Happy Election Day, everyone. Here’s to a decisive victory for somebody, with no shenanigans. Hah! I am very thankful that I will be playing Lutoslawski tonight instead of being stuck in front of the TV.

Here in Berkeley it’s popular to talk about leaving the country if Bush wins, as if the political situation were actually going to have an effect on our personal safety and comfort. Having gone to Lewis & Clark College with a bunch of rich white kids who spent all too much time trying to identify with people whose lives weren’t handed to them on a silver platter, I suspect that all this talk of leaving is mostly histrionics.

In fact, I may wind up moving abroad within a year or so, but for professional reasons. I’m considering a postdoc in John O’Keefe’s lab in London, where I could indulge some of my hypotheses about the hippocampus. Alternatively, my friend Valentin seems likely to get a position in Zurich, where postdocs are paid well and the mountains are so lovely… There’s also the option of a short stint in Tobias Bonhoeffer’s lab for a collaborative project with another friend, Tom. All very nice to consider. Berkeley has been good to me, but too much comfort has worn me out, insidiously.

I hope you all like the new layout. Of course, I could have spent the same amount of time writing my essay on identity and manhood in 1950-60 films, but the temptation to fiddle with technology is still mostly unavoidable. What I would give, sometimes, to be able to unlearn some things.