all things connected

the universe has been yanking me by previously invisible strings, tied to things it, seemingly, wants me to know.

about this time last year, i began reading the writing of Raymond Carver, because i learned in my research that his stories were the inspiration for the Robert Altman film Short Cuts. why i suddenly had an interest in this particular film, i'm not sure, because i never was that interested in Robert Altman films before. after reading Raymond Carver and learning more about his life, i found out he used to live in Syracuse, NY, not far from where ben and i used to live.

today, i learned that David Foster Wallace, whose work i've only recently started reading, wrote Infinite Jest (which sounds delightful, by the way, and might be the next book on my reading list after finishing Executioner's Song and Eating Animals) in Syracuse, NY. how bizarre, right? of all the places to write a book! further connections: he was born in Ithaca, taught briefly at Illinois State University (unfortunately before ben attended there) and taught fiction at Pomona in Claremont, CA, where my cousin went to school.

some other time recently i was watching a documentary in which the subject of said documentary was living in Syracuse, NY.

i also recently learned that my aunt (by marriage) attended Syracuse for her Master's degree. i'd never even known anyone who graduated from there before and then i found out there was one in the family!

and recently i've been reading and researching and learning a lot about different types of wine. my favorite wines - based on their science as well as their taste - are late harvest, noble rot, and ice wines. turns out, the Finger Lakes region of New York is well-known for making ice wines! and that is only a day trip away from, yep, Syracuse, NY!

and finally, Syracuse is the current home of my husband-to-be.

thus, why am i not living there when all signs point to YES?