Chapter 25
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
"We're 10 and 1!" *
I'm sitting here watching Stripes with my roommate Dave. I've said it here before and I'll say it again: it is a requirement within the early days of living with a roommate to watch Stripes. It's important to the success of the living situation. Yes, All men should enjoy Stripes. If we don't...you can be assured that the terrorists will win.
*the above quote was as of 1981. Now I think we're about 11 and 3. or 4. ¶ 1/31/2007 06:34:00 PM 0 comments
*the above quote was as of 1981. Now I think we're about 11 and 3. or 4. ¶ 1/31/2007 06:34:00 PM 0 comments
Friday, January 26, 2007
(It's Been) One Year
Today was supposed to be my last workday as an AmeriCorps VISTA. I have been doing this for one year now, give or take a few days. I don't know if my experience has been that of a typical VISTA year. I sure feel as if I spent a lot more time in the office then I would have expected. And I feel like I had a lot less daily person-to-person interaction than I expected. Then again, on the other hand I never expected to be attending meetings with city mayors' and members of the governor's staff; I never expected to be travelling to various trainings and conferences on the Federal Governments' dime. I never expected to be known by name by the guards at a National Guard Base. I still don't expect that one, but it happens.
Of course there were those times spent in senior centers, in community centers, in schools, where I talked about disaster preparations and told people how to be safe at home during and after disasters. Those were good days. Those were really good days.
A lot has happened in a year. And needless to say today was not my last day, instead I have re-upped for another month until hopefully March 1st when I can begin a full-time staff position at my current workplace. That will be nice.
You know, I don't starve now and in fact I don't even feel like I have it all that bad at all. I make rent and bills, I have a semi-social life. But I wonder how life will change when I begin to make more than $800 a month? Such thoughts...eh.
I was talking to my Dad on the phone this week and he said something to the effect of "Well, I guess that's your home now." I think about that a lot. Part of me is so ready to move on. But the rational part of me says wait two years. So maybe that is what I do. I get the sensation that a lot of what I'm involved in and beginning--inside and outside of the workplace--will be at a good place two years from now. And I guess also that I am supposed to be a part of those two years.
We'll see. I still have a month to back out. Still have a month to pack up everything and move to Asia. But you know...I probably won't.
After all, a lot has happened in a year. The thing is though, lately I have been feeling as if everything that happened in my life last year...well it happened last year. Not this year, not yet anyways. Hold on, I think I just had a breakthrough as I was writing. I need to make sure and bill myself for that later.
Wow. I can't believe it's been one year. And what a year it has been! I have eaten A LOT of pasta this year. I am talking wheel barrow dimensions. Oil drums. Dump trucks full of pasta, that's how much I consumed in 2006. And 2007, I had some for dinner tonight. And it's so cold outside tonight--11 degrees and falling at 8:40--so I'm not going to burn any of that off. Not tonight. Not this weekend.
Next week. Next year. There's a lot in the planning stages for next week; next year. That's dangerous--and maybe stupid--but it's what I got going on. ¶ 1/26/2007 08:21:00 PM 0 comments
Of course there were those times spent in senior centers, in community centers, in schools, where I talked about disaster preparations and told people how to be safe at home during and after disasters. Those were good days. Those were really good days.
A lot has happened in a year. And needless to say today was not my last day, instead I have re-upped for another month until hopefully March 1st when I can begin a full-time staff position at my current workplace. That will be nice.
You know, I don't starve now and in fact I don't even feel like I have it all that bad at all. I make rent and bills, I have a semi-social life. But I wonder how life will change when I begin to make more than $800 a month? Such thoughts...eh.
I was talking to my Dad on the phone this week and he said something to the effect of "Well, I guess that's your home now." I think about that a lot. Part of me is so ready to move on. But the rational part of me says wait two years. So maybe that is what I do. I get the sensation that a lot of what I'm involved in and beginning--inside and outside of the workplace--will be at a good place two years from now. And I guess also that I am supposed to be a part of those two years.
We'll see. I still have a month to back out. Still have a month to pack up everything and move to Asia. But you know...I probably won't.
After all, a lot has happened in a year. The thing is though, lately I have been feeling as if everything that happened in my life last year...well it happened last year. Not this year, not yet anyways. Hold on, I think I just had a breakthrough as I was writing. I need to make sure and bill myself for that later.
Wow. I can't believe it's been one year. And what a year it has been! I have eaten A LOT of pasta this year. I am talking wheel barrow dimensions. Oil drums. Dump trucks full of pasta, that's how much I consumed in 2006. And 2007, I had some for dinner tonight. And it's so cold outside tonight--11 degrees and falling at 8:40--so I'm not going to burn any of that off. Not tonight. Not this weekend.
Next week. Next year. There's a lot in the planning stages for next week; next year. That's dangerous--and maybe stupid--but it's what I got going on. ¶ 1/26/2007 08:21:00 PM 0 comments
Thursday, January 25, 2007
You know, January has turned out to be a very, very long month. And yet I can't believe it's already almost over.
from my journal entry today after work "...I'm becoming more and more like the person I thought I once knew. In my thoughts and in my dreams..." ¶ 1/25/2007 05:55:00 PM 0 comments
from my journal entry today after work "...I'm becoming more and more like the person I thought I once knew. In my thoughts and in my dreams..." ¶ 1/25/2007 05:55:00 PM 0 comments
Monday, January 22, 2007
The best day so far: 2007
I don't know what happened in your neck of the woods tonight. But in my city, it finally snowed...and stuck! It was so amazing! Watching the snow fall and blanket the ground. We had a meeting to discuss WestSide Arts up at the Armory. Beforehand Kristin and I grabbed some lukewarm stew at Geoff's. Kristin said she preferred when she woke up from a long night's sleep to snow covering the world, but I don't know. I kind of enjoy watching the act itself.
I'm very happy tonight. We live in a beautiful world. It's not just the snow making me say that, but it certainly caps off an otherwise remarkable day. Do you ever have those moments where you just take a step back and look around you, at the beauty of life in your immedate surroundings? When I do that, I usually just start laughing out loud for joy. It happened tonight for the first time this year. Let's say it was around 6:30 pm. I was sitting in my car looking up towards the lights of the houses on College Hill, the snow gently beginning to fall and stick to the ground, Cat Power on the radio. Yeah, man. For the first time this year. ¶ 1/22/2007 10:07:00 PM 0 comments
I'm very happy tonight. We live in a beautiful world. It's not just the snow making me say that, but it certainly caps off an otherwise remarkable day. Do you ever have those moments where you just take a step back and look around you, at the beauty of life in your immedate surroundings? When I do that, I usually just start laughing out loud for joy. It happened tonight for the first time this year. Let's say it was around 6:30 pm. I was sitting in my car looking up towards the lights of the houses on College Hill, the snow gently beginning to fall and stick to the ground, Cat Power on the radio. Yeah, man. For the first time this year. ¶ 1/22/2007 10:07:00 PM 0 comments
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Hi!
Austin. Monterrey. The Bronx. Bristol, RI. Jersey. Houston. Moose Jaw. Virginia. India. Salina, KS. Rancho Cucamonga. Ft. Worth.
Just a few of the places visitors to my blog hail from. Dude--Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan--how cool is that? ¶ 1/13/2007 12:53:00 AM 2 comments
Just a few of the places visitors to my blog hail from. Dude--Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan--how cool is that? ¶ 1/13/2007 12:53:00 AM 2 comments
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
"Best that you can do..."
Hobson: Yes. Bathing is a very lonely business.
Arthur: Except...for fish.
If you don't know the above quote, it's ok. It comes from Arthur, an old comedy staring Dudley Moore. There is a good chance that my family is the only family in America that quotes this movie. Over and over again. At the dinner table, in the car, at the supermarket, on vacations, around the Christmas tree. It holds a very special place in our lives, which is odd. It is about, after all, a drunk millionaire playboy who falls in love with a waitress from Queens played by Liza Minelli. But it's not so much the movie, as it is what it represents to us. I'm sure we must have watched the movie many dozens of times by now. On New Years Day we watched both Arthur and it's less sucessful sequel one after another. And we laughed and laughed. Together.
I thought of this quote just now as I was doing the dishes, alone, and thinking that I should find someone to do the dishes with. Dishwashers are luxaries in Rhode Island, apparently, which is annoying but such a minor sacrifice that it's hardly worth mentioning. But as I was rinsing my dishes just now and then switching the water back and forth and drying and turning the faucet on and off and on again I thought of how nice it would be to have someone to do the dishes with. Like a girlfriend, or a wife. Not someone to do the dishes for me (as the stereotype goes), because while it can be a one person task, it would just be much...more...efficient for two people to accomplish. I see couples doing the dishes together in the movies, I know that part of life exists. Somewhere out there.
I feel like I had more to write. But the words and thoughts have seemed to vanish. As I typed that last sentence these words came across my speakers: "You do lose what you don't hold."--Joanna Newsom
¶ 1/10/2007 10:53:00 PM 1 comments
Arthur: Except...for fish.
If you don't know the above quote, it's ok. It comes from Arthur, an old comedy staring Dudley Moore. There is a good chance that my family is the only family in America that quotes this movie. Over and over again. At the dinner table, in the car, at the supermarket, on vacations, around the Christmas tree. It holds a very special place in our lives, which is odd. It is about, after all, a drunk millionaire playboy who falls in love with a waitress from Queens played by Liza Minelli. But it's not so much the movie, as it is what it represents to us. I'm sure we must have watched the movie many dozens of times by now. On New Years Day we watched both Arthur and it's less sucessful sequel one after another. And we laughed and laughed. Together.
I thought of this quote just now as I was doing the dishes, alone, and thinking that I should find someone to do the dishes with. Dishwashers are luxaries in Rhode Island, apparently, which is annoying but such a minor sacrifice that it's hardly worth mentioning. But as I was rinsing my dishes just now and then switching the water back and forth and drying and turning the faucet on and off and on again I thought of how nice it would be to have someone to do the dishes with. Like a girlfriend, or a wife. Not someone to do the dishes for me (as the stereotype goes), because while it can be a one person task, it would just be much...more...efficient for two people to accomplish. I see couples doing the dishes together in the movies, I know that part of life exists. Somewhere out there.
I feel like I had more to write. But the words and thoughts have seemed to vanish. As I typed that last sentence these words came across my speakers: "You do lose what you don't hold."--Joanna Newsom
¶ 1/10/2007 10:53:00 PM 1 comments
Saturday, January 06, 2007
an inconvenient festivus Balboa
Now I am back in Rhode Island.
Then I was home in TX but now I am home in RI.
I bought a new car, a VW Jetta. Black. Very nice. And what a smooth drive up here. The one regret I have about purchasing it is that I had to bring it up to Rhode Island where I won't get to spend near as much time in it if I were living just about anywhere else (Because everything is so close here--Rhode Island is a small state, if you didn't know). Took me two days again, two full days of driving through some beautiful country. Had great weather for the drive. Of course it's because of global warming. It was in the 60's yeaterday in Providence. 73 today down in Central Park. Not a hint of snow or January. This is sad, guys. It really is.
Ok. I have more to say but my water is whistling, which means time for tea. And I've already put it in my journal, so why replicate my airing of grievances here? So maybe I'll turn back to the season 1 DVD's of 'The Rockford Files' which my Dad bought me. And as for grievances and worries, etc, I guess I just need to remember the words of Rocky Balboa: "It' ain't about how hard you hit, but how hard you get hit."
That's right, if you haven't yet...Rocky Balboa is a fantastic movie. Fantastic! ¶ 1/06/2007 09:34:00 PM 0 comments
Then I was home in TX but now I am home in RI.
I bought a new car, a VW Jetta. Black. Very nice. And what a smooth drive up here. The one regret I have about purchasing it is that I had to bring it up to Rhode Island where I won't get to spend near as much time in it if I were living just about anywhere else (Because everything is so close here--Rhode Island is a small state, if you didn't know). Took me two days again, two full days of driving through some beautiful country. Had great weather for the drive. Of course it's because of global warming. It was in the 60's yeaterday in Providence. 73 today down in Central Park. Not a hint of snow or January. This is sad, guys. It really is.
Ok. I have more to say but my water is whistling, which means time for tea. And I've already put it in my journal, so why replicate my airing of grievances here? So maybe I'll turn back to the season 1 DVD's of 'The Rockford Files' which my Dad bought me. And as for grievances and worries, etc, I guess I just need to remember the words of Rocky Balboa: "It' ain't about how hard you hit, but how hard you get hit."
That's right, if you haven't yet...Rocky Balboa is a fantastic movie. Fantastic! ¶ 1/06/2007 09:34:00 PM 0 comments
