So I am far out enough to be out of it thoroughly, not even sure when it was that I last posted: I went down to visit Lostin and my brother, both summering in some scientific capacity down in Jersey, and I have realized that grad student bars aren't hopeless, but my brother is deeply so a frat boy with all the macho-het slapdashery that comes with being white and of a certain age, and that Lostin is probably right when he claims that the Asian-American male is doomed to extinction. But no--it was a very pleasant drunk with Lostin, which is probably because it was entirely on Asian beers until the end, while means that it was a cleaner, lighter drunk, and having not been in the dating game for quite some time, it was more than a little odd to be in the zone again with charming political commentary and the like--no offense to Alric, but we know each other's moves well enough that much can be syncopated. But it's always odd, as I don't know what it's like to be white anymore, though of course Joephet claims that in my desire to trim down and bulk up I'm deeply white, as also in my work ethic which isn't some sort of Polynesian-laidback. It's not offensive really, just different, and deeply past, though I suppose my own version of college debauchering was much more selective and snobby. Other than that, I have little to report, beyond the oddness of returning to Robert's familiar co-op quarters, and my enjoyment and frustration in reading Foner's Reconstruction and comparing that era of promise and revolution to our reactionary times. But that's too harsh and I don't really know anything.