Homecoming
Look out on the front lawn.
Shrunken with accelerating time…
turned foreign by distance…
a familiarity for so many years.
Lush greens and tall shade,
r o y g b i v dotted steeps hill.
The sun drops below forested trees.
Enter twilight.
Gel the bright to a murky haze,
fading sight brings older visions.
Return to childhood;
gleeful tumbles on grass,
plucking weeds under scorching,
at dusk, accompanied by private musings.
Watch bats twirl above,
and fireflies spark beside.
Look out on the front lawn, now.
(In twilight.)
See the cobwebbed memories
growing transparent on a greened abyss.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Uneventful
I worked out Friday night extra long and met up with my parents at The Loft for lobsters.
I went shopping with Mom on Saturday for new gym clothes that fit and cute flip flops.
I felt extra cute, so I wore a skirt, for once!
I barbequed some chicken kebabs for the family.
I went to Craig's house, where I made him brownies, he recorded me some music, and we watched "V for Vendetta". The film was alright, I feel that the directors could have done a lot more with the idea of the film, but it was still enjoyable.
Sunday was a long day. Went to the gym, cleaned the kitchen, and my room. Started studying french. Read some. Grocery shopped. Made catfish for dinner with pesto from scratch (highlight of day). I wore sweats all day.
I reminisced some about pre-middle school years.
I really hope Ido doesn't move to Israel now....
I went shopping with Mom on Saturday for new gym clothes that fit and cute flip flops.
I felt extra cute, so I wore a skirt, for once!
I barbequed some chicken kebabs for the family.
I went to Craig's house, where I made him brownies, he recorded me some music, and we watched "V for Vendetta". The film was alright, I feel that the directors could have done a lot more with the idea of the film, but it was still enjoyable.
Sunday was a long day. Went to the gym, cleaned the kitchen, and my room. Started studying french. Read some. Grocery shopped. Made catfish for dinner with pesto from scratch (highlight of day). I wore sweats all day.
I reminisced some about pre-middle school years.
I really hope Ido doesn't move to Israel now....
Friday, July 28, 2006
Girls' Night
First things first...
I went to the ENT yesterday for an allergy test. I was sooo nervous, thinking it was going to be all bloodwork and stuff. If you have ever heard of my past experiences with needles in some blood-taking events, you'd know why I'd be dreading it so much.
I get into the room, and the lady tells me that I'll have 32 scratch tests on me. Oh lord, 32 tests? Are those needles??? No, to my pleasant surprise, I didn't need any blood taken, or any needles going through my skin. Basically, they take these little plastic ends and roll them on your arm. Not too bad. But my arm was as itchy as all hell for 20 minutes. That means I'm allergic to something.
Results: I'm allergic to 1 type of grass, 3 types of weeds, and 1 type of tree. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I'm allergic to plants. Plain and simple. And these allergic plants of mine happen to be very popular in the New England region. The best part is that these plants all blossom at different times of the year, so the only months where I'm not allergic are January through March...which is when cold season starts. YESSSSSS....
Shivangi came over with a bunch of Indian herbs and whatnots to make soup with. I can't remember the exact name of the soup, but it was simple and easy. While we were attempting to cook, and manage a pressure cooker that was slightly broken, Penny came over. And Dominique, whom I haven't seen in probably a year or so, showed up, too! It was like a family reunion!
We finished the soup and, upon inspection, concluded that it was safe to eat. It was gone within 5 minutes, as was half a loaf of hearty grain bread.
Upon the fiasco that happens when us girls get together, we giggled and talked like a bunch of high school girls all over again. It was really nice to be with a bunch of girls that know me too well and be all girly for a while. I haven't laughed so hard in a while.
Penny decided to make us all lie on the floor and take pictures. It was an hour of rolling on the floor laughing, not understanding the correct legistics of taking pictures upside-down. We wanted one picture....we ended up with 59. Amazing.
I'm glad to have girlfriends like that, where we cannot for the life of us be awkward or uncomfortable with each other. It's the kind of thing where you feel like life is, in fact, a movie.
I posted all of the pictures of the night on my Webshots. Feel free to laugh out loud at us, because Lord knows we're still laughing at ourselves.
I went to the ENT yesterday for an allergy test. I was sooo nervous, thinking it was going to be all bloodwork and stuff. If you have ever heard of my past experiences with needles in some blood-taking events, you'd know why I'd be dreading it so much.
I get into the room, and the lady tells me that I'll have 32 scratch tests on me. Oh lord, 32 tests? Are those needles??? No, to my pleasant surprise, I didn't need any blood taken, or any needles going through my skin. Basically, they take these little plastic ends and roll them on your arm. Not too bad. But my arm was as itchy as all hell for 20 minutes. That means I'm allergic to something.
Results: I'm allergic to 1 type of grass, 3 types of weeds, and 1 type of tree. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I'm allergic to plants. Plain and simple. And these allergic plants of mine happen to be very popular in the New England region. The best part is that these plants all blossom at different times of the year, so the only months where I'm not allergic are January through March...which is when cold season starts. YESSSSSS....
Shivangi came over with a bunch of Indian herbs and whatnots to make soup with. I can't remember the exact name of the soup, but it was simple and easy. While we were attempting to cook, and manage a pressure cooker that was slightly broken, Penny came over. And Dominique, whom I haven't seen in probably a year or so, showed up, too! It was like a family reunion!
We finished the soup and, upon inspection, concluded that it was safe to eat. It was gone within 5 minutes, as was half a loaf of hearty grain bread.
Upon the fiasco that happens when us girls get together, we giggled and talked like a bunch of high school girls all over again. It was really nice to be with a bunch of girls that know me too well and be all girly for a while. I haven't laughed so hard in a while.
Penny decided to make us all lie on the floor and take pictures. It was an hour of rolling on the floor laughing, not understanding the correct legistics of taking pictures upside-down. We wanted one picture....we ended up with 59. Amazing.
I'm glad to have girlfriends like that, where we cannot for the life of us be awkward or uncomfortable with each other. It's the kind of thing where you feel like life is, in fact, a movie.
I posted all of the pictures of the night on my Webshots. Feel free to laugh out loud at us, because Lord knows we're still laughing at ourselves.
Monday, July 24, 2006
NYC: The Good with the Bad
Another weekend of fruitless apartment hunting. My frustration is accelerating every day I get closer to starting classes again. It's almost as if some higher being is prohibiting me to getting it for some reason unknown and uncontrollable to me. And, if that's true, please let me know.
I was supposed to drive into NYC on Friday after work. But, sadly, the rain down there was so intense that it flooded a lot of the highways and bridges, and they shut down the freeways in, trains and airports. I was stranded in North Andover until the morning. I lamented for an hour at Borders, where I splurged on a hardcover of "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenom" and a new paperback, "The Pirates!" It's interesting, because now whenever I hit up a bookstore (which has been quite frequently), it's like a crackwhore attacking a crackhouse; I want them all, and I want them all now. Have I no shame?
I also went over to Jesse's house for a shin dig until around midnight. It was a highly entertaining place to be and watch people, and most of the people I hadn't seen in a year, so it was interesting to see them all now.
Saturday morning's drive in was full of occasional traffic, flash rain in Connecticut, and hydroplaning through the Bronx. I finally got into the city, where my father took the car at Herald Square for his own drive home. Interesting how my family works; it's almost like at least one person has to be in NYC at all times. In and out. I hit up my first apartment meeting with Innovative Apartments. As a prelim meeting, I didn't get to see any apartments, but she made me feel hopeful that I'd get someplace when I need it. Allah kareem.
I checked into the hostel, which was very close to Union Square (big plus points). It was a cute little walk up apartment-turned-hostel. It was small, sure, but it did the job. I wanted a bed, I got a bed.
After I inspected the Trader Joe's recently put under the Palladium dorms, Andy and I met up at Washington Square, where we concluded to walk. It started raining, so we took refuge over in the Virgin Cafe (appropriately? che pas...) and talked for a few hours. He kept squealing about my weight loss endeavors, which made me blush quite a bit. After the rain let up, we ran over to the Barnes & Noble across the park, where we both greedily man-handled a plethora of lusciously covered books and novels. We even took photos of books.
We met up with his roommate Natalia and their friends Dan (straight) & Kevin (gay). Finding out that I was with a group of 24-28 year olds, I felt extremely young, and tried my best to not be that awkward little kid with the big kids. I think I did alright. We went to a really nice restaurant, Havana Central. And we ate. Oh boy, did we eat. Appetizer samplers, huge entrees (and quite pricey), drinks (I took a smoothie due to my medical testing this week), and a desert sampler. And the food was amazing. Really, really, amazing. And there was so much food!!! We all overate, a lot. But the conversation was nice, we had a great time, laughed a lot, told good stories...good times. I always have fun with Andy's friends. They're always good kids, and I enjoy them immensely. Does that mean something?....(Andy, I know you read these, so I'm going to ask you: can I be you?)
After shelling out a hefty sum, we rolled out of the restaurant and agreed to meet up in about an hour to go out. It was already 10pm and I was ready to sleep, yes, but that doesn't mean anything when you're in NYC. The night starts whenever you start. And never ends, ever. Ever.
I hobbled back to the hostel to meet my "roommates". And, being more full of food than God is full of love, I was quite the sociallable talker while getting ready to go out. I first talked to 2 nice LA girls who were in for the night to read, which sounded tempting to join them. Then I noticed there was indeed a guy in our room, sleeping on the bottom bunk next to my top bunk. He was Indian-Canadian (which, as you might think, perked up my ears) , 28 years old, called himself Sunny, lives in San Fransisco, and (get this!) works for Google. Wow. Wow. Google? As in, I have a Google account and Google blog, Google? As in, I've done more case studies about Google in school than any other company in the world? Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen. That Google.
We started to talking. Unfortunately, being sociallable AND naturally flirtacious, I flirted. But, surprisingly, and almost too obviously, he flirted back. I always enjoy a good flirt, so it was fun, and I highly enjoyed the conversation. He was planning on going to Alphabet City with some people he met to a party while I planned to go...somewhere. So, we swapped numbers and agreed to text about our whereabouts for the night. Since I was going out with a bunch of 24/27 year olds, anyways, it wasn't like he'd be that guy joining a bunch of young college kids.
I met up with the group down in the Lower East Side and, after about an hour of looking for a place that had no bouncer (because I was the only under-21er in the group, they were trying to be nice and help me out.......even though I wasn't going to drink anything anyways...ironic...), we hit up a little liquor bar called Schiller's. Adorable, really nice atmosphere, I loved it. And I got a smoothie that rivalled a lot of other smoothies I've ever had. We kicked back, talked, laughed some more. Found out that the 27 year-old friend of Andy's that I was flirting with had a girlfriend and became immensely embarassed, good times. Until about 1.30am, where we were all exhausted and opted for an early night. Crashed at the hostel to sleep.
But you'd think the night would end there, right? Oh, no. No, no. About an hour into my tired slumber, 2 new backpackers crashed into the room, talking in full voice, and started unpacking and being "romantic." In fact, they (girl and boy) decided to go get into the shower together. Hostel, people. Paper-thin walls. The giggles started, and LA girl #1 and yelled at them that we were trying to sleep, so knock it off. The 2 newbies came out and started apologizing (I think), and I mumbled, "whatever, just go to bed." End of story, right? Nope. Never.
As soon as those 2 start getting into bed, Sunny comes back into the room. How do I know this? Because for about 5-10 minutes, while I was slipping into a twilight, I felt like someone's watching me. I open my eyes, to see Sunny looking at me. Oh boy. He comes over and puts his arm on my back, and starts asking me how my night was. "Short. What did you end up doing?" He started telling me, and I realize that he's really, really close to me. Really close. Mind you, I was half asleep, but I could still notice how close he was. Close enough to...with retainers in my mouth and everything (color me dorky, but I like keeping my teeth as straight as possible), I finally giggle and say, "and, goodnight." I know, I know...I blow it everytime. But come on! Taaaact! Oh well, next time?
I wake up after not really sleeping, completely wiped, to go to another apartment meeting. Said bye to Sunny, left him a little note in his bag, and checked out.
I get to the agent's place on the Upper East Side. I wait in their lobby for 30 minutes to get bitched out at for another 30 minutes about not being in town for more than the weekend, that I was wasting their time, and that I had the NERVE to go to them LOOKING FOR APARTMENTS! And I was "so unprepared"! Though I was fully prepared... Apparently, the plan was for me to purhase one of their places that day, no buts. Uh huh, right. Basically the guy was a complete jerk (censored, of course), and I will tell all of my friends to NEVER use Homestead Reality in NYC ever! Because they're there only to waste your time and steal your cash. That was in a nutshell.
Discouraged and raging mad, I go downtown again to get some comfort food; Challah bread. I find out then that my favorite Jewish Deli of all time, 2nd Avenue Deli, has been shut down! Closed, gone. I'm devastated.
The next meeting I had I didn't get an address for, so I had to cancel (since I didn't know where to meet them, anyways) on a dying mobile. Screw it, I decided, I'll just go back home now.
Took a Greyhound back to Boston. Was carsick for 2 hours of the trip. Cold for all 4.5 hours. I got to the South Station entrance to get haggled and harassed by a few creepy guys outside. Great day. Went home and slept off the frustration.
People, all I want is a 4 month apartment near school for less than $1500/mo! Is that too much to ask for?! I guess it is...
I was supposed to drive into NYC on Friday after work. But, sadly, the rain down there was so intense that it flooded a lot of the highways and bridges, and they shut down the freeways in, trains and airports. I was stranded in North Andover until the morning. I lamented for an hour at Borders, where I splurged on a hardcover of "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenom" and a new paperback, "The Pirates!" It's interesting, because now whenever I hit up a bookstore (which has been quite frequently), it's like a crackwhore attacking a crackhouse; I want them all, and I want them all now. Have I no shame?
I also went over to Jesse's house for a shin dig until around midnight. It was a highly entertaining place to be and watch people, and most of the people I hadn't seen in a year, so it was interesting to see them all now.
Saturday morning's drive in was full of occasional traffic, flash rain in Connecticut, and hydroplaning through the Bronx. I finally got into the city, where my father took the car at Herald Square for his own drive home. Interesting how my family works; it's almost like at least one person has to be in NYC at all times. In and out. I hit up my first apartment meeting with Innovative Apartments. As a prelim meeting, I didn't get to see any apartments, but she made me feel hopeful that I'd get someplace when I need it. Allah kareem.
I checked into the hostel, which was very close to Union Square (big plus points). It was a cute little walk up apartment-turned-hostel. It was small, sure, but it did the job. I wanted a bed, I got a bed.
After I inspected the Trader Joe's recently put under the Palladium dorms, Andy and I met up at Washington Square, where we concluded to walk. It started raining, so we took refuge over in the Virgin Cafe (appropriately? che pas...) and talked for a few hours. He kept squealing about my weight loss endeavors, which made me blush quite a bit. After the rain let up, we ran over to the Barnes & Noble across the park, where we both greedily man-handled a plethora of lusciously covered books and novels. We even took photos of books.
We met up with his roommate Natalia and their friends Dan (straight) & Kevin (gay). Finding out that I was with a group of 24-28 year olds, I felt extremely young, and tried my best to not be that awkward little kid with the big kids. I think I did alright. We went to a really nice restaurant, Havana Central. And we ate. Oh boy, did we eat. Appetizer samplers, huge entrees (and quite pricey), drinks (I took a smoothie due to my medical testing this week), and a desert sampler. And the food was amazing. Really, really, amazing. And there was so much food!!! We all overate, a lot. But the conversation was nice, we had a great time, laughed a lot, told good stories...good times. I always have fun with Andy's friends. They're always good kids, and I enjoy them immensely. Does that mean something?....(Andy, I know you read these, so I'm going to ask you: can I be you?)
After shelling out a hefty sum, we rolled out of the restaurant and agreed to meet up in about an hour to go out. It was already 10pm and I was ready to sleep, yes, but that doesn't mean anything when you're in NYC. The night starts whenever you start. And never ends, ever. Ever.
I hobbled back to the hostel to meet my "roommates". And, being more full of food than God is full of love, I was quite the sociallable talker while getting ready to go out. I first talked to 2 nice LA girls who were in for the night to read, which sounded tempting to join them. Then I noticed there was indeed a guy in our room, sleeping on the bottom bunk next to my top bunk. He was Indian-Canadian (which, as you might think, perked up my ears) , 28 years old, called himself Sunny, lives in San Fransisco, and (get this!) works for Google. Wow. Wow. Google? As in, I have a Google account and Google blog, Google? As in, I've done more case studies about Google in school than any other company in the world? Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen. That Google.
We started to talking. Unfortunately, being sociallable AND naturally flirtacious, I flirted. But, surprisingly, and almost too obviously, he flirted back. I always enjoy a good flirt, so it was fun, and I highly enjoyed the conversation. He was planning on going to Alphabet City with some people he met to a party while I planned to go...somewhere. So, we swapped numbers and agreed to text about our whereabouts for the night. Since I was going out with a bunch of 24/27 year olds, anyways, it wasn't like he'd be that guy joining a bunch of young college kids.
I met up with the group down in the Lower East Side and, after about an hour of looking for a place that had no bouncer (because I was the only under-21er in the group, they were trying to be nice and help me out.......even though I wasn't going to drink anything anyways...ironic...), we hit up a little liquor bar called Schiller's. Adorable, really nice atmosphere, I loved it. And I got a smoothie that rivalled a lot of other smoothies I've ever had. We kicked back, talked, laughed some more. Found out that the 27 year-old friend of Andy's that I was flirting with had a girlfriend and became immensely embarassed, good times. Until about 1.30am, where we were all exhausted and opted for an early night. Crashed at the hostel to sleep.
But you'd think the night would end there, right? Oh, no. No, no. About an hour into my tired slumber, 2 new backpackers crashed into the room, talking in full voice, and started unpacking and being "romantic." In fact, they (girl and boy) decided to go get into the shower together. Hostel, people. Paper-thin walls. The giggles started, and LA girl #1 and yelled at them that we were trying to sleep, so knock it off. The 2 newbies came out and started apologizing (I think), and I mumbled, "whatever, just go to bed." End of story, right? Nope. Never.
As soon as those 2 start getting into bed, Sunny comes back into the room. How do I know this? Because for about 5-10 minutes, while I was slipping into a twilight, I felt like someone's watching me. I open my eyes, to see Sunny looking at me. Oh boy. He comes over and puts his arm on my back, and starts asking me how my night was. "Short. What did you end up doing?" He started telling me, and I realize that he's really, really close to me. Really close. Mind you, I was half asleep, but I could still notice how close he was. Close enough to...with retainers in my mouth and everything (color me dorky, but I like keeping my teeth as straight as possible), I finally giggle and say, "and, goodnight." I know, I know...I blow it everytime. But come on! Taaaact! Oh well, next time?
I wake up after not really sleeping, completely wiped, to go to another apartment meeting. Said bye to Sunny, left him a little note in his bag, and checked out.
I get to the agent's place on the Upper East Side. I wait in their lobby for 30 minutes to get bitched out at for another 30 minutes about not being in town for more than the weekend, that I was wasting their time, and that I had the NERVE to go to them LOOKING FOR APARTMENTS! And I was "so unprepared"! Though I was fully prepared... Apparently, the plan was for me to purhase one of their places that day, no buts. Uh huh, right. Basically the guy was a complete jerk (censored, of course), and I will tell all of my friends to NEVER use Homestead Reality in NYC ever! Because they're there only to waste your time and steal your cash. That was in a nutshell.
Discouraged and raging mad, I go downtown again to get some comfort food; Challah bread. I find out then that my favorite Jewish Deli of all time, 2nd Avenue Deli, has been shut down! Closed, gone. I'm devastated.
The next meeting I had I didn't get an address for, so I had to cancel (since I didn't know where to meet them, anyways) on a dying mobile. Screw it, I decided, I'll just go back home now.
Took a Greyhound back to Boston. Was carsick for 2 hours of the trip. Cold for all 4.5 hours. I got to the South Station entrance to get haggled and harassed by a few creepy guys outside. Great day. Went home and slept off the frustration.
People, all I want is a 4 month apartment near school for less than $1500/mo! Is that too much to ask for?! I guess it is...
Friday, July 21, 2006
Un Vieux Ami
So, I'm diligently working on Wednesday at my desk, doing some kind of data input or mail sorting or something hideously dull, when my mobile rang. Now, normally I get upset when I hear my phone ring ("No phone, no phone, I just want to be alone today..."), but I decided to pick it up instead. To my utter surprise, it's my good old friend from Nice, Arthur! He called to tell me he was back in America for a few more days, and wanted to see me before he left! We-he-he-ll, don't I feel super special? So, we planned to met each other after I had work at Stephen's Memorial Library to go get some tea or something.
I didn't even recognize him at first.
Same height, but he looked tired. And he had hair...not to mention in an interesting hairdo. But when I got closer to him, he was same old Arthur.
I was surprised because for some reason I thought he was going to speak really broken english, which is how he was most of the time he was here. But his english was excellent, and he was TALKING! Lots! Now, for those of you who may have ever met Arthur know he's not one to talk a whole lot, but when I was hanging out with him, I let him dominate the conversation...he had a lot more to say than I did!
We went to Starbucks, grabbed some green teas, and just talked. Some of it was silly, some of it was profound, some of it was small talk. It was a wonderful time. I sometimes forget how good people can be, and how well I chose friends for the most part.
He's happy, he says. Tired, works too hard, but still content. He likes what he's doing for the most part, and he says he's calmed down quite a bit. He still helps his family out a lot. And he's going to trade school this year for carpentry. I say, bon travail!
I'm going to call him up when I am in France this year, and see if he's free when I go to Nice.
I finished "The Kite Runner" last night after my french outing. That book is excellent! I couldn't have been happier with a book, right now! I'm almost upset I finished it.
What book to read next? I'm going to try to steal "Blink" from Jesse, or the library. Peut-etre un francais roman, aussi? Who knows?! I have slews of books I want to read.
My mom's been really upset that Ido plans on moving back to Israel right now, with the whole upset over there (mostly in Lebanon, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem...). I emailed him about a week ago telling him of her concerns. He responded, tell me that he's kind of debating whether or not it'd be a good idea to go back, after all. Maybe he'll stay here!
I didn't even recognize him at first.
Same height, but he looked tired. And he had hair...not to mention in an interesting hairdo. But when I got closer to him, he was same old Arthur.
I was surprised because for some reason I thought he was going to speak really broken english, which is how he was most of the time he was here. But his english was excellent, and he was TALKING! Lots! Now, for those of you who may have ever met Arthur know he's not one to talk a whole lot, but when I was hanging out with him, I let him dominate the conversation...he had a lot more to say than I did!
We went to Starbucks, grabbed some green teas, and just talked. Some of it was silly, some of it was profound, some of it was small talk. It was a wonderful time. I sometimes forget how good people can be, and how well I chose friends for the most part.
He's happy, he says. Tired, works too hard, but still content. He likes what he's doing for the most part, and he says he's calmed down quite a bit. He still helps his family out a lot. And he's going to trade school this year for carpentry. I say, bon travail!
I'm going to call him up when I am in France this year, and see if he's free when I go to Nice.
I finished "The Kite Runner" last night after my french outing. That book is excellent! I couldn't have been happier with a book, right now! I'm almost upset I finished it.
What book to read next? I'm going to try to steal "Blink" from Jesse, or the library. Peut-etre un francais roman, aussi? Who knows?! I have slews of books I want to read.
My mom's been really upset that Ido plans on moving back to Israel right now, with the whole upset over there (mostly in Lebanon, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem...). I emailed him about a week ago telling him of her concerns. He responded, tell me that he's kind of debating whether or not it'd be a good idea to go back, after all. Maybe he'll stay here!
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
"Due to Extreme Heat"
I got a new camera. I'm very excited about using it, but I need to find my SD card, first...
Yesterday was hotter than a solar flare, I swear. It was the kind of intollerable heat that makes you feel like there HAS to be some way out of the suffocating air before you tragically realize that there is, in fact, nothing of the sort. Seeing as Buck is A/C-less, it was a very long day...
I came home from the gym to discover that the electricity in our house/neighborhood/town was non-existant. Apparently, by the end of the night, all of the towns in the Essex county were having electricity failure, due to "extreme heat". If there's anything that should be published in a book of the 21st-century's silliest concepts ever, I think that would be a legitimate placer.
Without the A/C or lights in the house, I paced for about an hour, having quite a heated argument (no pun intended) with myself about whether or not it was worth opening the fridge & potentially ruin certain produce so I could make a non-stove dinner. It's sad that the only things I could find in the house to eat without the need of a stove or a toaster were in the fridge. I couldn't even use a toaster!
My logic won, and I headed out to buy some pre-made dinner at Wild Oats, our nearby organic grocery store. Settled for some sushi. Stayed in the store at a bench and read while I took over an hour to eat my packaged raw fish.
I return home late in the night and, much to my dismay, discover that the electricity is still missing. Dying mobile in hand, I grabbed a flashlight and read some more.
Shivangi came over to the house and force-fed me a Bertucci's desert, which did not make me feel so good in the end. We discussed the universe, our solar system, the existance of God....all light-hearted topics for a hot & muggy night, methinks. And thus, the end of a far too long day.
Yesterday was hotter than a solar flare, I swear. It was the kind of intollerable heat that makes you feel like there HAS to be some way out of the suffocating air before you tragically realize that there is, in fact, nothing of the sort. Seeing as Buck is A/C-less, it was a very long day...
I came home from the gym to discover that the electricity in our house/neighborhood/town was non-existant. Apparently, by the end of the night, all of the towns in the Essex county were having electricity failure, due to "extreme heat". If there's anything that should be published in a book of the 21st-century's silliest concepts ever, I think that would be a legitimate placer.
Without the A/C or lights in the house, I paced for about an hour, having quite a heated argument (no pun intended) with myself about whether or not it was worth opening the fridge & potentially ruin certain produce so I could make a non-stove dinner. It's sad that the only things I could find in the house to eat without the need of a stove or a toaster were in the fridge. I couldn't even use a toaster!
My logic won, and I headed out to buy some pre-made dinner at Wild Oats, our nearby organic grocery store. Settled for some sushi. Stayed in the store at a bench and read while I took over an hour to eat my packaged raw fish.
I return home late in the night and, much to my dismay, discover that the electricity is still missing. Dying mobile in hand, I grabbed a flashlight and read some more.
Shivangi came over to the house and force-fed me a Bertucci's desert, which did not make me feel so good in the end. We discussed the universe, our solar system, the existance of God....all light-hearted topics for a hot & muggy night, methinks. And thus, the end of a far too long day.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Summer Weekend
This weekend I actually was at home! Shocking, I know, I was surprised too. The only reason why I think I stayed around was because of Scott. Scott came home for Thursday night and most of Friday, so I made it my point to see him as much as I could before he drove back to CT. Jesse came over when Scott was at home, and we made Ghiradelli Brownies from scratch (Actually, Jesse did most of the baking....who knew he could cook?). You know, the extra gooey ones with the chocolate chips in the middle that make them ever more crunchy and good? Delicious.
So I realized I'm probably lactose intolerant. That was fun.
Saturday, I decided I really wanted to go somewhere. So, I put on a summer dress, told my mom to get in the car, and we drove up to Portsmouth, NH. Parked at Strawberry Bank, but did not actually go into the museum because it was sweltering outside. Instead, I went to the waterfront and read for a while. I got sunburned, which is both nice and bad. Afterwards, we hit up the downtown area and shopped. Bought too many CDs at Bullmoose Music(Stadium Arcadium, Ganging Up On The Sun, Senor Blue...), bought novel gnome magnets at Marco Polo, and whatnot and what have you. Splurged at lunch at some cantina place. It was a good day.
Shivangi came over later that night and we scurried off to Blockbuster to find a flick to watch. We aren't in there for 5 minutes and some employee comes over and gets ALL UP IN OUR GRILLS! I mean, this guy was just in our faces, trying to help us get a movie to watch. Nice guy, very much, and was all enthusiastic about helping us, but it really kind of freaed us out. I can't explain it well, but he was all over the place! Shivangi giggled the entire time, and we just humored him as he ranted off his favorite movies. I made the mistake of bringing up that I used to work for a New Line company, Lord help me. He finally left us to our devices, where we promptly put away all of the movies he recommended, and picked up "Sideways" in the end. They didn't have "Clockwork Orange". Shivangi is determined that the guy was hitting on me because he was so eager to help out, and basically only talked to me, but I'm pretty sure that it was just because I kept giving him responses while she giggled.
We ended up putting on the movie, but not watching it. We girl talked instead. Ah, the things we girls do.
Sunday was supposed to be Penny and my romantic day at the beach, but she never picked up her phone, which depressed me immensely, but I carry on. I had to mow our hideous lawn, anyways. 2-hours of fun-filled grass covering every inch of my skin (and eyes), sunburning on my sunburn, and trying to push a broken, disgruntled lawn mower up a 50+ degree incline.
After the swearing and kicking inanimate objects, I showered and concluded to escape the cave which can be considered my house. I did not know where to go on a 95F Sunday afternoon, since most things were closing early, and it was too hot to commiserate outside. Thinking fast, I hit up Panera, bought an iced green tea, and read "The Kite Runner" (which, so far, is pretty awesome) for a few hours. When they closed, I transfered over to Starbucks to read for another hour.
My girlfriend Becky called me then. She is leaving for China today, so wanted to see me, and half of Andover, before she left. So I met up with her and some other kids at Bertucci's for a dinner out. Shivangi (a hostess there) sat us, and gave us a free tiramisu. I overate a lot. Rolled out of the restaurant and cooled off at Becky's house for a while, and slept.
And now boss #1 is breathing down my neck, so I'm going to leave thy vain bibble babble, bibble babble...
So I realized I'm probably lactose intolerant. That was fun.
Saturday, I decided I really wanted to go somewhere. So, I put on a summer dress, told my mom to get in the car, and we drove up to Portsmouth, NH. Parked at Strawberry Bank, but did not actually go into the museum because it was sweltering outside. Instead, I went to the waterfront and read for a while. I got sunburned, which is both nice and bad. Afterwards, we hit up the downtown area and shopped. Bought too many CDs at Bullmoose Music(Stadium Arcadium, Ganging Up On The Sun, Senor Blue...), bought novel gnome magnets at Marco Polo, and whatnot and what have you. Splurged at lunch at some cantina place. It was a good day.
Shivangi came over later that night and we scurried off to Blockbuster to find a flick to watch. We aren't in there for 5 minutes and some employee comes over and gets ALL UP IN OUR GRILLS! I mean, this guy was just in our faces, trying to help us get a movie to watch. Nice guy, very much, and was all enthusiastic about helping us, but it really kind of freaed us out. I can't explain it well, but he was all over the place! Shivangi giggled the entire time, and we just humored him as he ranted off his favorite movies. I made the mistake of bringing up that I used to work for a New Line company, Lord help me. He finally left us to our devices, where we promptly put away all of the movies he recommended, and picked up "Sideways" in the end. They didn't have "Clockwork Orange". Shivangi is determined that the guy was hitting on me because he was so eager to help out, and basically only talked to me, but I'm pretty sure that it was just because I kept giving him responses while she giggled.
We ended up putting on the movie, but not watching it. We girl talked instead. Ah, the things we girls do.
Sunday was supposed to be Penny and my romantic day at the beach, but she never picked up her phone, which depressed me immensely, but I carry on. I had to mow our hideous lawn, anyways. 2-hours of fun-filled grass covering every inch of my skin (and eyes), sunburning on my sunburn, and trying to push a broken, disgruntled lawn mower up a 50+ degree incline.
After the swearing and kicking inanimate objects, I showered and concluded to escape the cave which can be considered my house. I did not know where to go on a 95F Sunday afternoon, since most things were closing early, and it was too hot to commiserate outside. Thinking fast, I hit up Panera, bought an iced green tea, and read "The Kite Runner" (which, so far, is pretty awesome) for a few hours. When they closed, I transfered over to Starbucks to read for another hour.
My girlfriend Becky called me then. She is leaving for China today, so wanted to see me, and half of Andover, before she left. So I met up with her and some other kids at Bertucci's for a dinner out. Shivangi (a hostess there) sat us, and gave us a free tiramisu. I overate a lot. Rolled out of the restaurant and cooled off at Becky's house for a while, and slept.
And now boss #1 is breathing down my neck, so I'm going to leave thy vain bibble babble, bibble babble...
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Have to Make a Note on This...
There's this new book I checked out while I was in some London School of Economics bookstore. It looked very interesting, and I really want to read it: "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" by Daniel Dennett.
So yesterday after work I headed to some small bookstore in Andover to look up the author of the book. They had a few left in stock, so I decided to examine the summary and author information. The guy lives in North Andover, Massachusetts!!! HOW NUTTY IS THAT?! I found the book in London, and the guy's from my bloody hometown!!! It must be fate. I've made an agreement with myself to read this book very soon.
Right now I'm reading Rudyard Kipling's "Kim." Yes, the title had some reason for motivation. The other motivation was that it was about an English boy brought up in India as an Indian. Sounds interesting, but I'm lukewarm about it.
Next, I'm going to read Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner." I'm very excited about that one.
So yesterday after work I headed to some small bookstore in Andover to look up the author of the book. They had a few left in stock, so I decided to examine the summary and author information. The guy lives in North Andover, Massachusetts!!! HOW NUTTY IS THAT?! I found the book in London, and the guy's from my bloody hometown!!! It must be fate. I've made an agreement with myself to read this book very soon.
Right now I'm reading Rudyard Kipling's "Kim." Yes, the title had some reason for motivation. The other motivation was that it was about an English boy brought up in India as an Indian. Sounds interesting, but I'm lukewarm about it.
Next, I'm going to read Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner." I'm very excited about that one.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Get It Out There
I can't stand my boss here at job #1, lately.
The job's not great, either.
That's all about today.
Yesterday I paid Craig to mow the lawn for me. Color me lazy, but I just really really did not feel like wasting my night on mowing the lawn when I truly wanted to go to the gym and get back from the weekend laze I got into. I made him dinner to add to my compensation.
I also broke a printer at work #2. My boss had to come over and help me fix it. That makes me an awesome gopher.
Note: Do NOT see Date Movie. I've never wasted 2 hours of my life so poorly.
...Still apartment hunting in NYC.
The job's not great, either.
That's all about today.
Yesterday I paid Craig to mow the lawn for me. Color me lazy, but I just really really did not feel like wasting my night on mowing the lawn when I truly wanted to go to the gym and get back from the weekend laze I got into. I made him dinner to add to my compensation.
I also broke a printer at work #2. My boss had to come over and help me fix it. That makes me an awesome gopher.
Note: Do NOT see Date Movie. I've never wasted 2 hours of my life so poorly.
...Still apartment hunting in NYC.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Montreal Jazz Festival
Friday after work, I picked up Craig & Jesse, and we started driving north. Got through New Hampshire and found ourselves in Vermont. I never realized how beautiful Vermont landscape really is. I was having trouble driving on the highway because I was so taken back by the scenery that we were going through. Hours of awe.
I felt like I could love this place.
We got off of the highway somewhere in upstate Vermont to a small town in the middle of nowhere called Jericho. We were picking up Aaron, a friend of James from NYU that I had yet to meet. His town was adorable small, and his house was delightful. Aaron is an amazing guy, so I was glad we got to pick him up for the trip. We continued north.
Crossing the border for Canada was interesting (and disturbing) because I didn't quite understand just how french the province Quebec really is. It's french. Very french. Think, the signs are all in french, and people only speak in french. That was a shocker. I was so glad I can understand french.
Aaron guided us into an interesting driving around and into Montreal. After confusedly breaking several quebecois driving laws, we finally found the hostel and a parking place on the road.
The hostel was pretty dumpy. Basically, it provided us bunk beds, and 2 mostly working bathrooms, that we shared with roughly 2o other guests. Not the cleanest place I've ever stayed at, but whatever, it wasn't a homeless shelter, so I can't complain. It wasn't terrible, and it was cheap. And the location was great.
This was my first time in Montreal, and overall I have to say I enjoy that city. It's very clean, and reminds me of Boston in atmosphere and cleanliness. I like that it's an island, and that it has several assorted cultural quarters.
We set our stuff in the hostel and went for a walk to check out what was happening at the Jazz Festival. We found ourselves in a crowd watching a band playing some swing, which was fun to listen to, but I was more compelled to go for a walk. Aaron and I walked around the Jazz Festival to see what was going on, and so I could get my barings.
The Jazz Festival overall was not what I was expecting. I thought I would find myself in club after club, listening to some smokey blues or a jazz club band, with slow crooners and cocktail dresses. However, none of the sort. It was indeed a festival, and most of the music we heard was funk, be-bop, and kind of mainstream jazz. They were obviously catering to a more mass mentality, and they had LOTS of overpriced merchandise to sell in big corporate tents. I did enjoy myself, though.
The four of us started walking more around the Latin Quarter and around some busy strips...I guess we were sight-seeing. Ended up in some trippy goth/metal bar for about 10 minutes, and quickly made a getaway out. We ended up at the water front in the Old Montreal quarter, which was breath taking. The boardwalk was lightly lighted in blues and greens, and there was a park in the middle of the water. Jesse & Craig went back to sleep, while Aaron and I just walked around the waterfront and talked. It was a lovely night, and I was with good company. A great beginning to a weekend trip, as well as a friendship.
Finding ourselves exhausted, we hobbled back to the hostel and crashed, with 10 other strangers.
After a restless night, I got up to find out that there were only 2 bathrooms for all 20+ of us in the hostel area, which was entertaining, to say the least. After a slow morning, we headed out to the festival under the bright hot sun. Needless to say, I acquired a sunburn.
Dixie jazz is fun only for some time, so Aaron and I opted to go walk around some more of the city and to visit McGill University. Closed campuses are odd to me now, being at NYU, so it was odd. Lots of green. Small campus. I liked it a lot, but I was not in love with it. I could see myself going to school there, though. Walked around and grabbed some lunch at Tim Hortons, which is an experience all unto itself.
We walked back to the festival and crashed under some shade for a while before we went to go see a jazz film.
Let me explain this film that us kids went to go see. The schedule said "Ain't Misbehaving ", which I was sure was an old film or documentary, and I knew was a show....we find out that they only wanted to show about a 5 minute 1930's clip of the song, which led into a movie called "Novecento". The film was with a home camera, 1.5 hours long, and all in french. To top it off, it consisted of 1 poor actor who talked to the camera the entire time on an obviously fake boat set, with a fake jazz band "playing" in the background. I understood bits and pieces of the storyline, but most of the time I was confused. The rest of the guys hadn't a clue what was going on. The only sentence I could fully understand was, "La terre est un grand bateau. C'est trop grand pour moi." Translation: The earth is one big boat/ship. It's too big for me. Needless to say, it was hilarious, and I fully enjoyed myself.
Grabbed a french dinner with salmon and esgargot. Went to go watch some more sets, Namori & the Electro Deluxe. They were good, long, but enjoyable. Between the shows, we stopped to watch a modern-ish interprettive-ish dance group put on some french scifi/fantastical goth show about fire, sacrifice, and other assorted splendids. It was very fun to watch, and the dance moves were often impressive.
During the Electric Shox set, Aaron and I walked again. We walked into a crowd for another set for a Mexican band, Sr.Mandril. It was a fun, clubbing-beat band. And fireworks starting lighting up the eastern sky. It was great!
We called it an early night, so we headed back to the dorms.
I felt like relaxing on a bench outside the hostel. A Japanese girl came out from the door and started talking to me. At first, I wasn't really willing to talk, but we got into a great conversation about travel and music. She was a fun person to talk to. We got approached by 2 sets of guys, both of whom tried to speak french at first, then attempted english, and failed. By 2:30, though, I had hit my dimensia mode, and headed to sleep. I was woken up by a few drunk guys from Toronto who were rooming with us. Really cool guys, we had some fun times talking to them (especially when waiting for toilets), but they drank like fish.
The next day was lowkey. We checked out of the hostel, and walked over to one of the McGill strips of shops & whatnots. We ended up shopping a bit, and found ourselves at a bistro/pub called Mars Venus. We stayed there to watch the World Cup Final (Italy vs. France). France played very well, personally I think much better than Italy. It was such a good game! After being tied from the beginning to sudden death, though (and after 2 of France's best were taken off field; Henry for tiredness, Zidane for headbutting an Italian & getting kicked out?), Italy won in penalty kicks. Montreal blew up. Half of the people were walking the streets depressed from a loss, half of the people were rioting on the street in celebration for Italy. I mean rioting. Some guy was waving an Italian flag in the middle of an intersection, intentionally hitting cars with it.
It was a quiet, tired, drive home. But a good time was had by all, methinks.
I felt like I could love this place.
We got off of the highway somewhere in upstate Vermont to a small town in the middle of nowhere called Jericho. We were picking up Aaron, a friend of James from NYU that I had yet to meet. His town was adorable small, and his house was delightful. Aaron is an amazing guy, so I was glad we got to pick him up for the trip. We continued north.
Crossing the border for Canada was interesting (and disturbing) because I didn't quite understand just how french the province Quebec really is. It's french. Very french. Think, the signs are all in french, and people only speak in french. That was a shocker. I was so glad I can understand french.
Aaron guided us into an interesting driving around and into Montreal. After confusedly breaking several quebecois driving laws, we finally found the hostel and a parking place on the road.
The hostel was pretty dumpy. Basically, it provided us bunk beds, and 2 mostly working bathrooms, that we shared with roughly 2o other guests. Not the cleanest place I've ever stayed at, but whatever, it wasn't a homeless shelter, so I can't complain. It wasn't terrible, and it was cheap. And the location was great.
This was my first time in Montreal, and overall I have to say I enjoy that city. It's very clean, and reminds me of Boston in atmosphere and cleanliness. I like that it's an island, and that it has several assorted cultural quarters.
We set our stuff in the hostel and went for a walk to check out what was happening at the Jazz Festival. We found ourselves in a crowd watching a band playing some swing, which was fun to listen to, but I was more compelled to go for a walk. Aaron and I walked around the Jazz Festival to see what was going on, and so I could get my barings.
The Jazz Festival overall was not what I was expecting. I thought I would find myself in club after club, listening to some smokey blues or a jazz club band, with slow crooners and cocktail dresses. However, none of the sort. It was indeed a festival, and most of the music we heard was funk, be-bop, and kind of mainstream jazz. They were obviously catering to a more mass mentality, and they had LOTS of overpriced merchandise to sell in big corporate tents. I did enjoy myself, though.
The four of us started walking more around the Latin Quarter and around some busy strips...I guess we were sight-seeing. Ended up in some trippy goth/metal bar for about 10 minutes, and quickly made a getaway out. We ended up at the water front in the Old Montreal quarter, which was breath taking. The boardwalk was lightly lighted in blues and greens, and there was a park in the middle of the water. Jesse & Craig went back to sleep, while Aaron and I just walked around the waterfront and talked. It was a lovely night, and I was with good company. A great beginning to a weekend trip, as well as a friendship.
Finding ourselves exhausted, we hobbled back to the hostel and crashed, with 10 other strangers.
After a restless night, I got up to find out that there were only 2 bathrooms for all 20+ of us in the hostel area, which was entertaining, to say the least. After a slow morning, we headed out to the festival under the bright hot sun. Needless to say, I acquired a sunburn.
Dixie jazz is fun only for some time, so Aaron and I opted to go walk around some more of the city and to visit McGill University. Closed campuses are odd to me now, being at NYU, so it was odd. Lots of green. Small campus. I liked it a lot, but I was not in love with it. I could see myself going to school there, though. Walked around and grabbed some lunch at Tim Hortons, which is an experience all unto itself.
We walked back to the festival and crashed under some shade for a while before we went to go see a jazz film.
Let me explain this film that us kids went to go see. The schedule said "Ain't Misbehaving ", which I was sure was an old film or documentary, and I knew was a show....we find out that they only wanted to show about a 5 minute 1930's clip of the song, which led into a movie called "Novecento". The film was with a home camera, 1.5 hours long, and all in french. To top it off, it consisted of 1 poor actor who talked to the camera the entire time on an obviously fake boat set, with a fake jazz band "playing" in the background. I understood bits and pieces of the storyline, but most of the time I was confused. The rest of the guys hadn't a clue what was going on. The only sentence I could fully understand was, "La terre est un grand bateau. C'est trop grand pour moi." Translation: The earth is one big boat/ship. It's too big for me. Needless to say, it was hilarious, and I fully enjoyed myself.
Grabbed a french dinner with salmon and esgargot. Went to go watch some more sets, Namori & the Electro Deluxe. They were good, long, but enjoyable. Between the shows, we stopped to watch a modern-ish interprettive-ish dance group put on some french scifi/fantastical goth show about fire, sacrifice, and other assorted splendids. It was very fun to watch, and the dance moves were often impressive.
During the Electric Shox set, Aaron and I walked again. We walked into a crowd for another set for a Mexican band, Sr.Mandril. It was a fun, clubbing-beat band. And fireworks starting lighting up the eastern sky. It was great!
We called it an early night, so we headed back to the dorms.
I felt like relaxing on a bench outside the hostel. A Japanese girl came out from the door and started talking to me. At first, I wasn't really willing to talk, but we got into a great conversation about travel and music. She was a fun person to talk to. We got approached by 2 sets of guys, both of whom tried to speak french at first, then attempted english, and failed. By 2:30, though, I had hit my dimensia mode, and headed to sleep. I was woken up by a few drunk guys from Toronto who were rooming with us. Really cool guys, we had some fun times talking to them (especially when waiting for toilets), but they drank like fish.
The next day was lowkey. We checked out of the hostel, and walked over to one of the McGill strips of shops & whatnots. We ended up shopping a bit, and found ourselves at a bistro/pub called Mars Venus. We stayed there to watch the World Cup Final (Italy vs. France). France played very well, personally I think much better than Italy. It was such a good game! After being tied from the beginning to sudden death, though (and after 2 of France's best were taken off field; Henry for tiredness, Zidane for headbutting an Italian & getting kicked out?), Italy won in penalty kicks. Montreal blew up. Half of the people were walking the streets depressed from a loss, half of the people were rioting on the street in celebration for Italy. I mean rioting. Some guy was waving an Italian flag in the middle of an intersection, intentionally hitting cars with it.
It was a quiet, tired, drive home. But a good time was had by all, methinks.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Binghamton, NY
So on Friday, I went for a jog after work, and drove 5 hours to Binhamton, NY. If you'd like to know where that is, take the map of New York state, and go to the bottom border, and then divide New York in half. The left area is about where Binghamton is.
That's where James (& the family), Ben, and Mike live.
Because Binghamton had tremendous flooding lately, I-88 was shut off partially, so I got terribly confused, and after a mild panic attack at the wheel while James & Co. tried to calm me down, I finally ended up at the local Wegman's parking lot. It's interesting, because there's so much to do inside a Wegman's, all the time, and yet there is not much to do outside of it in this area of the town.
The boys met me there, where we proceeded to Mike's to play some video games before collapsing of exhaustion. James took me back to his new house, which is completely and utterly ridiculous in both size & style. Each bedroom even has its own bath. I am in love with his new house.
I honestly went to Binghamton just to see James & the boys again. After roughly six months without them, I was feeling kind of sad. It was really nice to just be with them. I didn't even really require talking, just being with them around me was what I wanted. And needed. James tends to bring me sanity...a feeling of balance.
Also, I love James' mom. She and I have a bit in common. And we have nice conversations. She's really open & friendly. And acts like I'm just part of the family. I love that.
After waking up & eating breakfast, and after James' mom gave him a much needed haircut, we started working on cleaning out the basement and garage of items they didn't want/need & were going to give away to flood victims. James actually tried to discourage me from helping out, claiming that I was there to "relax", but I felt that it was a good idea to help out, and his mom encouraged me to join them. Sure, I like doing physical labor. No joke.
We started watching "The Last Samarai", and stopped halfway to go to his old house (that they are refurbishing before selling it) to picnic with pasta & speedies.
Off to the movies we went with the rest of the boys to see "Superman Returns". It was during that movie that I realized I hung out with mostly men. They were being such boys during the movie. James tried helping me out with the comic plot, since I'm not much of a comic strip afficianado, though sometimes he distracted me from the movie with his all too humorous remarks.
Carrides happen to the gas station (for tire air) & Ben's house. We played Apples to Apples. I won.
My role as the woman became apparent when Mike insisted that I cooked for him, and cleaned. James took over the role by cooking instead.
Sunday roled by too quickly. I read some of "Kim" before James woke up. We finished our movie, talked a bit, went to Lowes with his mom, and to a little restaurant called Little Venice. It was a sad goodbye, since James might not be returning to our college, but transfer to SUNY Buffalo. Let's hope all turns out well, though.
The drive home was pretty wretched.
That's where James (& the family), Ben, and Mike live.
Because Binghamton had tremendous flooding lately, I-88 was shut off partially, so I got terribly confused, and after a mild panic attack at the wheel while James & Co. tried to calm me down, I finally ended up at the local Wegman's parking lot. It's interesting, because there's so much to do inside a Wegman's, all the time, and yet there is not much to do outside of it in this area of the town.
The boys met me there, where we proceeded to Mike's to play some video games before collapsing of exhaustion. James took me back to his new house, which is completely and utterly ridiculous in both size & style. Each bedroom even has its own bath. I am in love with his new house.
I honestly went to Binghamton just to see James & the boys again. After roughly six months without them, I was feeling kind of sad. It was really nice to just be with them. I didn't even really require talking, just being with them around me was what I wanted. And needed. James tends to bring me sanity...a feeling of balance.
Also, I love James' mom. She and I have a bit in common. And we have nice conversations. She's really open & friendly. And acts like I'm just part of the family. I love that.
After waking up & eating breakfast, and after James' mom gave him a much needed haircut, we started working on cleaning out the basement and garage of items they didn't want/need & were going to give away to flood victims. James actually tried to discourage me from helping out, claiming that I was there to "relax", but I felt that it was a good idea to help out, and his mom encouraged me to join them. Sure, I like doing physical labor. No joke.
We started watching "The Last Samarai", and stopped halfway to go to his old house (that they are refurbishing before selling it) to picnic with pasta & speedies.
Off to the movies we went with the rest of the boys to see "Superman Returns". It was during that movie that I realized I hung out with mostly men. They were being such boys during the movie. James tried helping me out with the comic plot, since I'm not much of a comic strip afficianado, though sometimes he distracted me from the movie with his all too humorous remarks.
Carrides happen to the gas station (for tire air) & Ben's house. We played Apples to Apples. I won.
My role as the woman became apparent when Mike insisted that I cooked for him, and cleaned. James took over the role by cooking instead.
Sunday roled by too quickly. I read some of "Kim" before James woke up. We finished our movie, talked a bit, went to Lowes with his mom, and to a little restaurant called Little Venice. It was a sad goodbye, since James might not be returning to our college, but transfer to SUNY Buffalo. Let's hope all turns out well, though.
The drive home was pretty wretched.
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