It’s late April 2023 and this is my activity:
I am a research communications project manager at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, where I spend most of my time supporting the coordinating center for RADx-UP, a major research project funded by the National Institutes of Health. I work mostly at home in an office that looks out to the woods of our property, but I do make it to the office in downtown Durham one or two days a week.
Next month, we will move into a new house on the wooded lot across from the home we currently live in. The house is going to be stunning (our friend Kevin Anderson designed it) and perfect for gathering our family and friends for meals and celebrations. A new paved private driveway from the street below is now finished and gives us safer, smoother access to the public streets. Erin’s sister, Mary, moved into her new house (same builder) down the gravel driveway. Anna’s back at UNC Greensboro for nursing school, and Malia is in her first year at American University.
I love to play and watch soccer. I have recovered from a medial gastrocnemius strain and will soon be back to playing on Sunday and Wednesday mornings, and I watch as much English Premier League as possible. Oliver plays on a Triangle United team and I pace the sidelines as I watch him play—and score goals. Oliver and I visited my brother in Austin in December and we watched the World Cup final at Meanwhile Brewing Company. Like I said, I love to play and watch soccer.
In 2022, I was lucky to travel far and wide, but this year we’re planning to stay close to Chapel Hill because of the house project.
I’m into my twenty-third year of this blog, and I continue to chronicle my life and the world around me. For the first two decades, I most often wrote about my past experiences — about my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Vanuatu, about my grandfathers and how their writings inspired me — but COVID-19 and 2020/2021 and other influences have shifted my gaze away from nostalgia and to what’s in front of me right here and right now. I also do short-form blogging at storian.org and I use Micro.blog to post short updates and photos; see Wan Smol Blog.
Updated 04/23/23 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
© Anton Zuiker