so, i went to the dale. and it was lovely.




we went to mugsy's, and i had lovely talks with frank & dan. yuki was there, and kim too, along with mags-who both noticed two girls in the corner looking at me. we couldn't decide if they were lesbians or just emo girls, but their staring convinced us of the former. we had to take a bathroom trip all together so i could look at them inconspicuously. kim says i could do better. i certainly hope so.


ponger also came and was tellling me about presenting a paper this year at the lavendar languages conference at au. he met bill and i asked if he met e. patrick, which he confirmed, but i also wonder what exactly he means by "met" (sir, i mean ma'am!). --speaking of which i found my birthday card from the anthropology nouveau cohort the other day, and got all sentimental. not that the whole trip wasn't sentimental--after the bar, frank and i went to denny's. i think the only two times i've been to that denny's were with frank. both quite late at night.


saturday, i got up late and went to panera--i said it was a sentimental trip--then watched apocalypto with frank. which, as zach would say, was "less than interesting." then dan came over with his dog, who was adorable, and actually liked me (and she doesn't like the hippie girls matt brings over, apparently). we made food to take to the potluck, and then went to coryn's.


first, we stopped at westside liquors for drinks. i bought a 6 pack, and then realized i had left my wallet in my car. frank paid for me (note: dumbass move #1). as we pulled up in frank's sweet minivan, he said "nobody fall in the ditch! carlo fell in last time we were here." i made some smartass comment about being capapble of getting out of the car.


the potluck was good, mostly. candy was there, along with her husband, who i ended up talking to more than i wanted, but i also got to meet yata tanaka's new boyfriend who was as dorky and strange as described, but nice. quite a few new people who also seemed nice and relatively normal. and coryn was very nice. for an archaeologist.


after a few hours, 2 beers, and some of steve's amazing! pineapple upsidedown cake, we decided to leave to get frank's (after)party started. we took my dip & chips, plus mags's chips & dip. i carried all of it, for some reason. when we walked outside it was about 9:15 and completely dark. apparently, the southwest side of carbondale has a lot in common with evanston when it comes to lighting. as we walked across the yard i said, "ok, now is the time i'll fall in the ditch." frank said "what?" and i started to repeat myself. when i got to the "i'll" i tried to make the step from the yard to the driveway to avert the ditch, but misstepped, and consequently scraped my entire body down the side of the driveway and into the ditch, throwing both bags of chips and all the dip in the air (dumbass move #2).


i had to sit there for a minute, i was laughing so hard. eventually, i got up and we gathered the salvageable remnants of the food. frank had a roll of papertowels in his sweet minivan which i used to sop up blood. i'm so smooth.


eventually we got back and i cleaned up most of the blood. i started on my first boone's farm. mags came shortly afterwards, and brought a few farm products with her too. eventually, quite a crew was there. jessica, a new archaeologist, yuki, mags, and then zach and val came. i was pretty apprehensive about seeing zach, since i never really told him goodbye, and our friendship was sort of in shambles when i left. even though neither of us would have admitted it at the time. but it was really good to see him. he's going to florida for his ph.d. and val's going with him. i guess that's what married people do. weird.


at some point, dan started mixing us mojitos, that got progressively stronger. and then ponger showed up with a strange entourage. but then again, when does he not come with random people in tow. i talked to some guy getting a bio ph.d about the politics of speaking spanish vs. english for a while. and dan was apparently mesmerized by one of ponger's latina lady friends. and i don't mean ladyfriend. at least i don't think anyway.


we stayed up until 4 am, or so, and i ended up sleeping really late on sunday. i basically just got up, made my rounds saying goodbyes, and then drove home. i miss them all a lot. and i've never regretted leaving (especially being there and hearing how often complaints about funding come up), but i wish there was some way i could see them more.

el autobus

so, last time i took the chinatown bus to dc, i had a lovely experience on the way down. fiend said he also liked the apex bus. so i figured they were alright by me, and boarded the bus back to ny cheerfully. the ride was fine, until half way between exits 6 & 7a in jersey, when suddenly the bus swerved and then filled with the smell of burning rubber. yes, a tire had gone flat when the driver swerved to avoid a merging sedan. The driver slowed down as we rambled along to the next rest stop. fortunately, it was a mere 5 miles away. at the rest stop, we disembarked and tooled around the parking lot. After about an hour a pickup truck delivered a new tire, it was replaced and after a two hour delay we were back on the road. it was not a particularly pleasant experience, but everyone took it in stride and the driver was very friendly, funny, and amusing. I decided I would make a concerted effort not to let the unavoidable mishap affect my future bus company decisions.

then last week, when buying my ticket for this weekend, i went straight to apex. i booked the ticket, and arrived at 88 e. broadway on time. as usual, we left about an hour late, but that was to be expected. however, about 4 blocks into the trip, the bus suddenly began to reek of feces. as i looked around everyone was straining not to make a face. i, and my seatmate as i learned later, thought it was just the stoplight at which we were stopped. but as the light turned green and we continued, the smell remained. people started to buzz about it. a young man stood up and announced that he had gone to use the restroom, but the seat was covered in poop. he had accidentally gotten it on his pants. now it was on his seat as well. so the troops sprung into action. the guy was offered a pair of pants to change into. he was given anti-bacterial waterless soap. we covered the seat in newspapers. perfume was sprayed. the overhead shafts were opened. it became somewhat bearable.

at the third or fourth rest stop avaliable, we stopped, disembarked, and the bathroom was cleaned, or simply shut. its hard to say. the unfortunate young man used the rest stop bathroom to clean himself up more. the seat was sprayed more. the faint aroma of feces still hung lightly in the air, but it was bearable. unfortunately, the bathroom was officially off limits, so a stop was required every hour or so. which turned the 4 hour bus ride into one that was 6 1/2 hours. But eventually i arrived in dc. made it to dupont, and met my parents.

but the unfortunate day did not end there. after changing out of my traveling (pajama) shorts, we went in search of food. we settled on a little italian place called La Tomate where instead of being served fetuccine verde e veggies i was served fetuccine verde with piping red meat sauce. with some switching of entrees and eating around shrimp, it was fine. until about 1/2 way through the meal when papa h bit down on a piece of clear glass. he wasn't hurt, and we got our meals for free. i even got free tiramisu out of the deal.

today while serving myself a whole foods salad, i poured about 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar down my leg. but it was far enough from my crotch that it didn't appear i wet my pants. close call.

but prior to my vinegary mishap, i did secure a cute 1br apartment in a lovely neighborhood. sure its a basement, and not particularly close to the metro, but its near the bus right to campus, near to georgetown and i'll have use of a little yard. and it has a dishwasher & washer/dryer. and i don't have to worry about it any more. those keys are jingling in my pocket.