Great Dismal

May 15

Hi. It's late. I should go to bed (or, rather, to air mattress- - which is probably more comfy than my futon at home, truth be told). But I'm leaving Mom's tomorrow afternoon, and will be internet access-less for a couple of days, so I wanted to leave you with something, even this short little fragment of an entry.

Today I sat on the beach with Meg, under the gray sky. We wandered around. I ran, and fell down huffing and heaving and puffing and being out of shape. We went to a neat little coffee shop/art gallery/organic grocery that just opened in Kitty Hawk. Came home and I wrestled with my brother. I won, but it was a near thing- - I'm still faster than him, but I'm so horrendously out of shape that after a couple of smooth take-downs I ran out of steam, allowing him to bulldoze over me with his 30-pound weight advantage. Bleah. Must exercise more, if only to make such battles more pleasant in the future.

Mom made a wonderful shrimp-and-scallops-and-pasta dinner. Meg and I rented The Contender (good movie, though Gary Oldman whispered and mumbled too damn much). We got free ice cream from the Dairy Queen where my brother works (one of his friends hooked us up with a free sundae). We played video games at Dairy Queen, too. I read a bit of Missing Angel Juan. That's about it, and it's enough- - much fun.

Oh, yeah- - My mom lives near the Great Dismal Swamp. I just love that name. Isn't it cool? Super cool. Just wanted to share that.

Tomorrow we hang out more with my family, then head to Goldsboro to see my Dad. Then on Thursday, we're having dinner with Mike Jasper and his wife in Chapel Hill (at the Rathskeller! Yay, the Rat!). So I'll be most definitely incommunicado for a couple of days. All you good people send me e-mail, so I can have a happy full inbox when I can finally check my mail again, sometime this weekend (I hope).

I'm off to bed and cuddling with sweet Meg. Talk to you in a few days.