Monday, August 25, 2003
More trip stuff... Okay, we got to Brigantine, to my aunt and uncle's summer house. It was blissful there -- just sun, surf, and sand, a block from the house. I was very happy. Except in New Jersey, they have these huge vicious flies. They're like a cross between a housefly and a horsefly. They bite. The only good thing about them is that their sheer size makes them slow, hence easier to swat. Wahahaha.
After three nights in Brigantine (which is the island just north of Atlantic City), we rose at 4 a.m. and drove back up to Newark to take the train to Penn Station, and from there to Montreal. The day on the train was a bit boring, but providence provided a group of six university students for us to listen to. Oh, the drama of their lives! One of them was an Aussie with an accent to die for, and he didn't have the right papers to enter the country. The customs officer was being very stringent with the paperwork, and he had to explain to her (poor French girl), in his accent, that he was going to McGill to study for a year.
"And what do you plan to study?"
"Ahts."
"Sorry?"
"Ahts."
"Pardon me? What will you study there?"
"Ahts. Ay-ah-tey-es."
Eventually, they let him across the border. Another guy got kicked off the train.
And Montreal was fabulous. We spent one day looking around McGill and hiking in the Mont-Royal park, up at the top of the city. It's quite beautiful, but you know that cross at the top of the hill, the one that's a symbol of the city? It's /so ugly/ in daytime! It's got barbed wire on it, and it looks like scaffolding. Really, it's hideous. Not worth the walk, if you ask me. And then we spent a day in the Old City, and it was really cool. The Musee d'Archeologie et D'Autres Choses Que Je ne me Souviens Pas had an exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls, which Mum had been agitating to go see, so we went and it was AMAZING! Though it must have sucked to be an ancient Palestinian -- they were always getting conquered and exiled and/or subjugated. Persians, Romans, Byzantinians, what have you. Constantly under someone's thumb.
But I'm home now, and glad to be here. I missed everybody so much! Today was school registration, and then I went to the mall and had a Simultaneous Meeting with Jeanne, Katie J., and Bailey, who I hadn't seen in forever! It was great. We pedeconferenced for a few hours, but they were going to leave, so I begged off to go mow the lawn. This took me an HOUR. No-one has ever heard me curse the way I do when trying to cut the f***ing grass after nobody's done it for three weeks. One of my choicer bits of crazed monologue was, "Fucking piece of fucking shit, die die fucking die die die die die you fucking bastard! MWOOAAAR!" Just try that last noise out loud, it's so great. Sort of a roar in the back of the throat, widening out to a full-blooded scream of rage. Good stuff.
Elise has her Horrid Friend Brenna over. Actually, Brenna's been very nice to me the past little while, though I haven't quite gotten over the time she put chapstick all over my mirror for no reason. That was not a cool thing
After three nights in Brigantine (which is the island just north of Atlantic City), we rose at 4 a.m. and drove back up to Newark to take the train to Penn Station, and from there to Montreal. The day on the train was a bit boring, but providence provided a group of six university students for us to listen to. Oh, the drama of their lives! One of them was an Aussie with an accent to die for, and he didn't have the right papers to enter the country. The customs officer was being very stringent with the paperwork, and he had to explain to her (poor French girl), in his accent, that he was going to McGill to study for a year.
"And what do you plan to study?"
"Ahts."
"Sorry?"
"Ahts."
"Pardon me? What will you study there?"
"Ahts. Ay-ah-tey-es."
Eventually, they let him across the border. Another guy got kicked off the train.
And Montreal was fabulous. We spent one day looking around McGill and hiking in the Mont-Royal park, up at the top of the city. It's quite beautiful, but you know that cross at the top of the hill, the one that's a symbol of the city? It's /so ugly/ in daytime! It's got barbed wire on it, and it looks like scaffolding. Really, it's hideous. Not worth the walk, if you ask me. And then we spent a day in the Old City, and it was really cool. The Musee d'Archeologie et D'Autres Choses Que Je ne me Souviens Pas had an exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls, which Mum had been agitating to go see, so we went and it was AMAZING! Though it must have sucked to be an ancient Palestinian -- they were always getting conquered and exiled and/or subjugated. Persians, Romans, Byzantinians, what have you. Constantly under someone's thumb.
But I'm home now, and glad to be here. I missed everybody so much! Today was school registration, and then I went to the mall and had a Simultaneous Meeting with Jeanne, Katie J., and Bailey, who I hadn't seen in forever! It was great. We pedeconferenced for a few hours, but they were going to leave, so I begged off to go mow the lawn. This took me an HOUR. No-one has ever heard me curse the way I do when trying to cut the f***ing grass after nobody's done it for three weeks. One of my choicer bits of crazed monologue was, "Fucking piece of fucking shit, die die fucking die die die die die you fucking bastard! MWOOAAAR!" Just try that last noise out loud, it's so great. Sort of a roar in the back of the throat, widening out to a full-blooded scream of rage. Good stuff.
Elise has her Horrid Friend Brenna over. Actually, Brenna's been very nice to me the past little while, though I haven't quite gotten over the time she put chapstick all over my mirror for no reason. That was not a cool thing
Sunday, August 24, 2003
Iiii'm Baaaaack. Mwahahahaha.
So, New Jersey was fine. To forestall any questions, I *did* participate in the giant blackout. Fortunately, we weren't in NYC at the time, or in a subway, an elevator, or on a roller coaster. We were at my Aunt Marie's, safely sitting quietly at home. Even Mum's cousin Dan and his fiancee Nina (who we only just met this trip) didn't get stuck in traffic too badly, and they came from Brooklyn to have dinner. So we had a Family Night, for a change, because God knows I didn't see enough family members this trip, and ate pasta casserole baked on the barbeque and cannolis that Nina brought. Cannolis are amazing. They deserve a food group of their own. Nina is amazing too: She showed up in the middle of a blackout with cannolis and bags of ice. It was a hot night, and not having air conditioning, plus using candles for lighting, was probably the worst part. But we survived.
So yeah, sequentially, this has been my last three weeks:
Arrive Newark, spend night at airport hotel. Drive to
Maine -- Mum's cousin Nancy has a house there, so we spent a few days there. My great-uncle is planting five billion shrubs, which we helped with because we don't want him to kill himself, seeing as he only had a knee replacement three months ago. After three days or so there, we left George the Shrubber and his lovely assistant Nancy and drove to...
Chelmsford, Massachussetts -- Visited Dad's cousins Chris and Jill, Chris' wife Colleen and children Aine and Niamh (pronounced: Anya and Nieve), and Jill's kids Sarah and James. It was so LOUD! But it was awesome having all the second cousins around -- they're a wacky bunch. We played a round of miniature golf and ran around in the yard, as children do. Mum and Dad spent the night in a hotel, but Elise and I managed to stay at the house and commune for a while longer. Their house is not especially clean. But it's awesome. Colleen is such a funny person, and my cousins are awesome. Sarah and James are from England, so they sort of met us halfway. Anyway. We played blackjack. James cheated. 26 hours after arriving, we left for...
Branchville, New Jersey -- a few nights at Mum's friend Ruth's house. Ruth too is awesome, she inspired me to vegetarianism. She has a house in the woods, with wetland and forest all around, and she looks after a turkey vulture who only has one wing. Her area is getting built up a bit, and she's fighting it tooth and nail because she really wants the countryside to stay countryside. We did some hiking and saw lots of Mum's friends from high school, which is always scary because they remember the days when they were hippies and reminisce for hours and hours. From Branchville, we drove to...
Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey -- Mum's aunt Marie is the nicest lady in the world, but she won't stop cooking for people. For heaven's sake, we'll eat when we're hungry! Mum grew up the next town over, Rutherford, so we went on Mum's Rambling Driving Tour of Old Friends' Former Residences. Some "fifty-second cousins" of ours own a jewelry store and have a HUGE house with like four levels and a 35-foot ceiling, so we swam in their pool (which had a fountain) and then the power out started and we went home. Initially, we thought we'd put the power out in their house, somehow. And we visited more of Mum's friends and more of the family (my great-great-aunt who is 94, for instance). From North Jersey, we departed for...
South Jersey (Medford and Brigantine) -- Shore time! But I'll finish this later.
So, New Jersey was fine. To forestall any questions, I *did* participate in the giant blackout. Fortunately, we weren't in NYC at the time, or in a subway, an elevator, or on a roller coaster. We were at my Aunt Marie's, safely sitting quietly at home. Even Mum's cousin Dan and his fiancee Nina (who we only just met this trip) didn't get stuck in traffic too badly, and they came from Brooklyn to have dinner. So we had a Family Night, for a change, because God knows I didn't see enough family members this trip, and ate pasta casserole baked on the barbeque and cannolis that Nina brought. Cannolis are amazing. They deserve a food group of their own. Nina is amazing too: She showed up in the middle of a blackout with cannolis and bags of ice. It was a hot night, and not having air conditioning, plus using candles for lighting, was probably the worst part. But we survived.
So yeah, sequentially, this has been my last three weeks:
Arrive Newark, spend night at airport hotel. Drive to
Maine -- Mum's cousin Nancy has a house there, so we spent a few days there. My great-uncle is planting five billion shrubs, which we helped with because we don't want him to kill himself, seeing as he only had a knee replacement three months ago. After three days or so there, we left George the Shrubber and his lovely assistant Nancy and drove to...
Chelmsford, Massachussetts -- Visited Dad's cousins Chris and Jill, Chris' wife Colleen and children Aine and Niamh (pronounced: Anya and Nieve), and Jill's kids Sarah and James. It was so LOUD! But it was awesome having all the second cousins around -- they're a wacky bunch. We played a round of miniature golf and ran around in the yard, as children do. Mum and Dad spent the night in a hotel, but Elise and I managed to stay at the house and commune for a while longer. Their house is not especially clean. But it's awesome. Colleen is such a funny person, and my cousins are awesome. Sarah and James are from England, so they sort of met us halfway. Anyway. We played blackjack. James cheated. 26 hours after arriving, we left for...
Branchville, New Jersey -- a few nights at Mum's friend Ruth's house. Ruth too is awesome, she inspired me to vegetarianism. She has a house in the woods, with wetland and forest all around, and she looks after a turkey vulture who only has one wing. Her area is getting built up a bit, and she's fighting it tooth and nail because she really wants the countryside to stay countryside. We did some hiking and saw lots of Mum's friends from high school, which is always scary because they remember the days when they were hippies and reminisce for hours and hours. From Branchville, we drove to...
Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey -- Mum's aunt Marie is the nicest lady in the world, but she won't stop cooking for people. For heaven's sake, we'll eat when we're hungry! Mum grew up the next town over, Rutherford, so we went on Mum's Rambling Driving Tour of Old Friends' Former Residences. Some "fifty-second cousins" of ours own a jewelry store and have a HUGE house with like four levels and a 35-foot ceiling, so we swam in their pool (which had a fountain) and then the power out started and we went home. Initially, we thought we'd put the power out in their house, somehow. And we visited more of Mum's friends and more of the family (my great-great-aunt who is 94, for instance). From North Jersey, we departed for...
South Jersey (Medford and Brigantine) -- Shore time! But I'll finish this later.
Friday, August 01, 2003
Perhaps Jeanne is Right. Older men. Hmm. Except for the parents thing, that would work fine. Really, girls are so much more mature than the "young men" who are (numerically speaking) our age. Yeeha for us. And apparently, Drew thinks we're going out now. But we're really really not. He called me last night and would call me tonight if I hadn't said not to call, because of the packing for New Jersey. So he said he'll call me on the 24th, when I get back. How about NO?! Please go away... Actually, Stephanie S. gave me some good advice: Just tell him you have plans. Plans plannity-plans plans. And then say that you'll call him whenever you have time. And then don't. Although, I have no faith in the male of our species to receive signals with that kind of subtlety. For heavens sake, this is a gender that grows mullets! (www.mulletjoe.com) Not that the female is blameless on that count, either. WHITE TRASH UNITE!
Well, that paragraph certainly got derailed. I'm going to pack now, because it is a /good/ thing to have clothes to wear, anywhere you go.
Spinning happy faces make me dizzy.
Well, that paragraph certainly got derailed. I'm going to pack now, because it is a /good/ thing to have clothes to wear, anywhere you go.
Spinning happy faces make me dizzy.
