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I don't like to think I'm guilty of much, but my blogging vigor has been flagging the past few weeks as school peaked, then petered out, then vacation got underway. I'm not sure what to write, but I figure that with so much time having passed since my last decent post, there's got to be something.

So vacation so far has been amazing. I keep telling R that too. That's because I see her every day. Which is pretty much the reason why this vacation has been so wonderful. R came up to the island for Shabbos last week after finals, where, for the first time in a while, I didn't have to split my time between her and a few papers and essays. It felt luxurious. R doesn't get vacation yet at work, so the goal has been to make her time after work feel like vacation. We've seen movies, done dinner, hung out at her place and eaten chestnuts while walking through New York. I missed this. This past Monday marked a year since we first met. R says we actually met at Hillel one Friday night during my sophomore year, but I was too silly to not take a chance then and I'm glad I got another opportunity to ask her out. It's been a very good year.

Permit me to reminisce.

Last fall quarter (Northwestern is on quarters and this still mixes me up), I was living on my own in Evanston for the first time, having recently decided that although I had (and still have) a deep and abiding love for my parents, it was time for me to strike out on my own a bit. I was living in a nice apartment with some very friendly neighbors, who happened to have been friends with R for quite some time. It started off as a bit of a joke (I'm Jewish, so is R, it's a match made in heaven!), but by the end of the quarter, they were convinced we'd be a good pair and in my everlasting (and soon to be rewarded) optimism, I wished them to be right.

There was only one problem: R was in France studying abroad. I was patient, I was hopeful, and on December 15th, she flew back from Paris to Chicago, and my neighbors insisted on throwing a holiday party (in deference to the Jews), whose express purpose seemed to be to get me and R into a room together. It worked. She flew back the next morning to her home to see her parents, I stayed up all night "grading" (I was teaching a class, so this was pretty legit) and had my feet on my futon and my shades open. It had snowed a lot the night before. She came down early to take a taxi to the airport and I came out quickly to say goodbye (shyly) and then she disappeared for three weeks. But I liiiiiked her. So I friended her on Facebook (always a safe move, right?) and was too scared to write anything on her wall or send her any messages. Ah well.

A month later she came back and we started to find ways to see each other. We'd bump into each other in line getting a drink or something for lunch so we could talk alone for a few minutes before we joined our other friends to share lunch. We'd go to movies with our friends, but made sure we were next to each other. I had a party at my apartment for a friend of mine after he finished the MCAT (a party-worthy occasion if there ever was one) with the hope that she would come. She was the first there and the last to leave. I don't remember how many people were there, but she was.

Our first full-fledged date was January 25th. We saw Juno. I bought the tickets and she brought the snacks. Cut up fruits and ants on a log (not real ants, nor real logs, but still yummy). Slowly, the other friends stopped coming to movies, we'd pretend to split up after lunch with friends, only to meet up again in 5 minutes for coffee alone. Then we stopped making excuses and started dating. It's been wonderful ever since.

I don't quite remember (or want to remember) what I did before me and R were together and I can't really imagine what I would do without her. It's been the best year of my life and the reason is her.

I have more to tell later, about the study section that made me reconsider (once again) what I want to do with my life, my upcoming rotation (plant computational biology lab, anyone surprised?), and my newfound appreciation for literature that does not involve science; but it's late you're all probably a little nauseous by now anyway ;-)

More soon!