Tiny Snapshots from an Unremarkable Life

My Life is Great

2011-06-04T22:56:00.000-04:00

Life Lately

2011-04-05T16:43:00.001-04:00

2010-12-15T13:01:00.002-05:00

Texas is so flat. Maybe it shouldn't surprise me -- but it does. My boyfriend asked me last night why I didn't just fly to and from Vegas. It would've been cheaper. Shorter traveling time. Certainly it would have been safer. But I've been to Texas twice -- flying both times -- and somehow I never understood just how flat it is. Or how the landscape changes somewhere between Fort Worth and Vernon. Color dissipates and the trees get shorter, like they're crouching to protect themselves from the wind roaring over the plains. I also saw my first oil fields. I pulled over to the shoulder to watch the machines pumping away.

I like this country. I like the people I've met. ...I like that I haven't gotten a speeding ticket yet. And I'm not photographing as much as I should, except for work. Sometimes I get so caught up in documenting that I miss the moment. I'm not willing to let that happen this time. I just want to drive and listen and marvel.

Dallas is somewhere behind me. Albuquerque lies ahead. But I'm just here, lost in Texas, watching a train roar by an empty field.

Finally Updating

2010-11-08T00:28:00.002-05:00

No Reason to Cry, But I Did Yell

2010-09-11T20:27:00.002-04:00

Asylum Visit: Wish I'd Brought My Real Camera

2010-09-11T11:49:00.004-04:00

Labor Day 2010

2010-09-07T12:58:00.003-04:00

Chase City: Some Pictures Sponsored by the Board Game Quelf

2010-07-19T01:55:00.002-04:00

Life Lately

2010-07-07T16:25:00.002-04:00

I'll be more vigilant about posting photos once I take off for California.

Few things

2010-06-16T12:15:00.002-04:00

I've never been able to figure out why driving on the interstate always feels so right to me. Right now I'm heading south on 81 with my cruise set to 67 because my Nana is following me. Lovely lady but a speed demon she isn't. It's for the best though because I'm tired, dehydrated and not familiar with this car.

I love the way 81 curves and how, even after 24 years of living next to it, I can't always predict what's around the next bend. No other road feels this right to me, though I enjoy the challenge and novelty of unknown landscapes. I've always had an unhealthy amount of wanderlust and it seems to me that this might explain my fascination with overlooks, trains, old gas stations.

The mountains are covered with a haze today and all the grass is yellowing. I'm driving to the New River Valley for the first time in months. I look for shapes in clouds and trees while I drive and they're beautiful but I am scared I'll miss signs or billboards if I always keep my eyes trained elsewhere. I think our brains just can't process everything when there's so much like mountains and hills and trucks and signs. One thing at a time, I guess. Like the wildflowers on the hills.

2010-06-14T15:43:00.000-04:00

Follow the current

2010-06-14T00:21:00.002-04:00

Alicia found a fabulous creperie in a book she picked up earlier today and so, after I'd slept, we took the 3 to the L and walked down to The Crooked Tree. Though we sat outside for awhile, enjoying the christmas lights strung from the awning to the tree, the possibility of the rain coming back forced us inside. I say forced but really it was lovely. Dim lighting, flickering candles, walls holding flowers and wine racks.

If you follow me on Twitter this is old news but oh god. My first bite of the crepe made me close my eyes and moan just a bit. The tangy goat cheese mingled with the spiced chicken and pesto. The light and fluffy crepe was the perfect combination of chewy and soft. They served dark greens--both flat and curly--on the side. Every. Bite. Was. Perfect. When my dessert crepe, stuffed with fruit and the merest hint of dulche de leche came--accompanied by free vanilla ice cream--I realized I was in food heaven.

We continued down 1st Avenue and crossed Houston to find Rockwood Music Hall. A small place with an exposed brick wall and shifting lights, Rockwood offers free performances or it did tonight. We watched a man play his guitar and later the piano while singing. He said he's come to realize that you end up in the place you're supposed to be if you follow the current. As I sipped my Sprite and considered every place I've ever lived--and all the places I have yet to live--I couldn't help but hope he was right.

More NYC

2010-06-13T17:38:00.003-04:00

Before, During, and the Morning After

2010-06-13T17:04:00.002-04:00

Hanging out after shooting some pool.

Somewhere on 3rd Avenue.

And we were still up for morning tourist adventures.

2010-06-13T16:40:00.002-04:00

Last night is a fuzzy blur of Irish Pubs, advice from older people, men from different countries, and one overly friendly taxi driver. Despite my actual desire to more or less stop drinking entirely, one Irish Pub leads to one Guinness leads to a free vodka shot from our Albanian bartender leads to another guy buying us more beer. New York is bad on my lack of desire to drink.

It's strange how many people I meet here. It's never a problem--meeting people at home, I mean--but here it's different. People want to do things with strangers. And in some ways, this is how I pictured being an adult: skirts that flap in the light summer breeze while I walk through a park in the middle of the city. Meet someone I've never seen before. Lunch and a movie together. Meet my friends for wine and Indian food. Dessert on the house. Sun-kissed shoulders and bright lights shaped like chili peppers. Grabbing a taxi. Shooting pool while a nice guy strums his guitar softly on the bench nearby. Walking through the steamy June streets hand in hand. Meeting Dutch men with bright blue eyes over greasy pizza and learning to say key phrases that won't get me arrested.

I don't feel tip top today, despite eating the world's best sandwich in the Financial District and drinking an ungodly amount of orange juice. Though we're away from home and maybe we should be out exploring, I'm enjoying just sitting here in the hostel, cooled by my afternoon shower and clad in black yoga pants and a grey t-shirt. Adventures, albeit ones that won't involve adult beverages, can start again later. For now I'm just enjoying the fans, the rain, the afternoon light that filters through the clouds and makes the water on the windows sparkle.

2010-06-12T21:14:00.001-04:00

Today I made an effort to put away the camera and just live. As a result I saved a dog, had a guy named Dominic buy me a crazy expensive lunch, went to a movie with said guy, obtained two bottles of wine from him, and met my friends for Indian food. Now we're in the anteroom of an Irish pub, drinking Guiness and listening to a boy play a guitar. Another man just told us he hopes we have a good night. He was leaving.

I'm wearing a sundress. Two of my best friends are with me. We're in New York. We sucked at pool. Another guy just told me if I play darts he'll be in the other room. I love being here. I love feeling this free. I love how my hair is loose, framing my face and my lips are tart with beer. I love my life. I love my friends. I'm too too scared of everything but in this moment I am strong and happy and free.

Poof

2010-06-12T13:40:00.002-04:00

I'm alone. Not alone as in my friends are sleeping and I'm running to the store. Alone as in we split up until dinner and I get no service in the subway. Alone as in I couldn't figure out which direction to go on R and then I did and right now I have one arm wrapped around a pole while I type this.

It's strange deciding what to do on a trip without even discussing it with another person. I decided, after considering Coney Island, to see The Cloisters or The Museum of Sex. Since I'd seen The Cloisters before, I decided that The Museum of Sex would be the beginning to my afternoon. I came here from the subway but got distracted by a Hindi Parade. While I write this part, I'm watching two anime characters have sex and trying not to giggle.

Joking aside, being alone on the subway this morning made me remember how much I used to want to disappear. Just poof and smoke and I'd be gone, another face in the crowd. I liked the idea of New York then because I could get lost. No one ever had to know where I was because in a city with millions of people, I could essentially evaporate. Spent so much time imagining stepping off subways alone and melting into the crowd and I won't lie--it still felt good stepping onto 5th Avenue alone. Blending. It was like ceasing to exist.

The girl who wanted that is long gone though and maybe that's why the idea of New York as a home no longer holds the allure it once did. It's a nice place to visit but I have no intention of living here.

Oh, New York

2010-06-12T11:46:00.003-04:00

Bad choices

2010-06-12T04:02:00.002-04:00

Alicia and I met some guys in Times Square. They convinced us to come back to John's place on Staten Island. While maybe it didn't seem like the world's best plan--we didn't know them at all--we're young women in the city that never sleeps. That kind of naturally leads to what we later termed bad decisions.

Soon I found myself standing on the deck of the Staten Island Ferry while Daryl cuddled against Alicia and John and I discussed marriage (I told him I didn't know him well enough) and football (he played in college and was sidelined due to an injury.) He also touched my neck a lot. I considered throwing him in the water. They were both comedians. John was born in Italy.

Once we got to Staten Island, after a beautiful ride on the ferry, we followed them to the significantly less impressive buses. Right as we were about to board, Alicia said she was tired. She wanted to go home. Her guy--not that the other guy was mine--didn't seem too thrilled. We had to wait an hour for the next ferry. Once again, it was a beautiful ride.

We're almost back to the hostel and have been bemoaning our bad choices sitting down in the subway, wishing for the 2 or 3 train. A rat ran by. John called my phone almost as soon as I stepped off the ferry but wouldn't tell me why. We may hear from them again. Or not. I'm good either way. There are more details that I'll fill in when I'm not exhausted blog writing from my phone. For now we're on the subway and soon we'll be back and I can't believe some guy tried to hook up with me while I was wearing a sundress and athletic shoes.

I guess there really is no accounting for taste.

2010-06-12T01:18:00.002-04:00

Alicia and I met two comedians in Times Square.

2010-06-11T23:48:00.001-04:00

Though I've done it before, stepping off the subway and into Times Square at night is the most amazing thing.

2010-06-11T21:27:00.002-04:00

>We're waiting outside of Benny's Burritos for a space in the restaurant. Even if it takes an hour, it'll be worth it. From what I remember, this was the best Mexican food I've ever had.

So many of the people walking by are wearing cute clothes and impossible heels. I'm wearing a sundress and a shirt with tennis shoes, once again choosing not falling and dying over looking cute. I like watching the groups laughing, joking with each other. It makes me smile.

I'm betting we look like that too.

2010-06-11T18:54:00.002-04:00

Walking down Malcolm X Boulevard, I can feel the sidewalk rumble as the subway passes under me. Amazing.

Some of my favorites from today

2010-06-11T17:27:00.002-04:00

Love the old/modern architecture contrast.

Traveling is Happiness

2010-06-11T17:15:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure why traveling makes me so happy. Maybe it's the change in routine or seeing things I haven't seen before...but when we rode the ferry today, well, I'd done that before. But I'd never done it in June, on the second floor deck, in a skirt, with my new camera, with Alicia, or at a time when I don't feel like I'm coming apart inside. Manhattan rose up on shore, just like it did last year, but the clouds--the real, literal clouds that shrouded the island with winter rain--were gone and it was all sun and perfect sky.

There are a ton of people here, pushing through the streets, on their way to places that maybe I'll see. Maybe I won't. It's tricky--knowing what you'll see. I wish I could see everything, but then I'd miss so much. Some things take exploration. People are a perfect example of this. I could meet every person in the world and it wouldn't mean much because life is finite and there's only so much time you have to get to know people. I'd rather have fewer relationships that are more intimate and supplement that with talking to random people. Ships that pass or what have you. Today I talked to a handler for a dog who is trained to sniff explosives. We talked about the dog's days off and then the officer near the first joked that he, unlike the dog, didn't live with the handler.

Something I love when I travel is the down time. Alicia is reading Time Out New York next to me in the common room--we just ate sugar snap peas she bought at the Staten Island Ferry. Another girl is in here, too; we talked about good parents, bad parents, and what really matters when you're raising children. Later Malinda, Alicia and I will go out to our favorite Mexican joint for truly tasty food, margaritas, and conversation (about life and houses and traveling and jobs but mostly about boys, I expect.) I'm looking forward to it.

Places or People?

2010-06-11T12:05:00.002-04:00

>I recently had a discussion with a friend about whether places or people are more important and, while people will always matter more, I still can't say that the place doesn't matter. Right now we're sitting on a marble bench that scrolls on the ends and mapping our way to our next destination.

Maybe those thoughts don't seem to connect but for me they do. Because I said we. Because I could imagine sitting here alone looking at a map but I'd rather be with them. Because in a few months I will be exploring on my own and I will miss the poorly timed timer photos and having someone to tell me when my shirt is coming unbuttoned.

I'm trying to convince Alicia to come with me to California by singing songs and discussing wine country and I want that, especially now that Jonas is being transferred. I will always be willing to go places, do things on my own but I'd rather have the people I love walking next to me, marveling at the new sights and sounds and cheeseburgers. Speaking of, I'm wasting time typing when I should be walking through the park. So I'm signing off for now.

I have taken no pictures since we actually arrived in NYC

2010-06-11T00:44:00.002-04:00

2010-06-10T21:23:00.002-04:00

This trip to New York City is already so different than my last. I was so lost at the end of November and, though I didn't know it at the time, I was going to be lost for awhile. Malinda and I laughed loudly on a much more comfortable bus and the whole time--from the laughter until I saw the city fade behind us--there was a new anxiety I couldn't explain. It didn't leave me for months.

Alicia is here this time and my anxiety, that terribly specific anxiety that was working to tell me something I already knew, is gone. It's a trade I'm glad to make.

We'll be there sometime in the next hour. I will not spend one minute crying or having regrets. Instead I'll let a city that's always been able to dazzle me take me in its arms and dance me through the streets.

I've been fail at updating lately: a story with no order

2010-06-10T00:43:00.005-04:00

Totally Worth Rush Hour in Georgetown

2010-05-14T00:00:00.003-04:00

Why Does So Much Statuary Strike Me As Creepy?

2010-04-28T20:37:00.000-04:00

Animals Behaving Badly

2010-04-28T20:36:00.006-04:00

Eureka loves this--if you're playing pulla pulla with her and someone else grabs her, she makes a terrifying sound. Lovey, for some reason, barks even though she isn't involved. (Theo and Ian are the ones horsing around with Eureka.)

I Suppose Their Profits Go Into First Class Bedding

2010-04-28T20:33:00.001-04:00

The Restaurant Was a Bit Pricey, So We Went to Chipotle

2010-04-18T03:09:00.002-04:00

With a quick stop for some cupcakes!

Woodbridge is Weird

2010-04-18T03:06:00.001-04:00

...you know he needs professional help?

2010-04-12T17:32:00.000-04:00

RIP Turnip: 2004-2010 (We love you.)

2010-04-05T10:40:00.002-04:00

Had to attach a story to this one

2010-04-04T21:51:00.002-04:00

Dad and I were playing with this toy helicopter. He would hold it in the air so we could get it to launch and I was (wo)manning the hefty controls.

As he held it aloft, pointed toward the window, I pushed up the accelerator stick. He spun it in midair so that it would fly over and hit me. Immediately I countered with the direction stick so that it flipped over, hit him, and bounced almost directly into his pocket.

We sat there, both stunned by my (for once) reflexes and I said, in a very serious tone, "You double-crossed me." Then we laughed until my stomach hurt.

1. I Found This Combination Odd and 2. What the Heck IS That and Why Is It At the Movies?

2010-04-03T23:16:00.002-04:00

I'm just saying, I'd be doing something cooler than seeing a film--maybe going for a drive--if I had that car. It's so shiny!

This Should've Posted Much Earlier

2010-04-03T14:53:00.000-04:00

I'm in the front seat of Malinda's car. She's driving. Her husband Theo and their dogs Lovey and Eureka are in the back. We've done this once before, at Christmas, when I felt so lost that I couldn't enjoy the novelty of the canines or even the company of my friends. Spring is here now, I think, and I feel like I'm finally appreciating the little things again.

More of my road trips--more than with other friends, my family, or significant others--have been with Malinda. I still remember standing in the rain outside her house the first time we went to visit Kim at Tech, long before I knew I'd spend five years in the New River Valley. We decided to skip school and leave early. College was a whole different world in 2002, and Kim was wearing pajamas when we got there and it was still raining and for the first time it really occured to me that there was something after Harrisonburg.

And there was. And it's been more than six years since I graduated from high school but I still get nervous when I'm on my way there. It's nothing novel, nothing I haven't seen before, not like rushing over sand dunes in North Carolina or exploring small seaside towns--there's one with an abandoned church--in California. I don't get excited because there's so much I don't want from there, so much that made me unhappy, but today it occurs to me that the sky is wide open and we've passed a few glassy lakes with water interrupted only by the gentle breeze and the past is a long way away. There are so many adventures to be had and some of them are small adventures to see family on holiday weekends and some are big like moving across the country without any real plan but either way there's almost no place I'd rather be than in the front of a car with the highway sprawled out in front of me, great tunes on the radio, fantastic friends, and good dogs panting softly near my ear.

Operation: Explore Old Building

2010-04-03T11:59:00.000-04:00

Otherwise the giraffes will eat them...

2010-03-29T23:30:00.001-04:00

Noooooo! I can't do it. I just can't. They have such obvious ears.

2010-03-29T23:29:00.002-04:00

Walk Through the Woods and Then There Was This Garden

2010-03-29T23:26:00.002-04:00

Well Said, Random Chalk Board

2010-03-28T13:31:00.000-04:00

Partykiller Ruins the Mood (and Other Tales from the Caps Game I Watched at the Iron Horse)

2010-03-26T00:38:00.003-04:00

I didn't want to ruin the picture since everyone else was wearing Caps shirts, so I tried to move away from the group photo. I look like an unaffiliated patron or a partykiller.

We didn't know him.

Things We Saw on Our Way to Meet Kristen

2010-03-26T00:20:00.000-04:00

Staying with Malinda and Theo is an Adventure

2010-03-23T18:52:00.001-04:00

NOVA So Far

2010-03-21T16:17:00.001-04:00

Pet Peeve #218

2010-03-16T17:47:00.000-04:00

It's good to find humor in in the less than stellar economy

2010-03-12T00:29:00.001-05:00

I really liked the way this picture came out for some reason

2010-03-04T01:45:00.000-05:00

Befores and Afters (Or: Is it weird that I like to take pictures of dead flowers, too?)

2010-03-02T15:47:00.003-05:00

These don't belong in the shaving aisle.

2010-03-02T15:39:00.000-05:00

2010-02-28T15:29:00.002-05:00

One of the things that feels alien about South Carolina is the lack of visible mountains on the horizon. Growing up in the Shenandoah Valley and attending college in the New River Valley, I always felt protected by the rolling blue mountains, so remniscent of giants who stopped to rest and ended up sleeping for hundreds of years. That's how I thought of them when I was a little girl, how they still seem now when I really stop to study them.

A few times since I've moved here, I've found myself out on Alligator Road, walking quickly past the development so I can reach the gravel road in the middle of a flat, yellowing field where one day they will put up more houses, more roads. On those days I plug my headphones into my phone, turn up my music, and dance over the shifting gravel, leaping over fallen branches, spinning from the undeveloped road into the empty cul de sac under the huge white clouds. I sing and dance until I'm panting, until I've made my way into the houses at the end of that road and down another.

There, at the edge of a lake that used to be a forest, where you can still see the tops of once tall trees where birds still roost, I sit on a concrete boat launch. On still days the clouds are mirrored in the water that I watch closely for gators. I like to sit with my knees drawn up, arms wrapped around my shins, and enjoy the sun, the breeze. Sometimes when I'm there I miss the mountains. But everything is an exchange in one way or another and when I'm dancing over the dirt and gravel, when the water stirs with mysterious ripples, I think that this is a good one. One day I'll have the salty air near Bodega or the hills where Gramps used to show me deer in the mornings. I will still miss my mountains then, and the wide river that flows under the train tracks the boys climbed last summer, but it will be a good exchange too and how lucky am I to have had all of it?

Still trying to get the curls right

2010-02-27T01:34:00.001-05:00

A sunny day in South Carolina but I didn't feel like going outside

2010-02-26T22:56:00.000-05:00

Memories found while cleaning my room today

2010-02-26T22:54:00.001-05:00

I am somewhat annoyed that this product exists

2010-02-23T23:22:00.000-05:00

Fun with Cornstarch and Water: A solid liquid

2010-02-20T18:30:00.002-05:00

Too much thinking leads to cooking

2010-02-20T18:27:00.003-05:00

Cornbread

Egg white scrambled eggs with broccoli.

Easy apple strudel

Not exactly the foods I associate with McDonalds, especially in South Carolina

2010-02-16T00:55:00.000-05:00

This one takes some explanation

2010-02-14T23:47:00.001-05:00

I like to read the craigslist ads from the Bay Area. Given my past--and that I'm interested in living there someday--it's an understandable guilty pleasure. I rarely respond to anything. A few months ago, a guy posted an ad saying that he had a crush on a bank teller and didn't know if he should go for it or not. I wrote back and said that I'd made a lot of mistakes with men--trying to build something with someone I knew I'd never be in love with; falling down a hill waving to a guy I had a crush on--but that I didn't regret them. I only regret the moments I didn't take a chance, because I always have to wonder what could have been. This evening, reading through the ads, I saw this (you have to click to enlarge):

It made me smile.

Hilarious card from Kim and Dan

2010-02-13T14:42:00.001-05:00

Because Tessica is awesome, I get to wear these today!

2010-02-13T14:38:00.002-05:00

Mom at RU (if RU was in the midst of an apocolypse)

2010-02-12T01:22:00.000-05:00

Nighttime is Cuddle Time

2010-02-11T00:02:00.002-05:00

I got an awesome package in the mail with an intriguing message written on it

2010-02-06T03:38:00.000-05:00

Only a truly awesome person would have written that on a package before sending it.

Rainy day in South Carolina

2010-02-06T03:35:00.002-05:00

My room is the one with the half moon window above the two other windows.

The view from the front porch.

I watched this puddle for a good twenty minutes. (In my defense, it exhibited suspicious behavior.)

The continuing quest to curl my hair

2010-02-05T01:24:00.000-05:00

Team Kickass

2010-02-03T00:07:00.003-05:00

There's an explanation for this on my written blog, if you feel the need for context.

A random passerby smoked it on the library walkway, then carefully snuffed it out and set it on the wall to await his return

2010-01-30T18:57:00.003-05:00

I DO NOT like it

2010-01-30T18:55:00.000-05:00

At a Chinese Buffet in Florence

2010-01-30T18:54:00.000-05:00

The World's Slowest Computer at the Library

2010-01-28T02:09:00.002-05:00

Old Favorites Part 3: Malinda playing with the new kittens at our old house in Shenandoah Circle

2010-01-21T12:53:00.002-05:00

I'd cut those carpet pieces out to be a C, an L, and an M. Except I messed up the L and made it backwards. I loved that house.

Old Favorites Part 2: Tubing this summer

2010-01-21T12:50:00.000-05:00

Old Favorites Part 1: After the Exit 109 premiere, we went across the street for Mexican food

2010-01-21T12:33:00.003-05:00

The beans Kim soaked and used in chili

2010-01-20T00:54:00.000-05:00

Kim and Turnip: Video and a Photo

2010-01-15T19:00:00.002-05:00

Vitamins, Iron, Painkillers, and Expectorant: I don't feel good, so it's time for a colorful, chemical boost

2010-01-13T13:46:00.001-05:00

Clever's Day at the Park

2010-01-11T21:15:00.004-05:00

Clever wanted to make sure he didn't cause any trouble.

It was a big playground for such a little dinosaur.

He decided to attempt a very simple-looking slide.

Sadly, it wasn't made for dinosaurs.

He got back up to go take a look at the curly slide.

That one worked much better.

Auntie Kim took a turn pushing Clever on the swings--it ended badly.

Clever couldn't come back from that.

Another try revealed Clever's swinging abilities. We were so proud.

My attempt at Lentil Burgers

2010-01-10T22:25:00.002-05:00

The results were sadly mushy and bland. Hopefully they'll work better next time.

The sign at the locker room entrance made me giggle

2010-01-08T00:51:00.000-05:00

Machines, the locker room hall, and soft lighting/mirrors at my gym

2010-01-08T00:49:00.001-05:00

Pre-gym Kim

2010-01-08T00:48:00.001-05:00

My shoes match my purse! (Total accident, meet awkward arch.)

2010-01-05T13:58:00.000-05:00

The drawing I made depicting Malinda and I moving in together (circa 2004)

2010-01-04T16:20:00.003-05:00

A melding of adorable fear and anger

2010-01-04T16:16:00.001-05:00

Excellent Advice

2010-01-04T01:25:00.000-05:00

Everything will be okay leaf (from last summer), the longest my nails have ever been, and an unedited manuscript.

2010-01-03T14:14:00.001-05:00

Angry Santa Cat

2010-01-02T00:44:00.002-05:00

Delicious Thai Salad

2010-01-02T00:44:00.001-05:00

My closet: a jumble of colors (mostly blue and white)

2010-01-02T00:42:00.001-05:00

Christmas Raptor 09: Not Only Vampires Sparkle

2009-12-31T20:14:00.000-05:00

The Fridge at Home in South Carolina

2009-12-31T20:11:00.000-05:00

Santa Shirt + Shades

2009-12-31T20:09:00.001-05:00

2009-12-30T17:56:00.001-05:00

For years--for my whole life really--I drove on interstate 81 for every road trip. We rarely went far. After all, we were poor kids who had classes and parents to contend with. Malinda must've put thousands of miles on her car even with our lack of funds and time. We went on small day trips, to the beach, to visit friends at college. Sure sometimes we'd go offroad and end up on an entirely new interstate but, for the most part, it was I-81. College just contributed to my habit. I drove from my first college to my home to my second college for visits, holidays, errands. The brief stopovers on 66 seemed too quick to really be happening, even when I'd find myself stuck in traffic at Manasass. We went other places, did other things, but it all circled around to 81. My whole life, everyone who mattered, was just a quick exit away. Today I am on my way back to South Carolina. We're taking 64 to 95 and only had to be on 81 for thirty seconds. It occurred to me somewhere past Richmond that my days of knowing each turn and cop hideout of my local interstate are almost at an end. There is nowhere off 81 where I want to live; if I'm lucky, I'll be on the west coast this time next year, learning all new roads. That prospect is exciting but sad at the same time. It's scary to give up the things that make you feel safe, comfortable, even when you know that loss is opening you up to new adventures, experiences. And, despite my frequently-mentioned hatred for them, I think I'm going to get a GPS. It's one thing to get lost when you have friends two hours in any direction. It's quite another to be lost in a town where you know no one, no roads, no landmarks.

Twenty Minutes of Responsibility: Why I Should Never Be a Parent

2009-12-30T03:47:00.001-05:00

That is one big remote next to my tiny netbook

2009-12-29T01:46:00.000-05:00