It's early morning....or late night, depending on your view if one has not quite gone to bed yet. It's lonely in my brand new apartment that I still have not yet settled into. A different kind of "lonely" though, as if there is a need for it to be filled with friends and visitors and loved ones of all types. I've created such a great space that I now need it to be filled in order to show it off and enjoy. I'm beginning to learn that my need to be social and my socializing skills are coming into play at tremendous speed and ease and I've been embracing my new found role of "that guy".
In a matter of two weeks I've managed to find an apartment and furnish it to the basic needs (bed, complete living room and dining room) and now I just have to wait to fill it up with the side trinkets and filler decoration. I had a house warming party - invited the core group of my new Tampa friends and embarked upon South Tampa society in true Larkin fashion. A mixture of old friends and new helped fill my house with positive vibes and fun and excitement - so much excitement that we all decided to ditch the house warming after it got late and head out for food and drinks elsewhere....my own entourage of friends if you will.
4th of July came and went. It was a rainy one yet we still managed to have our BBQ party and celebrate festivities to the best of our abilities. And then I left for Europe (Gdansk, Poland to be exact) for Wikimania 2010 for work, which can be summed up as a great experience both professionally and personally. The ability to meet so many people from all over who possess some of the most brilliant minds and speak in languages (literally AND technology wise) blew me away.
And of course being back in Europe helped fulfill my need to be somewhere else and make it feel as if I was truly transported to another place. Gdansk possessed the old world charm (still remnants of bombed out buildings and the cookie cutter houses side by side). There was music in the streets, vendors and tourist mingling about in the town square, and there was me - wide eyed American but once European trying to capture the feel of the moment. The city was by a seaport and apparently there was a marina festival that weekend which helped add to the charm and of course, any of my loyal fans know that I am mesmerized by anything that has to do with the water or boats, etc.
But I think the best part of it all was the bonding. I felt like I was at camp and I was making new friends with people and at the end of the session, the last night where we all say goodbye, in that moment I realized that it was all over and we'd all go back to our somewhat normal lives and usual routine and that some people I won't see again for a while (co-worker/associates included)....I love the ability to connect and to share experiences and to have the random adventures of staying up till 3am to watch the sunrise or wander from bar to bar and do as the Europeans do....
There was excitement and magic. The energy of all being together and learning and sharing a common goal - the feeling of being part of a community!
I'll remember those moments of course - the small subtle adventures of strolling down the canal, taking shots of Goldwasser instead of sipping, my flip flops of 10 years suddenly breaking at 2am and wandering barefoot down the cobblestone streets, watching the final world cup game in a suite overlooking the town square, being consumed with appreciation of my life in that moment to be like "wow, look at what I am doing / look at what I am accomplishing"....
If ever anyone needed some luck right now, I will be so bold as to suggest that they touch me so that my fortune can rub off on others too - I want to share my life and my stories and adventures with the whole world right now...I feel energized and a sense of worldly connection and it's the most weird and unusual feeling.
It's like having a crush on someone and feeling so helpless knowing that you can't do much but admire from afar (a familiar feeling in my life though) as I try to pinpoint down exactly what these moments mean to me.
The world is telling me something.....I feel like I am now settled away from the chaos that once was....
I feel...
Infinite.
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