Saturday, July 8, 2006 | by nathan

Dispatches From The Allergy Clinic

Weird health things today; I feel very strange.

We had another round of drunk Nintendo last night; Super Mario World, Mario Kart, and Yoshi’s Island. Woodchuck Cider, Abita Wheat, and Pyramid Apricot Ale.

Today, a little hungover.

I’ve had fast food three times this week; I feel like ass. Also, my allergies are going nuts; I think it’s the Taco Bueno and McDonald’s. I forgot that fast food does this to people. Ugh.

Did you know that I like to listen to audiobooks, especially when I work in the garden, or take long drives? I do. I gave myself a membership to Audible.com for Christmas and I have listened to several interesting books over the last six or seven months.

I just finished Mary Cheney’s autobiography last week; it took forever because it was horrible. Really the whole book is the story of her father, of his life, and his campaign; it is an answer to Dick Cheney’s critics more than anything, and the last several chapters are mostly just very unkind, very politicized criticisms of John Kerry and John Edwards. No wonder the book flopped.

So now I’m listening to something much better: Anderson Cooper’s new book, Dispatches From The Edge. I have always had a lot of respect for Anderson, but now - now I’m developing a full-on Man Crush. Despite the rumors, and the fact that a friend of Brian’s claims to have a pair of his underwear, I can honestly say I get no read on his homo-ness one way or the other. But from listening to the book, I don’t care. The guy’s a badass. The whole thing is a narrative of his life as told through his experiences reporting from disaster zones and wars around the world. Okay, so the book is kind of self-indulgent from time to time, but Andy genuinely has a flair for storytelling. And it’s great hearing it in his own voice rather than reading it off a page.

It makes me wish I had the means to take off into the war-torn, disaster-ravaged, poverty-stricken parts of the world with a camera. But since I want to finish school, and get my student loans paid off as soon as humanly possible, and - oh yeah - I’m getting married in September to the best man in History, I’ll stay here. But the book is fun to listen to; when I leave here I’m going home to work in the yard and listen to more of Andy’s sexy, sexy voice.