Home, Home Again

and I can definitely say, to quote another band, "what a loooooooong, strange trip it's been."

Three weeks and a day of traveling all over the east coast. I went from Philly to Allentown, PA, from there a quick trip up to Albany for a concert, then back to Allentown, then Boston, then Baltimore, then back to Allentown, then to NYC, then to Philly (with a trip from NYC out to Long Island to meet my ride back to Philly). Then yesterday morning, I left Philly for my trek back to Orcas Island, which, all told, took 18 hours.

In a way it was a rock star kind of trip, waking up in all these different cities. So many nights, I had the sensation of coming in or out of sleep and being disoriented, wondering where I was. It was great. Throughout the trip, I slept on couches, in two hotels, in a basement spare room, in a shared twin bed in a dorm room and on a pullout couch. I saw so many friends it was amazing. Not just the ones I stayed with, but friends I saw at concerts, friends who came to my reading in New York City, a friend who I rarely get to see and who is going to Iraq in January. We met for two hours, went out to eat at a brewery, it was the fourth time I've seen in the last seven years. I get a little choked up sometimes, just thinking about how precious it is to have these short encounters with people who matter.

The crazy part was how much of this trip and the people I saw centered around the internet. I met the aforementioned friend years ago online, as well as most of the people I stayed with. I hung out with Linda in Baltimore, and we met in an online writing class. We'd never met in real life before my trip. The connection was so there, it was incredible. It always amazes me how accurate the internet connections are. I met some online friends at shows, people I'd never met before, and felt instantly comfortable. Also met one friend while about to leave Philly, another great connection. The person I stayed with for the most amount of time was Diane. She's a photographer who does a lot of work at rock shows, including the Chris Cornell shows we saw. Her pictures rock, definitely click on that link and check her pics out. We also met online.

I also saw friends I've had forever, especially in NYC at my reading. Afterwards, a bunch of us went out to eat, and even though it was bringing together different groups of friends from varied locations, backgrounds, ages, and from different places or periods in my life, it all went smoothly.

Even more amazingly, so did all the transportation. The trip was like a marathon of getting up at god-awful early hours to travel from one city to another. I rode all kinds of buses, made all kinds of connections, took the T in Boston, the subway in NYC and the Baltimore metro (whatever they call it), the LIRR, Greyhound, shuttles, and probably modes of transportation I can't remember at this point. It's all sort of a blur. And somehow, I always made my connection and got where I was going. Really, if I think about it, it seems like a miracle. I can't believe it all fit, it all worked how it was supposed to. I didn't want to say it at thanksgiving because I was afraid I would jinx it, but man, I am so thankful for TIMING, above all. Even last night, my flight was a little late, and then on the shuttle to the ferry, there was traffic. I was really worried I wouldn't make the ferry, and I had to make that ferry because I was meeting a friend on the boat and we were riding home together. Somehow, the shuttle got there just in time, the ferry left the dock about five seconds after I stepped on board. We had to have someone else take my suitcase because it wouldn't fit in my friend's car, and just as she dropped me off at my apartment, the car with my suitcase arrived, like it had been choreographed or something. Really, I feel blessed in the timing department.

Basically what I'm trying to say is, my trip was incredibly awesome. Great timing, great friends, great food, great music, great shopping excursions, great wine, great conversations. Hugged some good-looking guys, too. I even got hit on during my trip home, and loved the ego boost. I couldn't have asked for a better trip, really. From start to finish, it was great. When I first landed in Philly, on a shuttle from there to my friend Leo's, (which got me to my stop just in time for Leo to take me to her house on her lunch break, like I said, timing was like, divinely ordained here or something), during the ride, as I gushed inside over the foliage, something clicked. It felt immediately and undeniably SO RIGHT to be on the east coast.

It's funny, when I first moved out to WA, I used to get really internally confused by the water. I'd see it on buses through Seattle out to my left and it felt like we were going South. I kept having to correct myself. It's strange b/c mosto f my time on the east coast, pretty much all of it, was spent without water in seeing distance, but I guess intrinsically, my sense of direction and where the ocean was, was instinctual. It used to mess me up constantly in Seattle, because I relied a lot on cardinal directions to determine where I was going. On the island, it's a bit irrelevant, since water's in every direction. On that shuttle ride from the airport to Leo's house, though, it was like that internal sense of direction and water fell back into place completely, even though, again, I couldn't see the water. Somehow though, I knew we were going North. I can't explain it, sort of like a biological compass had clicked back into place.

And the verdict about the college thing is....

I LOVED Emerson. To me, it's a done deal that I'll be going there this Fall. Before I went to my visit, I told myself, okay, don't expect too much, don't expect that any school will feel like the absolute and only school, basically, the most likely result would be that no one place would be the be-all end-all perfect place. I'd never felt that about any school I'd visited before, including Emerson the first time when I was seventeen, and I've visited a lot of schools over the years. Well, it totally did feel terribly, disgustingly, amazingly pefect. I have no doubt I'll go there. That's assuming I get in, I guess, but I do assume that.

So I've got about nine months to save up as much money as possible, look for scholarships every day, and get ready to move my life from one coast to another.

In the meantime, I gotta go make some pasta for dinner.

Currently listening:
"Peeping Tommi" - Tori Amos

Writing from the road - Allentown, PA

It's been a long time since I wrote anything of substance here on my blog. No, I didn't fall off the face off th e face of the Earth, but let me tell you guys, the latest Mercury Retrograde hit hard. I can't blame it all on that though, as it started before, and lasted until after. I will be honest, I spent most of late September and October lounging around my hourse, cleaning, organizing and rearranging my house, and watching HOUSE.

I will digress to say, I've watched the entire series THREE TIMES. Yes, I'm sure that sounds pathetic to anyone who isn't me, and I'm sure it probably is, but here's the thing. First of all, I went through every part of my house - kitchen drawers, closets, the chest that the TV sits on, the shelves in my bedroom closet and the cabinets under my bathroom sink. I totally reorganized everything. When I first moved into my apartment, a year and a half ago, I was seeing Mr. O and he soon moved in with doggie, and it was all haphazard, with some organization as we went along (he was actually very clean and liked to arrange the house, which was great because at the time, I was pretty much a slob). For months I've felt like I wanted to re=organize, really make things mine, that sort of thing, but never got around to it. Until I downloaded all the seasons of House. I put on the pilot episode and wandered over to the kitchen.

The first day I watched nine episodes in a row, but watched is a very loose term. I turned the episodes on then got up and went into the kitchen. I cleared up all the dirty dishes and spent the whole day after doing the basic cleaning, sorting through the kitchen drawers. I decided clearly what each would be for. THe next day I watched nine more episodes, just as loosely, and completely reorganized all the kitchen cabinets. I had some new dishes and I put them in a new place and just loved the way th ey looked together and with my mugs. I made myself a tea shelf, easily reachable. I even organized my canned goods so that I liked the way they looked together, and they were also arranged with a scheme, a thought-out arrangement, soups with soups, that sort of thing.

Surprisingly, for being legally blind, I'm very visual. Call it my Venus in the Second House, or call it an artistic eye, whatever it is, I made every cabinet in my kitchen aesthetically pleasing to me, so that I felt satisfied looking at it, and also knew where everything was. I got rid of so much, huge amounts of food for the food bank, and trash. It works so much better now, thnough. The pots and pans all comfortably fit in one cabinet. Everything is just perfect. Along with that, I listened to shows about african sleeping sickness, leprosy, termite poisoning, rabies, and so on. Medical mysteries, weird diseases, I loved it.

As the weeks went on, I went through the every other orifice of my house, every nook and cranny. I got rid of so much old clothing, old papers. I put stuff I wanted to get rid of, and Mr. O's stuff, into my storage unit, always with House in the background. WHen I went through the whole series, I started at the beginning, and then again, and actually I was on my fourth round when I left for my trip.

As time went on though, I was less motivated. Instead of cleaning all the time, I spent a lot of episodes laying on the couch. Life had started to suck. There were three situations in my life that to me felt really unresolved - something with my family, stuff with Mr. O, and a situation with a friend that was bringing me down. In all three, I didn't know what to say, so I mostly didn't say anything. I finally said something to the friend, and it didn't go well. The other two are still semi up in the air, dont' know where I stand. All three just seemed to escalate at the same time, and I retreated into the world of medical mysteries and House. I am so attracted to him. Slower and slower I went through the house, still getting it done, but at about a tenth of the original pace.

There was so much on m y mind - saying goodbye to my doggie, getting ready to send her across the country to her dad, all the finagling that came along with that, trying to find a ride and a crate, dealing with all the airline regulations, I hardly even thought about packing or making my own travel arrangements. Right before I left, I re-cleaned the kitchen. Though I'd cleaned my house (and spent one Sunday afternoon and many House episodes painstakingly removing dog hair from the tubing of my vaccuum cleaner), dishes had piled up. By the time I got everything done, it was 2am. I was so tired, and it was my last night in the house with puppy, I never even made it to the bed, I crashed on my couch watching an episode of House about a woman with Munchasn's (sp?), one of the diseases or conditions that fascinates me most. THe dog fell asleep on the couch with me, then got down and slept on the floor next to the couch. WHen I woke up at 5 she was sleeping on her pillow in her crate, like a little angel dog that she was.

I left my house before 6am, my boss drove me to Seattle. We took so many stops, to get the crate, to eat, to let the dog go potty. We took her to a park near the airport and let her run around for a long time, gave her a meal, lots of water, time and space on a long leash. A few hours later, we finally dropped her off for her flight, which went off without a hitch. I met a friend for dinner, then went for my flight.

The next day I landed in Philly, mid morning Eastern time. I took a shuttle from the airport to a hotel where my friend picked me up. The whole ride from the airport ot htat hotel, it was like something clicked. I felt like myself again. Things were in place. I felt happier than I had in weeks, even with my situations still feeling unresolved, not knowing what my trip will bring, what I'll think of the colleges I'm visiting. It just felt in a way, like coming home.

It felt great. I have been in PA for five days. Tomorrow I leave for the next leg of my trip. Woo hoo!


Currently listening:
"All Night Thing" - Chris Cornell live, which btw, my next post has to be about. I just saw him twice, for the first time in years.