my cousin Eric

[elsajeni]

My cousin Eric came over for dinner, which is always great. I don't get to see him much, but right now he's in town doing some painting and tiling for a friend. We talked a lot about his travel plans for the summer -- he's doing Europe for the first time. I really want to travel the way he does, go somewhere on the cheap and wander around aimlessly and live on 10 dollars a day. He's the vagabond of the family, the one who sort of bums around and gets his money doing odd jobs and hitchhikes around Chile and, once, got work helping out on an Everest expedition (he stayed at base camp; one of the climbers in his group died on the mountain), and he is by far my favorite cousin. I miss him when he's off somewhere doing something exciting.

Look familiar? It's from a while ago. Well, Eric's just gotten a job working as a carpenter in Antarctica this coming, um, winter/summer. (Winter here. Summer there. Because he's not stupid.)

Dammit, I want to be him.

Also, side note: saw Troy. Not very good, but terrific potential for Trojan jokes. Also, Brad Pitt is looking damn good for a man old enough to be my father. And... cousins. Cousins. Yeah, Achilles, like hell he's your cousin.