How's Your Aspen?

Mine's great, thank you. In fact, so great that I wish I could've spent just a little bit longer in my lovely mountain home. I left early this morning to go to another SAS-related event: a "Bon Voyage/Welcome Home" Reception for students and alumni. There were six Fall 2011 students there, myself included, and, yeah, you guessed it, ALL NERVOUS. Whatev. We're gonna be a-okay. Anyway, ASPEN. I miss it! Yeah, so what if it's a postcard? So what if isn't a real place that's consistent with the rest of reality? So what if I sold Felicity Huffman chocolate last summer (she's SO nice)? IT'S MY HOME, DAMMIT, AND I HAD A GREAT WEEKEND VISITING. I did (almost) all of my favorite things with (almost) all of my favorite people, and I can't wait to be back in August before leaving for Canada.

Is it really home, though? I mean, the majority of my time these days is spent in Colorado Springs, land of the Religious Right, locale to a United States Military installation on all sides of the city, home of gap-toothed homeless drug addicts. Okay, stereotypes aside, the Springs is nice...for a time. Perhaps I'm being cynical. Perhaps I'm jaded. Or perhaps I'm rambling. Pontifications on my aforementioned aside aside (ha), I spend most of my days here in the Springs, but I pay taxes in Pitkin County and have an Aspen address. I grew up in Virginia, though, and I'm going there on Friday (!!!) for my best friend's birthday. That will always be home. Really, though, what is home? What is the concept of home? I feel like I'm getting too abstract and/or metaphysical for this blog, but it's my blog, so for all you logic-y types, I apologize, but you can go look elsewhere for a blog more based in reality, cause goodness knows I am not the most pragmatic thinker in the world.

I'm wondering about home because as Semester at Sea looms ever closer on the proverbial horizon, I expect it will shift my perception even further. Maybe I'll be even more illogical after the voyage is over! I'll try not to be, though, because I'm not sure if I could completely handle that. I don't even know what I'm talking about at this point. I'm really hungry. 

HUNGRY. Also, minimal chest hair exposure. More underneath the shirt. GOD, SAM, YOU'RE SUCH A TEASE. But really.