14.06.01 - 7:41 p.m.

Chris and Tirza are visiting. It's good to see them & and I find their nomadic lifestyle very exciting. It's funny though, they're SO granola. They were literally eating granola for breakfast this morning.

Chris won a Watson fellowship during our last year at Rice. He & Tirza got married as school ended, because if you're married the Watson pays for your spouse to come with you on your travels. Their wedding (the only wedding I've ever been to) was an amazing affair. Incredible, year ending party in the Houston night, chaucer house backyard. Everybody was there. Sandeep was spinning. There were three kegs, special brownies, but most of all it was the first time I'd ever tried ecstasy. We were all graduating, so this was the last time we'd see each other for a while. I was scared of what the pill would do to me but the fear went away as the rush came in. Before I knew it, I was babbling. Heat on my neck, tech-house palpable in the air. Waves of love, all cliches coming to life. Rick & JulieH got ordained on the internet and they performed the ceremony. In spite of the craziness, when Chris & Tirza exchanged vows it was surprisingly touching. The whole night is still vivid in my memory years later. I stayed at that party till there was hardly anybody left, Ended up lying face-down in the grass outside JulieB's. I can't describe how nice the cool grass felt. I wanted to sink into that lawn and hibernate for a year.

Anyway so Chris & Tirza took off and lived for a year in Israel, Thailand, New Zealand, Egypt-- they went *everywhere*, studying sustainable land use or something equally noble. They came back to the US, roadtripped all over the place, and now they're in SF trying to get together a proposal to go to Argentina and do human rights / environmental advocacy there. Actually I think the org. they're trying to work with already gave them the green light, so all they have to do is raise $10,000. If you know of any rich philanthropists who want to dispose of some cash, let me know and I'll pass it along. Josh is also looking for a wealthy benefactor. Form an queue, ladies and gentlemen...

Stuck at work tonight. I really wanted to play racquetball. WRATH

I need to follow Chris & Tirza's example. My life is too hedonistic. Not in the sense that I'm living this crazy rock star life, because obviously I'm not. i just mean that I spend too much time consuming things-- going to movies, concerts, reading books, going to clubs-- and too little time creating things and trying to make the world better. I don't think work counts. I want to be less of a yuppie, more like Brian Eno. man i would love to be stuck in an elevator with that guy. if you haven't read "a year with swollen appendices", you should. (sample journal entry: "Starting to think that all the world's problems can be solved with either oyster sauce or backing vocals.")

pub quiz on tuesday, nicole & will & amber & john. new team configuration but same old result-- ugly slaughter, we lost big-time. "Ruces" can be rearranged to spell "Sucre", the capital of Bolivia. In case you were wondering.