can someone let my job know that i'm still in vacation mode
Zohran is the democratic nominee for NYC mayor and i'm in vacation mode
Let’s begin by recognizing my genius (recently discovered) yesterday when I created a brand new word that Google has not proven to already have been a word:
tomorning (adv. too·moor·neeng): a genius way to say “tomorrow morning”
I mean … is that not genius? And to Google it and see that it’s not a word? And from what I’ve gathered, no one in history has ever thought of this word. Until moi. Sometimes, I surprise even myself.
This past month — June 9 to July 11 — I’ve been on what some may call a vacation. I went to three countries and one Chicago, and I have just returned to Brooklyn. During the first half, I didn’t work at all — didn’t even open up my computer. The second half was a very relaxing two weeks of catsitting for my mom in Chicago. Let’s take it from the top:
My trip began in an unknown place called IRELAND. I was there for about eight days and had a beautiful time in beautiful weather.
Ireland is such a magical place, and I’m the first to say that. I had a cold halfway through the trip that felt like it was about to keep me in bed for the rest of my time there, but then something mystical happened.
My cousin took me to the seaside so that we could jump in the sea and then go to the sauna after. And when I jumped into that sea …
… the cold was gone. Forever.
Can you even believe it? My dad told me that when he was a kid he had a wart on his hand or something and a family member took him to the Blarney Stone and put water on his wart and the next morning the wart was gone. I don’t think that story’s correct, but there are parts of it that are definitely true.
For everyone wondering, Guinness is a probiotic. It’s very good for you. I was drinking a lot of probiotics that trip. A Guinness a day keeps the doctor away, as they say! Yes, they do say that, stop.
Ireland is such a beautiful place, and it feels so good to be connected to a place, to feel welcomed in a place where I wasn’t born. Knowing that you're welcome somewhere is all anybody wants, and it shouldn’t be difficult to accept people! What a concept!
Ireland, bless up. Love u, sister.
Following Ireland was a trip to SPAIN. There, I met my mom and Rosemary and wandered around Catalonia — Barcelona and Montserrat.
Michele, with one L, sure was best dressed on this trip. Salomons at the top of Montserrat in Catalonia? Can I get an amen?
Barcelona has some of the most delicious food I’ve ever had. We went to this incredible, deaf-owned Persian restaurant called Ziryab. It was so good that we went twice. It’s always nice to see a successful, deaf-owned place, and it’s always nice to see people signing in a different country. It always surprises me because I thought I was the only person who knew sign language!
Europe is enduring a heat wave right now, and we were there for the start of it. Might I just say that Europe needs to Grow Up about the heat there? It’s not that bad. Why don’t you try to sit on concrete steps in Bed-Stuy on any day in July and tell me that Europe is hotter? Just get an air conditioner! It’s been long enough! You’ve made your point!
Apparently, the locals were water gun-squirting tourists to protest Airbnb and tourism in Barcelona, which I understand because the housing crisis there is absolutely insane. I kept seeing videos of tourists getting so mad and upset about being squirted.
…
Are you kidding? It was 85 degrees there. People squirting you with water guns for free? A dream! Unfortunately, it did not happen to us because we did not look like the tourists in the videos, but there’s always next time. In Brooklyn, we open up the fire hydrants so that everyone can experience a cooler day. How beautiful is that. The world is healing.1
My final stop was in Copenhagen, which I did by myself and only for a day. That is a pretty place. Everyone there looks so cool, and everything seems to be OK there. Hans Christian Andersen’s energy wanders the city, and everything is happy. I need to be there for at least a month next time.
On my way to Chicago, I had a 4-hour layover in Warsaw, Poland. Now THAT is a wild place. I’m speaking of the Warsaw Airport. Poland is serious about their cigarettes. There were tiny glass boxes at every 5 gates in the airport that were for people to smoke cigarettes in. People holding babies were pushing into those boxes to smoke a cigarette, and there were maybe 20 people in every box. There was no space for 20 people. Those four hours went very quickly because the people-watching was some of the best people-watching I’ve ever done.
I would love to actually visit Warsaw one day, but this experience in the Warsaw Airport was a perfect one to end the vacation.
Whenever I visit another city, my TikTok app is aware of it and starts showing me videos from those cities. In each city I visited on this trip, I kept getting TikToks of locals making fun of Americans for looking like … well, Americans. I kept thinking, Huh. I do notice Americans in a lot of European places, but I can’t say that it’s that easy to spot them all the time. I mean, is it? Do I look like an American in the outfit I’m wearing? In my jelly heels? BUT then, right when I got to Chicago, my TikTok showed me this:
And then I felt great.
Chicago, a place I’ve never been before, was very good for my soul and my body. It was relaxing and fun and relaxing and also fun, and it was much needed before returning to the great state of Brooklyn. And now we’re back (for a couple of weeks sorry), and we’re cooking in a kitchen again and going on citibike rides and trying to figure out why our electric bill is bonkers having not been here for an entire month. The world is real again, and responsibilities have returned. And that’s amore. No wait, that’s life.
After a month of no writing, Circle Back is back. I don’t know why there was a month delay, just because I was on vacation. My ghostwriter wasn’t, so …
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.
tv show rec: Too Much by Lena Dunham — very into it so far
book rec: Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe — a book about the Troubles in the North of Ireland; there’s also a great limited series based on this book that I recommend also as well
music: Ye Vagabons — the boys make me cry
no it’s not
You should look up Gilles Peress work Whatever you say, say nothing. Their work on the troubles in norhtern ireland is so moving. Also Guinness is totally a probiotic
Milkman by Anna Burns is another great book about the less great days in Northern Ireland.