LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! RANDOM CRUELTY!
Where in the world was Famous Author Rob Byrnes?

Thanks for asking. As a matter of fact, I just returned from a long weekend in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, at the getaway home of a close friend. Just me, that friend, and eight or nine of our favorite borderline alcoholics.

Fools on a Hill

While there, we:

* stayed up far too late
* built numerous bonfires
* drank all of Northeast Pennsylvania's supply of vodka and wine (see above)
* got far too carried away with LOLspeak (see above)
* played bocce
* managed to lose a bright yellow bocce ball in the forest
* saw wildlife
* ate wildlife
* almost drove a power boat into an island
* laughed a bit too hard about things you could never understand unless you were there
* laughed at the expense of people who weren't there... as well as ourselves
* and, best of all...
...relaxed, happy to be away from the noise and hustle of our normal Manhattan-centric lives.

Oh, it wasn't all fun and games, of course. For example, at one point I laughed so hard that I swallowed a piece of sausage before it had been properly chewed, necessitating my friend Steven to demonstrate his recent Heimlich training. (I have got to stop doing that.) But we could even turn that into a running joke for the weekend... although I have no doubt they would have joked about it even if no one knew the Heimlich Maneuver.

Good times.

Of course, reality has once again intruded, but we'll always have the memories of the weekend now known as Dougapalooza.

All in all, that's not a bad trade-off.