Idiosycratic Life

Greetings from East Bumblef*ck. :) It's Thanksgiving, and I am back in the Burg.

This last week has been intense. I was busy at work, then busy catching up on all the things you do before you go out of town- drink up the milk, do laundry so you have clean clothes, hand the keys over to the petsitter. Well, maybe only I do that lastone. I did have fun, though talking to one of my neighbors, one of the Argentinian Dads (the fathers of the children who were my first friends in Miami, who stand outside at night and smoke cigars and teach me how to say things like, "I have a female dog" without swearing) who wanted to know why I have a petsitter as opposed to taking them to a kennel.

I was talking (in Spanish- we have agreed to help each other with the random phrases you occasionally need but never learned in the your second language) about how rabies is rampant in Miami kennels, etc. I did not know the word for rabies. I was trying to explain it by saying it's a deadly illness cats and dogs get and can give to people, but I did not know the words for "raccoon," "foam" or "garbage disposal," but that came up later in the conversation anyway and had nothing to do with rabies. It was pretty funny, though, trying to communicate "raccoon," we were pointing at the bushes and nodding uncertainly until I put my fingers into circles and did the "junior birdman" thing. That worked, actually. Note to self: junior birdman thing is international sign for "raccoon."

I miss the pets, though. I hope they haven't run off and joined the circus by the time I get back.

I flew into Philly yesterday. I got to spend a lot of quality time with Andrea and her husband Don, and I met Alissa's funny new office mate and Ginette, her very fun grad school friend I had a job interview at the Doylestown paper. It went quite well, as far as I can tell, except their computer nuked BOTH of my digital cameras microdrives. Thankfully, I have determined that they are still under warranty, but I can't shoot jack over this break, which is really disappointing. I may just bust out Ye Olde N6006, my first real camera, as I left my regular film camera bod back in Miami.

I saw the Harry Potter movie tonight, and I have to say I was really, really disappointed. I almost wanted my money back. I really didn't like it much at all. I haven't been so antsy since Titanic. I also got a good haircut which officially moved my hair out of the awkward growing out stage and into the "just let it get longer from here" phase, which means I can stop wearing a bandana or a scarf every single day. Seriously, I have only gone out into public with my hair uncovered three times since the disasterous "pretending to be British" haircut in July, and both times it took me a good two hours to coax the hair into a non-mullet, non-Princess Di in the 80s nightmare.

I miss Stephen so much it feels like a physical hurt. I am lonely and bewildered as I am surrounded by all the stuff that didn't make it to Miami, but my family and best friends from high school are coming into town and/or are all around me. I really wish my sister was here. (Gramatically, is it- "were here?" is that subjungshtive?) Being back here is an adjustment. I forgot what it felt like to open a drawer and encounter old school pictures from 1993 and/or Mat(t) Pavelcro's (misspelling intentional) senior picture in an old forgotten wallet. I have my class reunion on Friday, and so I think this weird nostalgia thing may get worse before it gets better. Sometimes, I really, really hate my overactive, meticulous memory. Although I do enjoy remembering all the good stuff, it's really difficult to remember the bad stuff in such clarity, and it can be lonely remembering stuff everyone else has forgotten. Blah.

Blogging at 4 a.m. is really not the best idea, I guess. :)