Journal of a Sabbatical

August 27, 1999

gray humidity

Today's Starting Pitcher: Kent Mercker

Today's Reading: none

It's been kind of murky out today and the inside of my head has been a little murky too. I hung out a long time at Starbucks hoping some of the usual suspects would show up.

Hussein appeared just as I'd finished my first latte so I ordered another one and chatted with him briefly. He wanted to know all about my trip - mainly what I ate and what the Turkish influences on Hungary are. I've talked with him a couple of times very briefly since I came back and the talk mostly focused on whether he had reached his relatives in Turkey and were they all safe (they are). Today he was talking about his hometown having to rebuild in a slightly different location. Then he had to go back to work - turns out he was on coffee break not on lunch break so only had 15 minutes.

Ned showed up just as I was settling into an armchair with the newspaper. I gave him a big hug 'cause I haven't seen him since well before I left. He wanted to know all about my trip too: the coffee, the women, the food, the wine. Ned knows I don't drink so I was surprised when he asked me if I'd had any of the famous Tokaj wines. I told him the whole story of the dinner/wine tasting at Vince's and how weird and alien I felt. Normally, Ned is one of the few people I feel like I can talk to about this sort of thing, but even with him today I felt raw and exposed and kind of embarrassed. He did however quote me a great line from Dick Van Dyke to use the next time the question comes up: "No thanks, I have something to do in January."