Author: Brian

I’ve been wanting to post this for a while but, as you may know, I’ve been out of the country and limited on bandwidth.

Tomorrow I’ll go back into the archives and see if I made resolutions last year, and if so, how well (or poorly) I succeeded.

Tonight I want to list some of my goals for the coming year. Goals, not resolutions. I’m going to work towards these, and see how I do, and continually re-evaluate whether or not they’re realistic, and be ready to change them if circumstances change. It’s the latest fashion in scientific thinking, for, oh, about the last couple thousand years. Just a blip on the geologic time scale, really.

Health

• I’m going to reach my goal weight of 165 lb this year, and work to maintain it. That corresponds to about a 25 BMI (Body Mass Index), which is still technically overweight, but would be healthy for me, I think. Thin, but healthy.
• I intend to cut at least 3 minutes from my best-ever 5K race time, and best-ever 10K race time. That would put me at about an 8:00/mile pace (5K) and about a 9:00/mile pace (10K) I think. Just off the top of my head, anyway.
• I’m going to learn how to say no to dessert. At least, that’s the goal.

Financial

• I’m going to continue to work towards being completely debt-free. I might be able to make it this year. I’ll have to run the numbers to see for sure. Expect a follow-up post on this.
• I’m going to publish at least three books in 2008: a novel, a book of short fiction, and a book of short non-fiction/essays. I may self-publish, or submit to publishers, or offer them for download, or some combination of all three options. Whatever. I’m going to put my writing out there and see how it does.
• I’m going to be happy with my work. This may mean finding a new job, or learning to love what I’m doing at the county, or supplementing what I’m doing with the county with other more fulfilling work (see above about publishing)… or something else. But I can’t keep hating 40+ hours of my week. That’s killing me.

Personal

• I’m going to set goals for learning how to talk to anyone at any time. I’m going to study how others do it and spend time with them, and I’m going to put myself out there on a regular basis. Right now that means a minimum of 3 times per week for at least 2 hours per each (or at least as often as I go running). Seems a reasonable goal to me.
• I’m going to learn something completely new to me. Take a class, self-study, who knows? Maybe I’ll try my “read a different magazine every month” thing I tried a few years ago. But I’m going to expand my brain.

That seems a good start. Now I have to get busy…

Just landed in Portland.

Many, many thanks to Athena, Kevin and Tracy (in alphabetical order). Plus Tracy has been re-posting my email updates here, at my request. Having limited bandwidth sucks. But I’m back in the land of infinite texts and ubiquitous Internet. Whom-to-the-HOOTY-HOO!

More later. Right now I’m enjoying the damp cold.

Dear everyone,

I had the best dinner last night! Lisa and Bill came over and we had dinner at the Italian restaurant at my resort. Everything was perfect; the service was friendly without being overbearing, and the FOOD! Bill had veal, Lisa had lamb, and I had bacon wrapped steak and cheese manicotti (with pine nuts! YUM).

They picked up that it was my birthday from one mention, and for dessert they brought out a tiramisu – with two ladies’ legs, carved from cookies, sticking up from the top! Happy Birthday was written on the plate with chocolate sauce.

Daniel, our waiter, delicately pried the legs apart so he could place the single candle between them.

After, we sat around the pool and talked until late. Oh, and drank. And people-watched. Bill was impressed by the topless ladies. Lisa could not stop talking about the food. She joked that she felt like she’d had a reward meal on some reality show, and now had to go back to eating grub worms at the other resort.

I ate so much food!

How can I possibly be hungry this morning? And yet, I am.

signed, Brian.

Dear everybody,

Last night, after a run and dinner, I went for a walk along the boulevard. I saw many hotels, and just as many dark boarded-up buildings. About every 10 minutes I was approached by taxi drivers. “Taxi, señor?”

I wandered into a flea market. A shopkeeper kept asking me questions I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) understand. I pretended I didn’t hear him.

Eventually I reached a mall near a bunch of nightclubs, like Planet Hollywood & Carlos ‘n’ Charlie’s & The City. And Coco Bongo, which I’ve heard is the best in Cancún. It is an all-inclusive club; US$40 gets you in and all the drinks you want. I found that out by asking a pretty Latina wearing a logo’ed t-shirt while waiting in the huge line out front.

“And I still have to wait in line?” I asked.

“Oh, you don’t want to wait here? Follow me, señor,” and she ran around to a hidden side door. “Fifty dollars, US.”

After I determined it wasn’t fifty MORE, I accepted and went inside.

Imagine a combination dance club and Vegas show, with tequila girls. That’s Coco Bongo. I saw acrobatics, chorus lines, and impersonators (KISS, Beetlejuice, Spider-Man, Usher, Beyoncè, Madonna, and more). So much fun. But after several hours, my introverted self was a bit over- stimulated. Finding the exit was difficult, and not just because of the drinks I had had and the packed crowd. I think they deliberately made the exit hard to find.

I grabbed a taxi outside and rode back to the hotel, presented with a sign on the seat in front of me advertising a 24-hour “adult spa”.

signed, Brian

Dear everybody,

Last night coming back from the other resort I ended up playing psychiatrist to a lonely cab driver, francisco. His girlfriend had kicked him out for vague reasons and had forbidden him from contact with their 11 year old daughter. But even so, he had met a beautiful 19 year old (Francisco told me he was 34) who said she loved him… Sometimes. I suspected this girl was a professional, if you know what I mean.

So many stories in my head! CANT GET THEM ALL DOWN!

signed, Brian

Dear everybody,

On my taxi ride to my sister’s hotel this morning, I left my iPhone in the cab. Didn’t notice ’til I tried to call my sister in the lobby.

Panic nearly ensued.

I immediately asked the bell staff to help me track down the driver. He had already left. They asked the concierge, Gabriella, to help. She was able to get the taxi number and the driver’s cell and started calling.

Meanwhile, I found my family and used their phone to call mine. Voicemail. Max was the only one who spoke Spanish so he left a message telling whoever answered to bring the phone to the Blue Bay Club for a reward. I started counting my cash…

Back at the front desk, Gabriella said she had called my phone and had a woman say, “I think you are calling the wrong number” and hung up.

I asked her to try again.

This time, the driver picked up. Gabriella explained about the reward and he agreed to return it.

I gave the driver US$60. I think that’s worth it.

Merry Christmas! signed, Brian

Dear everybody,

It was a long trip, made longer by my staying out all night Friday. The fight was delayed leaving Houston. There was some trouble because I hadn’t pre-paid for transportation to the hotel.

But the weather is gorgeous, 80 and a light breeze. There’s more food and booze than I need. People from all over the world to talk to. And this morning I ate breakfast with a beautiful French Canadian woman.

Did I mention she was trying to sell me a timeshare?

Still, she seemed genuinely sad when I said my final no. Head down, voice low, she mumbled, “but I really liked you,” before picking up all her charts and notes and walking me back to the lobby. And we did talk of other things. I learned she is frightened and disgusted by the sea. “Lovely to look at, but when it is time to swim, I always have other things to do.”

Later I’m going for a run on the beach, and I have to schedule the relaxing massage that was my other reward for listening to the sales spiel. A few more days of this and I’ll forget what Portland is like.

I wish you all were here. No, really. When can you get here? The bus to the nightclubs leaves at 10:30! Merry Christmas!

signed, Brian

Just checking in. Thanks to Kevin, Tracy, and Athena for helping out. (I’d link them but it’s a pain in the carpal tunnel typing HTML on my iPhone) Still need to hear from Ken… Maybe next week.

Right now I’m sitting outside a shopping mall in Punta Cancún stealing some wifi bandwidth. Gonna wander around and maybe shop a bit before meeting my sister and brother-in-law for dinner and drinking. Mucho drinking.

It’s 82° F and a bit humid. Looks like it’s exactly half that in Portland.

Not a bad way to spend my 43rd birthday.

Hasta la vista, amigos y amigas!