Jonny the Recovering Technophiliac

Welcome to the Babbler, where I condense and summarize what has happened in a period of time since my last post with brief and random thoughts usually because i haven’t had the time to blog in between. Some may make sense, some may not…but that’s the premise, all the babble that’s fit to blog! So off we go:

Wow, so it’s nearly been a month since i have written any entry with some substance (excluding my brief post proving my still-existence in the blogging world), but i must say that a lot has happened in September…i can’t say it’s been all good or all bad, but it made me realize how it’s just best that we try to prepare for everything.

9/10 – It’s been about four years since my father passed away…thinking it over, it has become more tolerable to cope with.  i feel comfortable talking about it to my friends, but there will always be lingering thoughts inside me…he’ll never see me get married, nor in a fancy job, so much unfinished business.  My mother took the death very hard and still does to this day, which is why i take care of her as much as i can.  Every night she prays in the kitchen in front of a votive candle.  As for me, i take solace into living my father’s legacy as much as i can in my everyday life.  It was hard enough when it was close to the hour when he passed on, and i always get butterflies in my stomach.  All i could do was call a friend and try to kill time till it was all over.  In the end, once the effect went away, i was glad to have jumped over that emotional hurdle…which has become easier to jump over year after year.  I miss you dad, i still do…but it’s ok…i’m holding things down well at home for you, just try to rest man…that’s all.

9/11 (part 1 of 2) – where was i on that day in 2001? i was home…it was a warm morning, and my father woke me up to get ready for afternoon classes.  I was tired, in no mood to study on such a lovely day, so i gave the “just 5 more minutes” routine.  He then returns back 5 minutes later to tell me that a plane has crashed into WTC, and i assume he was just yanking my chain before falling back into bed.  My eyes opened and i wondered to myself how could my father have made up something way out of the ballpark like that.  So I flipped on CNN and right before my eyes, a commercial jet crashed into the other tower.  I still sympathize with the victims, and still look in anger as the crater where the towers where is nothing but a cleaner crater.  I remember when Kevin worked in WFC, he’d pass by ground zero every day until one day he told me:

Jon, I seriously hope they put off this beurocracy and finally build something

I hoped so too…I still do.

9-11 (part 2 of 2) – This day was also a year ago where i hung out with a friend (now ex) who changed my life in more ways than one.  And regardless of how much i have moved on, reflecting about that day did tug a heart-string, so I had to try to put a positive spin into this.  After paying my respects to ground zero, i decided to walk to Vesey Street and to The Grill Room for a nice glass of wine while looking at the Manhattan skyline, reminiscing. So regardless of how romantically-apathetic she made me in the end, she did bring out the best in me in that one single flawless meetup on 9-11-08, not only something I’ll always be grateful for, but something i’ll carry on to that next person of interest, whomever it may be, whenever it happens (i’m in no rush).

9-19 – Since 9-10, i was feeling rather down for various reasons, but leave it to my brother Kevin to take it upon himself to bring me the best birthday present a brother could ask for (aside from a clock/iphone dock, a magnolia cake, and new noise-canceling headphones), he gave me happiness.  I wanted to repay the favor by taking him to lunch at Aureole located at the Theater District, as well as more food at a Brazilian steakhouse and drinks at a rooftop lounge overlooking the 59th Street bridge and the East River.  Even with an amazing time with friends from as far back as high school, this was quite possibly the best birthday so far.  Even so, i’ll always remember the small things that made me smile as i turn an old and rusty 27.5 years of age…like the baloon Kevin got me on 9-11, that to this day (10-4), is STILL floating to the ceiling of my room.

9-22 – But no matter how much you can plan out parties and so on…there are some things that we’re never ready for…like death.  It felt a lot like dejavu when i was holding my dog’s convulsing body, watching him die while the nurse drove us through traffic in a fury.  I don’t wish to give out the semantics of that day, but what i will say is that to me, Squishy was more than just the token family dog.  He was my friend, my pet, my companion for 16 wonderful years, faithfully there for my family and I with a sense of loyalty and devotion stronger than your typical 21st century marriage.  While holding his tag on my key chain, I’m constantly reminded that he was loved even during his last few weeks on this planet, and i made sure of it.  I’ll miss him, my squishy, and no dog can ever replace him…call me stubborn, i don’t care.

9-24 – After squishy’s passing i was having second thoughts of attending a meetup from my favorite podcast, cNet’s Buzz Out Loud (sorry TwiT!).  Kevin backed out for reasons purely justified, but i needed air, i needed to take my mind off things and try to make the most of what i have…so i went.  Alone outside the Empire Rooftop Lounge, i find myself as the inevitable newbie, which didn’t last long as Tom Merritt and Eileen Riviera seemed to recognize me before i could recognize them…who knew? lol.  I’ve known them for a good while so it was nice meeting them in person instead of by email.  Eileen and i even talked a little about her dog Jango, it brought me some comfort.  As for Tom, well the man is clearly an intellectual gentleman in his own right (oh and a baseball buff too!)  So feeling more at place, i introduced myself to the other members and listeners as we swapped stories of tech, magnolia cupcakes, and wifi signals.  Then i met another BOL-esque celebrity, Natali Del Conti.  First thing i noticed about her was that not only where we the same height (given a margin of error of an inch), but she was intellectually down to earth as well.  I could clearly picture myself having an intelligent conversation with friends like Tom, Eileen, and Natali.  Note, i have yet to meet Jason, Cooley, Brian, Rafe, and The Molly…(in due time Jon).

So in the end…well…how can i best summarize all of this? Simple: September had a lot of events, some planned, some not.  Whatever the case, they where all not exactly as linear as usual for most months, but certainly not forgettable.