colorful, minimalistic, frilly, or gaudy. Huge families, many friends, and small, lonely gatherings. Close-knit, loving, loud, warm, and or cold, distant, quiet, dry families... And everything in between.

Watching the fanfare, seeing and capturing the emotions in people's faces, witnessing and feeling their anxiety, hope, love, etc... I never did really want the same for myself. The gravity of the intentions of the two people at the forefront of all the hoopla was always in the back of my mind. An unpopular teenager, I couldn't imagine myself ever with a partner, much less finding one I could or would want to stay with "until death do us part"...

Now back to the weekend... Chilled in the City on Saturday. Went in search of a jacket/coat. Came up empty-handed. But a sunny-not-so-cold-and-windy day in the City is never a waste of time. Saw many dogs being walked. At nite, met more Cornell alums. I know quite a few now.

Sunday nite, I carved a pumpkin. It turned out better than I thought it would. This is probably the extent of my involvement in this holiday this year. I'd planned on dressing up, goth-skater-punk'd out, as Avril Lavigne... and traipsing up to the Castro this year on Halloween nite. But I never got around to buying the few but necessary pieces to create her look. All I really wanted was to wear a number of those black leather cuffs covered with silver spikes on my wrists.

I want to make a trip down to LA again soon, before the year is out. The person of my past who continues to come up in my mind from time to time, Brian, is down there. I'd like to see how he's doing. For no other reason than to check in and continue to follow his life, clued in with accurate information... the same way I check in on my family. I do that almost weekly now.

I've been talking about them a lot lately... mom and dad. I've been seeing them a lot more frequently. Since becoming single, I've had more time to do the things I know I should make a priority, that I'd regret greatly someday if I didn't do...