three years in the desert

Three years ago to the day, everything we owned in a Penske truck, we entered Albuquerque after driving cross-country, without knowing a soul here or having jobs.

In these three years I:
- bought my first car and started driving and did so without a ticket or accident for 24 months now
- finished my first book and took a second one from sheer idea to the stage of fourth draft (350 pages)
- became an American citizen
- started running (February 2006) and ran my first 5K and first half-marathon
- visited my family in Eastern Europe
- conceded to stay in the same job for two years, something surpassed only once (it was three years then) in my whole life
- took 5,000 photographs, give or take a few
- made friends more numerous than the people I was acquainted with during the nine years I spent on the East Coast
- fell in love with green chile
- discovered art fairs, wine festivals, and balloon fiestas
- reduced my cigarette intake from whatever to three a day
- stopped taking things personally (still working on this one)

I love New Mexico.