Finally, I’m back in the city of angles. I’ve got photos from the last few days to upload and compile here but I’ll get to that later this week. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do in the meantime, as well as so many new ideas and plans. A few quick notes:

  • I carry a pen and notebook around with me all the time with the intent of jotting down ideas and I don’t use it enough. The last two weeks have reminded me how valuable that is, unfortunately not because of the ideas I wrote down but rather the ones I thought of, thought I should write down next time I had a chance (mostly when I wasn’t driving) and then forgot. I need to be more diligent about this.
  • Forced separation from the web reminds you how much you can get done, how much you can be inspired, and how what you actually enjoy in ways I can’t even describe. I’m making a commitment to myself to read some kind of fiction for at least an hour every day, as well as write something every day – even if I don’t publish it. It’s just a habit I need to have. Also, I realize I’ve fallen back into the e-mail thing a bit more than I want to admit, and I need to stop that. No more checking e-mail at all in the evening is my first step.
  • I’ve been using Facebook a hell of a lot recently, which is weird because pre-sxsw I wasn’t using it for anything but Scrabulous.
  • The best friends you can have in the entire world are the ones who are not afraid to kick you in the ass and remind you what is important. I consider myself endlessly lucky to have a few such friends and wouldn’t trade them for the world. One of the lowest points so far in 2008 was hearing from one of those people that they felt like we weren’t really friends anymore which isn’t the case at all and reminded me that I need to let the people who are important to me know it more often. I’d easily trade 10 friends who tell me I’m awesome because they think it’s what I want to hear for one telling me I suck if it’s how they actually felt.
  • We launched Soviet Unterzoegersdorf Metblogs!
  • Once again I’m promising myself to write/talk first and think about reactions later.
  • I’m loving my new tattoos.
  • I can’t believe I’m going be back in Berlin in 2 weeks. I also can’t believe how when I’m not in LA I start wondering what it would be like to live some other place and weighing out options and offers and how the second I step foot back here I instantly fall back in love and know that more than any other place in my life LA is home and while I can certainly see some situations where I’d be spending lots of time in some other places, I could never not have LA be home base.
  • I’m really excited to see a certain friend of mine taking the steps I know she needs to. It’s inspiring and makes me proud for some weird reason. I can’t wait to see what she does next, I know it’ll be awesome.

Ok that’s enough random ranting for the night. I’m finally home in my own bed, and need to go to sleep in it.