(Almost) back

Well in a few hours, it's time to make the trip back. Time to check the mail that's piled up for almost three weeks, clean out the house as best I can, unpack, find the cat and reassure her that I won't leave again for a long time. As usual, it's been an amazing vacation.
1. Took the train across the state of Washington last night, and became completely convinced that there is absolutely no better way to travel. Reminds me of the many times I took the train down from Vancouver to Seattle, and the one long trip I made from St. Paul to Spokane back in 92. Way back then the trip was a kind of escape from an unhappy relationship. Train-decompression is slow and natural and healthy.

2. I watched more television than I have for a year or so, and I'm not proud of it. But I figure an immersion in crappy pop culture for a week or two is necessary to see what I'm missing for the other 51 weeks.
3. I also read the first part of Marx's Grundrisse, and much of Louis Althusser's On Marx. On the train last night sat next to a girl who after getting seated and situated began reading a bible. We had an interesting conversation. She looked at the book I was reading (Althusser), and asked what it was and I said "it's for school." What else was I to say?: that I was reading a French Marxist-Structuralist who went mad and ended up spending the last ten years of life in a mental hospital/prison? No. We ended up talking about Paul, which was just fine.