What's in a name? That which we call a blog/ By any other word would read as sweet.

I do believe that today I had a virtually perfect weekend day. I slept in, had a quite nice jog in sunny, but breezy weather, ran only one errand to the grocery and bought a delicious cheese sampler and equally delicious loaf of locally baked bread, and bummed around my apartment tidying or just sitting for the remainder of the day. I do believe that today is quite probably the most restful day I've had in quite a while.

It's less than two weeks before I hear about whether I passed the written exam for the Foreign Service. I want to pass, not just because I want to get into the FS, but also for bragging rights. However, I can always take refuge in the fact that it's a terribly hard test and most people who get into the FS have to take the test multiple times. Time flies, though, so I'm sure I'll find out whether or not my hopes are crushed soon enough. :)

I watched a Tracy Chapman concert on OPB tonight. I really enjoy her music - she tells stories with the music, she's not just a little pop candy corporate creation. That's part of the reason I also like Bob Dylan, although Dylan can be annoying at time since he's so aware that he's a counter-culture anti-establishment figure. The most compelling lyrics and music are those that reach into the heart of what it means to live as a human without trivializing the experience or conversely, bordering on arrogant self-indulgence.

That, incidentally, also seems to be the goal of many blogs - tell the story of the individual human, without being either too trivial (unless the trivial story is very funny) or being too self-indulgent. I haven't decided yet whether my blog attempts are entirely trivial, self-indulgent, or both.