I can’t imagine a more meaningful gesture from one blog buddy to the next than the tattooing of a blog URL on one’s arm. I present you with the forearm of my dear compadre, Armando Franco (AKA catarf):

Beginning tomorrow morning there will be parking outside my house again, which I guess means that summer is over. My friends who are in their various graduate and professional schools are all back in classes. Some of my other friends who were abroad traveling for the summer are now coming back in waves and wanting to show pictures over coffee. Coincidentally, my mother will be coming back into the country on Wednesday as well. Life has that illusory sensation of folding back the stiff cover of a new book.
Speaking of which, I just finished Almost an Island: Travels in Baja California, which Chris loaned me and am now starting White Liberals, Black Rednecks, which HP was kind enough to loan me. And to top it all off, tomorrow I will finally buy an Apple 12-inch iBook – something I’ve been threatening to do ever since this blog was born.

It will be a lengthy process of moving into my new abode: pictures from Picasa to iPhoto, reformatting my iPod, installing a gang of drivers for various external hardware, and generally cleaning up what has become a very sloppy digital life. But I admit it will also be fun – like the distractions with old high school yearbooks when you’re supposed to be filling boxes for a new apartment.

It’s been a strange summer for me. Like always, it’s gone by far too quickly. I certainly did not expect to be back here in San Diego. But doing so has had it’s unintended rewards. Being an instrumental part of my sister’s life has probably shaped me more in the past two years than anything else. It’s taught me a lot about my own life as well as what is a healthy amount of influence to have over someone else’s. Being in San Diego has also allowed me to get back in shape (something I definitely wasn’t in Monterrey), which culminated at the Imperial Beach Triathlon a couple weeks ago with my friend, Mario. Attacking a giant tofu burrito with a morning Negra Modelo at Pokez afterwards, I think we were both filled with a sense of elation and accomplishment that only triathletes can know.

Also, I’ve been able to hang out more with friends who were previously “virtual.” Whether it’s fish tacos with Chris, politics over Vietnamese food with HP, or a fun party at Cindylu’s, it’s been nice to get to know the non-digital side of all of them.

Global Voices has also steadily been taking over a larger and larger domain of my life with each passing week. I’m thankful for the friends and knowledge it’s brought me as well as the doors it seems to be opening.

Illusory or not, tomorrow’s going to feel like a new chapter and – choose your cliché – I hope to live it to the fullest.