Cruel Summer (Palace)

Just as there is something great about getting an unexpected letter or email from someone, there is equally something wonderful about receiving a picture that you didn't know existed.  My great friend Craig just sent me a picture that he came across when organizing his files from the summer that he and I, and several other Champlain professors, traveled to China.  Here's a shot of me at the Summer Palace outside Beijing.  This was before we all split up and went our separate ways, an entire group to southern China and me, alone, per usual, heading off to the Taklamakan Desert.  It was the summer when I was first separated from my wife and pretty miserable, living in my office and mainly eating ramen noodles, and trying as best I could to find new ways to be unhappy and guilt-ridden.  So, I embarked on a seven country, seven week tour, with stops at multiple universities and presentations at a number of conferences.  At least I had a place to sleep and food to eat.  A day before I left I had a spectacular bike wreck, wrapping my face around a railing, knocking out a tooth and resulting in stitches - just to make the entire experience even more special.  Still, I survived, as we do when we keep plugging away, and lived to see another day.

Normally in pictures I looked either amused or angry, but in this one I just seem confused, and more confused than usual (which makes it a pretty solid metaphor for my emotional state at the time).  I also can't help noticing how thin I am.  The divorce misery diet is a wonderful way to lose weight, although I wouldn't normally recommend it.