The theme of this past week has most decidedly been Old Friends. In each and every case, it was wonderful to catch up. Writing and calling works... but being present with someone is so much more powerful. It's similar to, but even better than, seeing original artwork or hearing live music or going to the ballet.

Without further grandiose ado, here are the fabulous friends I got to see, live and in person, this past week. It all started in San Francisco.
- On Saturday, Chad came up from LA for the SL convention, so we got to catch up during dinner that night.
- On Sunday, after the the convention was over and all the Sheep had scattered, I headed over to Mavis and Nia's house. I can't remember the last time I saw them, so it was wonderful to reconnect.
- On Monday, I met Sue for lunch and then she and Mavis and I took in Telegraph Hill and other parts of SF.
- On Monday night, I BARTed out to Pixar to hang out with Mike, who I've had almost no contact with since he left DC last year. Lovely to see him enjoying his job and his surroundings so much.

I got back to DC on Tuesday morning, and on Tuesday afternoon I had coffee with Abby!
- Tuesday night was my first BRDM practice in ages, so it sort of felt like I was reuniting with long-lost friends.
- On Wednesday I reunited with Delafield over a leisurely dinner on the front porch.
- On Thursday, I had lunch with Beth - we were fellow math majors and HPs at Wellesey. I don't think I've seen her since graduation.
- On Friday, I went to Jazz in the Garden for the first time in a loooong time, and then a bunch of Wonderbredders went to see the Capitol Steps. I don't get to see that crew much anymore, so they sort of count as old friends. At least for the theme of the week.

The only old friends of the weekend were inanimate, but still exciting.
- On Saturday, I stuck the hard drive from my old, dead laptop into an external enclosure, plugged it into my lovely new MacBook, and found all kinds of music that I haven't listened to since I was in Rome. Rock on! There were a bunch of photos from Italy that I haven't looked at for ages.
- Today, I picked up my violin for the first time since Kate and Jaime's wedding. They're still holding my shoulder rest hostage in Brooklyn (which I suspect is a wiley plot to get me to go up and visit them), so my posture was a little awkward, and my fingers were clumsy, but it felt good nonetheless.