Brief Life Update No. 21: Sunset/Restless

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Another weekend, another RV trip. This time, we went all the way down south Jersey to Cape May, Wildwood and Atlantic City. To be honest, most of it was pretty dull (although at least now I can say that I've finally been to Wildwood---even if I didn't go on any rides). The only exception was a whale- and dolphin-watching excursion on Saturday evening in which we were able to take in a beautiful sunset in a clear sky. In fact, here's the one picture of it I took on one of my father's Canon cameras, to give you a taste of what it looked like out on the sea:


On another trip-related note: I think our dog Dusty has somehow become rather more hostile toward other dogs since last summer. At the very least, he never barked incessantly at the sight of other dogs the way he did frequently this weekend. Every time a dog would come into his field of vision, he'd start growling, moving his hind legs like a bull in a bullfight or barking loudly. None of this he did in Maine. What happened, Dusty? I guess too much barking at other dogs on the television has trained him to start automatically doing the same thing to other dogs in real life.

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Speaking of real life: my real life post-Wall Street Journal---with the exception of the weekend RV trips and the internship interviews in New York---has been pretty unremarkable. Not dull, necessarily; just humdrum. I'm still watching movies on a regular basis (I'm hoping to get more into the work of our two recently deceased film artists, Bergman and Antonioni, because I'm told in every eulogy I read that to not be exposed to their work is to be seriously deficient in one's knowledge and appreciation of film art); once in a while I take some time out of my day to seriously read the news online (mostly the New York Times's Web site); and I'm starting to do more biking, to improve my cardiovascular health.

One thing I haven't really done much of is pleasure-read (well, I guess reading the news online counts, although I do it more out of duty than pleasure). I dunno, I just haven't been in much of a mood to sit down and concentrate for an hour or two to reading a book---a significant change from my high school summers, when one would probably have trouble tearing me away from books. Not sure if this is a good thing. Truth is, these days I feel more restless than anything else, so I find myself jumping at opportunities to go out somewhere, no matter how close or how far it may be. So, planned for this weekend is a possible trip to a friend's new apartment somewhere in Pennsylvania for what I guess is a housewarming party. All my years living my sheltered life here in East Brunswick has most likely conditioned me to be a little nervous about driving to unfamiliar places, especially out of state---but, after this Wall Street Journal internship ended, I found myself both yearning to do something other than sitting in front of my laptop most of the day, and also regretting some of the trips I avoided this summer---to northern New Jersey and Staten Island, among others---just because of my conditioning. Maybe my bike rides are one form of curbing that restlessness (and at least I'm getting some decent exercise out of it).

Readers, this blogger needs things to do!