It's a heady collection of tags: authentic experience, nyc, love, sex, friends; should be a real barn-burner of a blog.

Back in Humboldt for a week now, feeling the raw world-conquering momentum bleed away into wood smoke and the smell of fallen leaves. It's not unpleasant at all, this country home of mine -- next week will be alive with family and friends; the way I fell in love in the first place -- but today it gives me a feeling of wistful sadness.

It seems I make myself a smaller person here, or maybe it's vice-versa with the Mother City making me bigger. Much as I believe the hype about the internet flattening the world, it will always be true that different things happen in different places. It was an immense recharge, to walk again the streets of Brooklyn, to feel the quick hard snap of real subway doors, the great heaping crush of humanity, densely packed ambition and excellence. I draw power from the capital of the world.

And it's not just the women, but I won't lie: they're a big part of it. I have a no kiss-and-blog policy, but this little slice from William Gibson has stuck with me since adolescence, and pretty much nails me to a T:

But Bobby had this thing for girls, like they were his private tarot or something, the way he'd get himself moving. We never talked about it, but when it started to look like he was losing his touch that summer, he started to spend more time in the Gentleman Loser. He'd sit at a table by the open doors and watch the crowd slide by, nights when the bugs were at the neon and the air smelled of perfume and fast food. You could see his sunglasses scanning those faces as they passed, and he must have decided that Rikki's was the one he was waiting for, the wild card and the luck changer. The new one.

Back in the country home and it's nice to feel the soft touch of nature as I run Moamar off Ox road and into a slick grassy ditch. That's what you get for playing with neutral on steep gravel avenues. Everything worked out though with a midnight chain-gang mission.

After being on the road and on the run for three weeks, I'm looking forward to digging in a bit and really getting some things accomplished. Among them is a yoga class. Next week's thanksgiving festivities should be epic.

Much has happened, but I currently lack the wherewithal to chronicle it with justice, so we'll leave it there. I'm back in the Redwoods and things are going great.

My mom is pretty much the coolest.

Through University of Oregon cultural forum, she's been throwing large all-night LAN parties in their Student Union for a few years now with great success, but this year it's going to a new, historic level. They've coordinated with their counterparts at Oregon State up in Corvallis to do the first-ever organized intercollegiate gaming competition: Civil War LAN. It's pulled off using their ultra-high-speed Internet2 connection, and could be an indicator of future intercollegiate competitions.

No word yet on Nike sponsorships.

Digg it.

So far it's the best Monday evar, and not just because I had a fantastic dinner last night (butternut squash + garlic + house-made pasta + grappa = WIN). I'm hanging at The Change You Want To See and the good news is rolling like thunder:

• Obama will close Guantanimo. An excellent and important first step.
• Obama has a 75% favoribility rating, which won't last, but bodes well for getting a good Big Push done early.
• Mike Lux is on the transition team, which I like because he's connected to people I know and trust at Open Left. Bodes well for coalition building around the new administration.
• Sy Hersh will blow the lid off the warrentless wiretapping as soon as his sources no longer have Bush retrebuition to fear.

It's looking like there will be some results. Elections have consequences.

Of course, the big thing we'll all be waiting on is what we do for the economy. That's a huge thing, but I'm feeling mildly optimistic about it all.