Hello all... I'll be away for a few days in London, starting tomorrow. Though I'm but a lowly freelancer with an even lowlier title, I've been asked to join in on Extreme Sports Channel's annual "Gathering of the Tribes." I think it's a sort of team-building event where all the diverse branches of the channel get together to imbibe free alcohol and put faces with voices. But really, it's mostly about the free booze.

However, major events of the past few days have been:

1) Last Sunday (and again yesterday), I spoke with a very near and dear friend who I haven't spoken to in over 3 years. She knew nothing of my divorce or depression or move to the Netherlands and it was incredibly pleasurable and surreal to finally tell these huge, life-altering things to a woman who, previously, used to know every tiny detail about my life. I am thrilled beyond words to have her back in my life. And, even better... yesterday, she told me she got engaged the day after our first talk. Soooooo... now I get to be a maid of honor. (er, ex-matron of honor, divorced woman of honor...)

2) I am now officially off the anti-depressants. Wait... wait... this momentous event needs caps: I AM NOW OFFICALLY OFF THE ANTI-DEPRESSANTS! I can feel actual joy again... a sensation that I haven't felt in a very long time. And, of course, the evil twin sister of joy is despair... I mean it's two sides of the same coin (at least for me, it is)... but I have now dedicated myself to an au natural means of keeping the crazies at bay -- some herbs and vitamins, lots of exercise, and little drinking.

3) We ran out of catfood. M bought more. However, our regular brand was sold out, so M opted for Friskies. Last night, I watched him eat approximately 10 pieces of the new catfood and with utter seriousness he looked at me and said "You know, I prefer this kind. It tastes better."

4) I am now officially an Amsterdamer (Or I've been "dammed") I moved into my new digs on Thursday night and mere moments after signing the contract, I was headed to the Chocolate Bar (trendy bar close to me) to meet two co-workers for a drink. My neighborhood is great. I live very close to a great bar/restaurant area... have not one, but two asian groceries close by... Sarphati park is right across the street... and the famous Albert Cuyp market (http://www.amsterdam.info/shopping/albert_cuypmarkt/) is just a few streets away. Actually, if you go to this link and click map, you can see a map of my neighborhood. Off to the left bottom corner, you'll see a street called Sint Willibrordstraat (it's cut off a bit). I live at number 25 on that street.

5) The weather is STILL awful here. A few months ago, M kept promising me: "I promise in a month it will be beautiful here. I promise when we get back from Turkey, it'll be beautiful here. Hey, I hear this weekend is supposed to be beautiful." Now, when he starts to say something like this, I just give him the evil eye and say "You can only call wolf so many times..." Case in point, every morning during my bike ride to the train station, I pass a bank sign that flashes the time and temperature. On Tuesday, the sign said 9 degrees. (That's 48 to us Americans) I think I felt a sob catch in my throat when I saw that. My guess is that the first time I'll experience anything approximating summer is when I step off the plane at BWI on July 10th.

Be back on this batchannel on Thursday...