[ waking up... smelling the coffee... standing by the lanai window looking at patches of ocean and a sea of green... people (not green) walking past... ]

The observant (and frequent, as opposed to casual) reader of this weblog will notice a couple of major changes to the lists on the left:

Aaron is back...!

...and as usual, in his inimitable fashion. I really liked the fact that he flipped his brother's weblog instead of his own, in his return to weblogging. Read Abraham's weblog to find out why it's deeply appropriate. Those of you who know Aaron know that this past year and a half has been rough... and those of us who know him well never lost the faith that he'd be back to sharing with this community the things we choose to share in this peculiarly engaging medium we have come to know and love. So Aaron, my friend and mentee, is back... here where he will find open arms to hold him, hearts to listen for the pulse of his own, and stories to sustain him.

[ photo note: was looking through my iBook for an appropriate pic of Aaron, and found the perfect one. this was almost 4 years ago, as you can see by the stamped date on the image... my Mac's webcam caught this pic of Abraham and Aaron while they were visiting with me at my office one time. you look so young and innocent in this pic, boys! hehe. *sigh* ]

...and so is Tom

Though he didn't really leave, only taking a hiatus from the intense weblog writing he did over the summer... scattering a few tantalizing hints and cryptic markings on his weblog over the fall and early winter. You'd take a weblogging break too, if you had to deal with: (a) leaving for college; (b) the rigours and harrowing excesses of academics at Caltech; (c) walking on to the varsity basketball team; and (d) last but hardly least, finding the girl of your dreams(!!). It appears that Tom has lived a lifetime in a semester, and you should definitely read his update now... which is but a beginning; and be prepared to be treated, during this holiday break, to his accounts of life as a freshman at Caltech and to the insights he gained on school, self, love and life. Welcome back, Fletcher!

[ All will note that Tom has been moved to the category formerly known as adults now urtexts, for the simple reason that he is now, perhaps alas for him, truly one of the doddering elderly of this weblogging community. *snicker* But seriously, this is merely evolution at work and honestly, Tom already belonged in urtexts anyway, after his marvelous job of teaching TIC with me last summer.

The fact of Robin in Tom's life may or may not be incidental in this re-categorization. Draw your own conclusions ;-) To Robin, a great big personal thanks for writing on Tom's weblog now and then, but most of all for writing yours... which has been a delight, a revelation, and the best way we could keep tabs on Tom when he was otherwise preoccupied, last semester. ]

{ net.casting }
^