Today is the first day of parade season for Mardi Gras 2005. It is also overcast and rainy. But I'm sure le bon temps will surely roulez...

On other fronts, I as you can see by the delay I continue to struggle with access to technology and editorial uncertainty. An essay I intended to post still seems entirely too personal, especially after I last wrote about MLK. I'm going to post the essay eventually but I need to ease into it. I'd certainly appreciate any input about where you'd like me to take things. Do you like esoteric musings on current goings-on or would you like me to rummage through my innermost thoughts? Or both? Or neither? Let me know.

In the meantime, I'm pleased to report that two of best friends have managed to have daughters exactly one year apart! What a coincidence! Well, maybe not so much. But I appreciate having one date to remember for birthdays. And I can shower them both with garnets! My own birthday has just past and a few friends' dates approach. Birthdays are a good time to reflect upon life and oneself. My life right now does not reflect my adolescent or early adult projections. I am, as I already remarked, back at home in a transitory professional phase with a great deal of uncertainty about where life will take me personally or professionally. Do I stay or go? I find myself asking that question a lot--literally and metaphorically. And I usually come up without an answer. At the same time, I am finally feeling comfortable in my own skin making it easier for me to re-examine a lot of issues I hadn't been able to address objectively before. I think my quarter-life crisis may have plateaued. Perhaps happiness is right around the corner.