Going to Berlin

I leave for Berlin at 7:30 p.m. tonight. Everyone keeps asking if I'm excited and I have to feign a level of excitement I feel they expect. It's not that I'm not excited, I just don't know what to expect, and haven't even realized I'm actually going yet. I never really get excited until I actually see the city spreading out below me, or have been there before and can anticipate what I'm in store for. I am very curious, and very ready to go somewhere new. I'm excited about that. I haven't gone anywhere since 2002, and have never been to Berlin, or Vienna, where we're spending half our time, even though I sort of speak the language. We'll see how much I actually speak, vs. what I think I speak.

And as excited as I am to be going somewhere new for a little while, getting away from work and boring Nova, I know I'll miss all my friends here. It's always that way, I see so much of them that when I don't see them I kind of go through withdrawal. I wish we were all going together. And it's hard to believe I won't be able to call them up, or let them know what I'm thinking at a given moment. I know it's only 10 days, and I will be with one of my friends, will be so busy doing and seeing new things that I won't have a minute to spare, that's not entirely true, I'll be doing these things and thinking of them, too. So, if you're reading this and you're one of my friends, know that despite the tons of fun I will be having, I'll think of you too.

And that clock to my left? That's what time it is where I am, and I'll be back the 27th, so you can think of me too, and anticipate my return. A parade would be nice.