Post country weekend malaise

I went to New Hampshire over the weekend, where I finally learned how to spot polaris if I find myself someday lost in the woods. I also kicked ass at Scrabble. I also lost horribly at it, but I am much better at badminton than tennis I realized. I am reading a book by PJ O'Rourke, "Holidays in Hell," which has basically written up all the things I felt about Cuba, except in the context of 1980s Lebanon or Communist Poland. It is simultaneously witty and upsetting, like most things, but more on the subject on another day when I don't have to wake up in five hours. The end of Cryptonomicon was the biggest fucking disappointment on the planet. The last hundred pages were first miserable, and then absurd, but fortunately it is now done. Unfortunately, my mother happened to be reading the sequel in what is a planned trilogy, and now that I know it exists I am a quitter, 900 crappy pages notwithstanding, if I don't read Quicksilver when it comes out in paperback. Apparently it takes place in the 1600s, following the narrative of these families throughout the milennia like they were Black Adder or something. Bah.