I'm Back, Bitches

This bizarre, unplanned ramadan of mine is officially over - in every way.

I am back. The whole me.

I am not concerned about measuring how long I was actually gone (a month? a year?) nor the reasons behind why I went away. At this point, it's absolutely irrelevant because all that matters is today and tomorrow.

Steve arrives from Paris in a matter of days, and Sean will arrive days later. I'll spend Easter on Praia Mole in Florianopolis with Vini, Sean, Ran and Dane, then celebrate my birthday the following week here in São Paulo with Ran and Dane along for the ride. Then, I'll be going to Washington for a week on business - in fact I might end up on the same flight with Ran and Dane - where I'll get to cap off this long set of reunions with the dearest friends I have in the world. I'll also get to meet Dena's new son, Nathaniel, and D.C.'s new dance club, Town.

With the urgency of all this wonderfulness rushing towards me, I have thrown myself into preparations. The kitchen is close to being finished. The art will be hung next week. The living room drapes are being delivered on Tuesday. I'm clearing my daily schedule so I can concentrate on my visitors.

And the overhaul my tired body and soul have been yearning for is underway as well. I've finally hired a personal trainer, and he's fantastic. We've set aggressive goals, and I can already feel both the long climb that is ahead of me and the excited sense of energy returning to my system. I've changed medical insurance carriers, so I've scheduled appointments with new specialists to get myself tuned up. I've also finally made the move to put myself in the hands of Gilberto on Consolação - I've got a whole afternoon of beauty scheduled today.

And tomorrow night, I'm organizing my first real night out with my friends. I called up Bruno early in the week to get on his calendar, and it also seems that there will be other friends going out on the town as well who we'll certainly run into.

So, the whirl has finally returned to the innermost parts of me. I'm so whipped up in it that even this week of incredibly stressful workdays (starting as early as 6:30am and ending sometimes after 1:00am) hasn't conquered me or thrown me off. The dollar has dropped to R$1.66 -- and I don't care.

Wanna come along, bitches? :-)