Loss, Gain and Darren Buhooley

Loss

29 April To celebrate my last (for a while, anyway) day at the Partnership, I went out with some of my co-workers / favourite people from the office to Peter Mac's, on 19th and 7th. Between Anna and myself, We downed four pitchers of beer. Ridiculous, I know, but fun.

Then I left my bag, which housed nothing except the only research I had done for the paper that was due the following Monday... and my cellphone, which carried all my newly gathered phone numbers since January of this year.

Anna and I had a lovely adventure riding the 7 line the following Saturday, taking pictures of each stop and station's unique scenery, pictures to follow, but none of the ticket booths reported having my bag. And when she went down to the main Lost and Found office at 34th and 8th, they came up empty-handed after 15 minutes of searching for my bag. Ho hum.

Gain

I received my Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of Central Florida on May 6th.

The trip to Florida was full of mixed emotions. My parents were the only ones who made it to my graduation, as everyone who planned on attending, it turned out, had different priorities to attend to. But no matter, I was thrilled my folks were there and, in the end, felt that since they were the only ones who were consistently there for me throughout my entire education (18 years), they deserved the whole "Important People In My Life Who Attended My College Graduation" spotlight. And that's not bitterness or spite to those who wanted to attend, but couldn't. It's just understanding.

The bulk of the trip was spent wishing I could see more people, or hoping more people could see me (but didn't). At some point, I realised that I hadn't been investing much in my friends since I moved to NYC and that their lack of presence when I was in town might be due to that. Conversely, I realised that sometimes, other things just take priority, and we'll always have Next Time I Back Around to see each other.

Lessons learned.

Darren Buhooley

I can't imagine ever signing myself up under this pseudonym, but apparently, for the sake of Zagat, I did.

I just discovered it this afternoon as I was logging into their website to turn off the "Please send me: An Occasional Promotional Email" option. I giggled, wondering if someone had signed me up for it, or if I, in my pseudonym-crazy phase, did it my own damn self.

Either way, it's a funny name. *giggles like a fifth-grader*