home on the range

I am staying at my mom's house in SC this week.  Here is a list she made on a piece of paper that I have been glancing at for the past 30 minutes until I realized there is no unifying theme (that I can tell, I'm sure there is).  In the theme of Found Magazine, I give you this list (I "estimated" on some words)  Also, "CHS" in her language refers to Charleston, SC:

90 degrees in the shade Look Away!
Naturalist
William Bartram Palmetto State
Chatooga trails
ID plants & animals
locating dude in villages
Low Country - Sandhills
Highlander
Ceril Waisetes
1 ce tea Elvis
Shagging (state dance) @ Myrtle Beach
Porgy & Bess
Historic, Deliverance's Chatooga
Beautiful & Romantic CHS
Hiking History Rivers
Gardens - plantations, wars, CHS fills 2 shelveo@

Wind in my Sails

I am in Connecticut visiting my family.  My aunt has pretty bad breast cancer and she just got done with a really aggressive form of chemo.  She is really sick.  She doesn't have any hair.  I have never been around a cancer patient like this.  It makes me so afraid.

My cousins were here, though (they are my age) and it was great to be around the whole family.  It's so rare to have "everyone together" when you grow up, I always think about people as part of the unit they were with when I was a child.  I love it when it all comes back together.

My uncle recently bought a sailboat off of craigslist.  He doesn't know how to sail very well but we still went out twice this past weekend on the Thames river.  He taught me to sail and now I am totally in love with sailing.  There is magic in the power of wind blowing you across the water- trying to harness it just enough to go where you intend to go but recognizing that you really don't have any control at all.  That wind can die down just as fast as it can pick up.  It falls into my mantra that I've been thinking a lot about in the past few months: "Don't push the river, it flows."  Also, the energy conservation geek in me gets totally high off of the fact that the boat is powered on nothing but wind- way cool.  On one tack I caught the wind and the boat leaned 30 degrees!  (that is a lot)

One hand on the tiller and one hand on the jib line tacking like a motherfucking professional

I was supposed to catch the train back to NYC this afternoon but a huge thunderstorm knocked out the electricity to the Amtrak trains running between Boston and NYC.  I am secretly glad to stay, even though the cousins and their friends are gone now.  I really love how healing it can be to be in a "grownup" household.  

One year later

A brief reflection one year later:

you go toward Georgetown, I'll go toward Georgia Ave

Here are some things that have happened recently.  I'm on the Boltbus going to NYC right now and bored out of my mind.

1. On the fourth of July I went to a BBQ/ potluck in Takoma Park.  At said event Henry Allen (pulitzer prize winning former writer for the Post) stood on a deck overlooking the party with an American flag draped over his shoulders reading the decleration of independance.  At the conclusion, after four tries, a replica Civil War canon was shot (at nothing in particular).  I ate at least 4 different potato salads.

2. At the wonderful Thai market / cafe I mentioned in my last post I was hanging out eating some sticky rice- killing time.  An old woman came in with a man who seemed to be her son.  She was Asian but not Thai and it was obvious that English was not her first language.  She was acting like a general crotichity old woman- looking at the menu and the food and interrorgating the Thai man behind the counter (who is also older).  She kept saying, "Where is de rice?  Rice?  I do not see de rice!!  Rice rice rice!" and then she looked at the man behind the counter and said, "Do you haveee any rice?!"  and the man said, "OF COURSE WE HAVE RICE!  ASIANS EAT RICE!"  and everyone laughed.  At one point he also offered his glasses to her because she wasn't reading any of the signs posted.  ("CAN'T YOU SEE?  YOU NEED HELP?!")

3. The night before last I had a dream that somehow got tickets to see She & Him at the 9:30 club in DC.  Apparently a man who looked exactly like Neil Young attacked me for having them (?) and I screamed but then I didn't care.  I went to the show with my bff C.  When I woke up it was the kind of wake-up where your eyes just pop open and you sit up and are like BAM.  THAT DREAM NEEDS TO HAPPEN. but not the getting attacked by Neil Young part.

4. Last night I ate dinner with old friend D.  I ate some kind of Indonesian noodle dish which I enjoyed.  Afterward I took him home (cars are magic) and thought it would be too late to catch the She & Him show at the 9:30 club that started at 7.  I got there at about 8:20 thinking, "what am I doing, there is NO WAY I'm going to get in... this show has been sold out for a while..."  But I was resolute to see Zooey (especially after dreaming about seeing her) so I parked my car and marched over to the crowd of DC hipsters (pathetic attempts at hipster).  I waited around a while, no one was selling tickets (9:30 lets you sell tickets at face out front- pretty sweet).  I watched a couple guys buy some tickets and then it was my turn!  I got a ticket for $30 and went in.  It was PACKED and sweaty hot (what isn't sweaty hot these days?).  I pushed towards the front.  She & Him didn't even go on until 9:30 (joke's on me?  is this always how it goes?) It was such a great show.  Zooey is so tiny, I somehow thought she would at least be taller.  She is a very small person.  M. Ward rules.  They played a cover of "Wouldn't it be Nice" which Zooey said they had never played before.  Zooey's eyes sparkle in real life just like they do in pictures.  That was cool.  Also she doesn't smile much but does jump around a lot.  Her voice is perfect.  I hate DC/ hipsters for not dancing at all, I know it was packed and stuff but standing there like you're in a conference or something is ridiculous, especially with that music.  I danced alone.

5. At the 9:30 club they are very strict about bringing in cameras.  If they find one in your bag they will take it away and make you check it.  They found mine (tears) but they didn't find my FISHEYE FILM CAMERA so I took pics with that.  HAHAHA WHO IS THE MOST HIPSTER OF ALL.  THIS GIRL.  I still really wish I had known about the camera rule, it would have been so easy to sneak it in my bra or in a zipper pocket in my purse.  Damn.

6. I was walking to the Takoma Park metro this afternoon and passed by a young man.  He looked at me and said "hey, try to stay cool and have a good day!" and I said "thank you!  You do the same!"  I LOVE TAKOMA PARK.

7. Oh, the hot.  Being hot makes me forget to eat.

8. I really need to start actively giving up dairy.  It makes me feel so sick.  I ate frozen yogurt twice in one day the other day (hard to resist when you're so goddamn hot in the city) and felt SO BAD afterward.  I know I'm lactose intolerant- it's just hard when the only reprocussions are feeling terrible for a while- which apparently I have been unknowingly dealing with for several years so I'm used to how it feels.  I am going to use Zooey for inspiration, she is allergic to dairy.

9. I love Paul the octopus.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/08/AR2010070802495.html?wpisrc=nl_most

HALF PRICE Y'ALL

Explorations in Maryland and a significant reduction in snot have led to a much happier E.

I found a Thai grocery store / restaurant that I am IN LOVE WITH.  http://www.yelp.com/biz/thai-market-silver-spring $1 Thai iced tea and all their food is $6 or less!  I ate some mango sticky rice and forgot how DENSE sticky rice is.  Whoa.  It's awesome.  I also procured an actual bag of tea to MAKE MY OWN THAI ICED TEA.  I swore I wouldn't do this because it would lead to the downfall of one of my favorite things of all time but... can't resist a bag of loose tea.  Also, IT COMES IN A CAN, TOO.

After spending some time in there examining everything I set out for Value Village, which I have heard in these parts is a massive thrift empire.  Today the entire store was half off.  I actually had specific items I needed and this place took care of it.  It was a terrible mad house but definitely worth it.  I may have gone overboard with ceramic cats but... HALF PRICE Y'ALL.

  Here are some recent pictures from the National Zoo, 4th of July, various parties, etc.

Holiday red, white, and BLUES

I'm surrounded by wonderful people and still feel so lonely.  I think I've been homesick lately because I just want to be around my mom.  She knows me to the core.  I want someone to see through me so much.  When someone in your life knows you that well and is "taken away" or has to be stifled for whatever reason- I swear it is like being dismembered.


Tonight was the first time I have ever desperately wanted a sibling.  Jesus Christ, I need to get the hell back to Asheville and get a dog.


Maybe when my hormones quit raging and this goddamn virus goes away I will catch the upside of the roller coaster and ride it out for a while.  The clarity I have when I am happy and the clarity I have when I am sad is overwhelming.

I'm getting blown away.

For the past week I have gone from feeling woozy and sick to a full on epic cold.  I've never had a cold in the summer before.  You don't get to curl up under a blanket with hot tea.  Also- there is no long sleeve to wipe your nose on.  I've been lying on top of the bed in my underwear just hoping the snot and coughing and sneezing will stop.  It should also be noted that when you're about to sneeze but can't is comparable to really bad sex.


The city relaxed on the summer heat and it has been glorious.  Today I opened the window and let the cool air in all day.  This evening the neighbor dogs were having fits.  They sound really small, the barks are high pitched and seem to not be aimed at anything in particular.  It is really obnoxious.  In between the dog fits one of the dog owners was playing his guitar and singing.  He played some Led Zeppelin and other classic rock favorites, stopping only to chastise the dogs by saying things like "if you don't stop I'm going to kill you, stop... STOP.... stooooooop!"  The last song he played was "Like a Hurricane."  


I have been spending a lot of money lately.  I've been buying Chinese pastries and a lot of Thai food.  I also bought several mangos and a couple jicamas.  When I bought the jicamas the hispanic guy who weighed them asked me how I eat them.  "I eat them plain, just raw" I said.  He said he likes them with salt and lime juice and chili powder on them.  I think I will try that when I do eat them this time.


I've been eating so many mangos that it makes me have an allergic reaction on my lips.  Did you know Mango sap has urushiol in it, the same chemical that causes such terrible reactions to poison ivy?  I'm usually fine and only have a mild reaction if I don't scrape the peel with my teeth or gnaw on the pit (both things I used to do).


I bought tickets for a great adventure next weekend.  I am so lucky to have the friends that I do.  It's like the bus driver that says "Have a blessed day" - thank you bus driver, I do feel blessed.