Detroit!

So I have been staffed, which means I've been assigned to a customer (hospital/hospital group) which means that I know a lot more about what the next several months/up to two years of my life is going to look like. And it's going to look a lot like Detroit.

Which is wonderful and fascinating. And, yes, a little dangerful and sketchy. We were walking back to the hotel (in a large-ish group) after dinner the other night, almost lost and sort of worried about it, but mostly there was nothing: only a very few cars and a very few other people. And this in the heart of this beautiful city--traffic circles with statues and boulevards that used to be lined with huge picture windows, now bricked in, windows replaced with brick and glass blocks and bars, or boarded up and over.

The hospital downtown is an exception--a sort of epicenter of activity and productivity. I'm glad to be helping support such a productive spot.

Because 1: I've been thinking about production and revitalization. Like, I watched Provo trying to rebirth itself, hopefully at first (galleries! and restaurants!), then less and less so. Because, and whatever, this is a little draconian, people don't *need* art. Or they do, but only when they have jobs first. Recreation is only meaningful/useful/important when actual creation (of the things you need and food and jobs) is taken care of I think. It's the principle of the sabbath--work work work so when you rest the rest is legit. I guess I think that real productive business--business that produces things (read that however) that people *need* trumps pretend business (galleries/restaurants/the MGM Grand, which by the way didn't bring tourists into downtown Detroit but did bring a casino, which is obviously an awesome decision) any day of the week.
I guess this is a place where Ayn Rand stuck with me: produce things! Real things!
And I read/heard an article about Detroit, about a woman who started a luxury lifestyle magazine that went under a year after she started it but how she's been hired by a consulting firm to talk about how to draw people to Detroit. Like starting coffeeshops and things.
And I'm ranting/simplifying. The moral: I trust reallife production over faking the fruits of reallife production any day of the week.

And 2: Detroit is very real and compelling. I'm super exited to be there.

Oh, and 3: it's a 40 minute flight from Madison.

In other news: I skipped out on work sick early Friday, reached a temp of 104 yesterday, spent some time in the ER (mostly because everything else was closed of a Saturday night) getting anti-bodied up. A kidney thing. The good news: I'm mostly better. We have *awesome* health insurance. And there's no bad news really. James is the very nicest and most supportive, up to and including going on a 6:30 OJ and tylenol run in the snow.

And James has found some good leads on places to get some hours. That man has hustle. The thesis is still looming (for both of us) but. We'll finish.

So. Life is happening and good and new all the time. Dig it.

Birthday Week!

This week was my birthday! I turned 29 which is both weird and fine.

James brought me breakfast in bed, we got Mongolian BBQ (which felt *awesome* in my congested drippy head. I couldn't even taste anything, just the burning.)

On Saturday we went to breakfast with some friends and saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which was perfectly made and made me nostalgic for a childhood I never had but which I think my dad wanted me to have? It was very pretty and got me writing about Dennis. And also was just a perfectly made period spy film.

In other news: my job started for real this week. I was sort of in training for the last 4 months because I wasn't assigned to a customer. This week I met some of my customer counterparts and met with the coworkers I'll be working with. It's really nice to be doing real things, and things that I feel pretty comfortable doing.

Aaaand...James and I joined a gym and have been running again which feels great.
And we took out the Christmas tree.
And James is making good progress on the thesis.

So a good week. And we're happy and like you all.

Loves,
ke.