The Real Folk Blues part 2
Aug. 10th, 2004 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morrigirlThat last entry was so very me. I had this tendancy in my old hard copy journals to stop entries mid sentence. I'd just get bored and decide I didn't want to write about that particular subject anymore so I'd stop and never get back to it. A month would go by and the incomplete entry would remain incomplete and I would jump straight into a soon to be abandoned new entry.
To be honest, I kinda wanna do that right now. Screw recording my vacation for posterity. But the truth is I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for me. Because when I have a good time I want to remember every little detail so it's best to write about them while they're still fresh in my mind. And on that note allow me to continue my day by day DC synopsis.
Day 4: Woke up fairly early in order to make it out to my hotel before noon. Took the red line from Silver Spring to Van Ness which is way far away from where I stayed last time. Back in April I stayed downtown near the mall, in the midst of what passes for hustle and bustle in DC, and while that was fine for my first trip to the area enabling me to walk to all the tourist attractions, I wasn't really happy out there. The place went dead after 5 and there were more out of towners on the street then actual residents. It felt all wrong. I wasn't interested in knowing what it was like to visit DC, I wanted to know what it was like to live there and downtown was definitely the wrong place to go looking.
This time was different though. When I came out of the metro at Van Ness I found myself in a middle-upper class residential area. The streets were sparse, lacking the sheer derth of people and high brow shops you see downtown. Connecticut Ave. was lined with lovely apartment buildings. The store fronts contained grocery stores, drug stores, and other mom and pop type places. My hotel was two blocks from the metro so I strolled along the avenue marvelling at how more relaxed and low key this area of the city was. There were children playing on the streets, yuppies making their ways to or from work. It felt more like the Upper West Side and because of that I was automatically at ease.
Checked into my hotel. Recieved a call from Mike soon after informing me that he was just leaving the house and would be with me in an hour. An hour later he still hadn't arrived so I called his cell to discover that the boy had managed to get himself lost. He totally misunderstood the directions I gave him, swearing to god I told him to get off at Union Station rather then Van Ness which I know I didn't. By then time was neigh so I agreed to meet him down at Union Station for lunch.
I got a great big shock when I saw him standing outside B. Dalton's. The boy went and cut off all his hair!!! The long lustrious black ponytail had been replaced with a chin length bob that made him look about three years younger then he actually is. After I finished ranting and raving about his hair we made our way down to the food court to get a quick bite to eat. He informed me we'd have to cut our visit short because he had a doctor's appointment at 3:30 he'd all but forgotten about. So we ate and talked and flirted. He lent me a book called Lost Souls by Poppy Brite, a horror novel that totally wasn't the sort of thing I'd pick up on my own, but that I promised to read simply because he had given it to me.
Afterwards I walked him to the mouth of the metro where we hugged, kissed, and he whispered stuff in my ear that made me giggle. I decided to stay downtown and walk around. I wanted to familiarize myself with the area a bit more. So I walked further down town, popping in a nd out of various shops and book stores, getting myself turned around quite a bit and then regaining my sense of direction. I got myself back down to the area where I'd stayed in April. It was a gorgeous day and the walk was pleasant, but I was still sick and by then I was totally exhausted, so I hopped back on the train and went back to my hotel where I resolved to spend the rest of the evening curled under the covers of my nice warm king sized bed.
Called Gabe, let him know I was out of commission for the night. Called my mom, let her know I had moved to the hotel. She had a very interesting story to relate. We all remember my Brother Mike right? We all recall how he and his on-again off-again girlfriend of three years moved out to Portland, Oregon back in June right? Well Mom informed me that Mike had broken up with Danielle over the weekend. A few nights later I called Michael for the whole story. Apparently he realized that his haert wasn't really int the relationship anymore, that he and Danielle had different needs, and that he was spending so much time simply maintaining the relationship that his needs were not being met. Danielle was doing all this stuff she wanted to do, and he wasn't doing any of the stuff he wanted, and he couldn't do those things while they were together. Danielle wants to get married, settle down, have children. Michael doesn't, never has. And while I thought he had gotten over his fear of marriage and distate for children, he told me that was merely Danielle's influence. He really DOESN'T want to get married and have children, which makes me feel better because I'm not alone anymore. One of my fondest and funniest memories of Mike is the night we both realized we didn't want to have children and announced to mom that she would never get any grandchildren out of us.
Anyway, Mike sounded okay, very at peace with his decision. Said he kind of needed to move out to Portland in order to realize that things weren't working. Danielle has temporarily moved out of their house. She's going to stay with her mother until September, she wants Michael out of the house by then. Here's where the story gets interesting. Danielle has been supporting Mike since they got to Portland. He has been unable to obtain work. He has no income, no friends, no place to go, no one to fall back on. He has no money to fly back to New York and Mom and I have no money to send him. So he basically has less than a month to find a job and a place to live or else he WILL be out on the streets. I'll let you know how this situation works itself out.
Returning from that digression; I got off the phone with mom and spent the remainder of the evening reading, dozing, and watching television. At 2 AM I found Waiting for Guffman on HBO, a movie my mother has been trying to get me to watch for years. It's a film that pokes fun at small town community theatre. Very funny shit. Not as funny as Living in Oblivion or Soapdish, both of which totally nail their subject matter, but pretty damn good none the less. Eugene Levy is a fucking genius and Christopher Guest should be canonized.
Day 5: Other Mike found his way to my hotel room round about 1 PM. We sat around and talked for a bit. I gave him the bomb making book I picked up at the library. He was delighted. We kissed and cuddled and did stuff not fit to be discussed in polite society. Afterwards we went out for lunch. We found this cute little greek place where I ordered some chicken soup to soothe my throat. Around that time Mike started complaining that his throat was starting to hurt. I just stared at him and smiled. It took him a minute to realize I had given him Gabe's cold.
After lunch I dragged him to the local Petco because I had a sudden urge to play with animals. So we played with the kitties and looked at the snakes, rodents, and fish. Went back to the hotel for a little more talk, and then he departed.
That night I made my way back to Gabe's for some more Cowboy Bebop. I arrived around 10:00 PM, and we sat and discussed our respective days before wrapping ourselves in velour blankets and starting the sessions. We watched nine episodes in a row. By the time we stopped it was 2 AM so I wound up spending the night.
Again, this has become too long and the rest of the week must be put off for another day or two.
If there is anyone on earth who cares enough about me and my experiences to actually READ all of this then many thanks and kudos to you. You get a kiss or a cookie, which ever you find more appealing.
To be honest, I kinda wanna do that right now. Screw recording my vacation for posterity. But the truth is I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for me. Because when I have a good time I want to remember every little detail so it's best to write about them while they're still fresh in my mind. And on that note allow me to continue my day by day DC synopsis.
Day 4: Woke up fairly early in order to make it out to my hotel before noon. Took the red line from Silver Spring to Van Ness which is way far away from where I stayed last time. Back in April I stayed downtown near the mall, in the midst of what passes for hustle and bustle in DC, and while that was fine for my first trip to the area enabling me to walk to all the tourist attractions, I wasn't really happy out there. The place went dead after 5 and there were more out of towners on the street then actual residents. It felt all wrong. I wasn't interested in knowing what it was like to visit DC, I wanted to know what it was like to live there and downtown was definitely the wrong place to go looking.
This time was different though. When I came out of the metro at Van Ness I found myself in a middle-upper class residential area. The streets were sparse, lacking the sheer derth of people and high brow shops you see downtown. Connecticut Ave. was lined with lovely apartment buildings. The store fronts contained grocery stores, drug stores, and other mom and pop type places. My hotel was two blocks from the metro so I strolled along the avenue marvelling at how more relaxed and low key this area of the city was. There were children playing on the streets, yuppies making their ways to or from work. It felt more like the Upper West Side and because of that I was automatically at ease.
Checked into my hotel. Recieved a call from Mike soon after informing me that he was just leaving the house and would be with me in an hour. An hour later he still hadn't arrived so I called his cell to discover that the boy had managed to get himself lost. He totally misunderstood the directions I gave him, swearing to god I told him to get off at Union Station rather then Van Ness which I know I didn't. By then time was neigh so I agreed to meet him down at Union Station for lunch.
I got a great big shock when I saw him standing outside B. Dalton's. The boy went and cut off all his hair!!! The long lustrious black ponytail had been replaced with a chin length bob that made him look about three years younger then he actually is. After I finished ranting and raving about his hair we made our way down to the food court to get a quick bite to eat. He informed me we'd have to cut our visit short because he had a doctor's appointment at 3:30 he'd all but forgotten about. So we ate and talked and flirted. He lent me a book called Lost Souls by Poppy Brite, a horror novel that totally wasn't the sort of thing I'd pick up on my own, but that I promised to read simply because he had given it to me.
Afterwards I walked him to the mouth of the metro where we hugged, kissed, and he whispered stuff in my ear that made me giggle. I decided to stay downtown and walk around. I wanted to familiarize myself with the area a bit more. So I walked further down town, popping in a nd out of various shops and book stores, getting myself turned around quite a bit and then regaining my sense of direction. I got myself back down to the area where I'd stayed in April. It was a gorgeous day and the walk was pleasant, but I was still sick and by then I was totally exhausted, so I hopped back on the train and went back to my hotel where I resolved to spend the rest of the evening curled under the covers of my nice warm king sized bed.
Called Gabe, let him know I was out of commission for the night. Called my mom, let her know I had moved to the hotel. She had a very interesting story to relate. We all remember my Brother Mike right? We all recall how he and his on-again off-again girlfriend of three years moved out to Portland, Oregon back in June right? Well Mom informed me that Mike had broken up with Danielle over the weekend. A few nights later I called Michael for the whole story. Apparently he realized that his haert wasn't really int the relationship anymore, that he and Danielle had different needs, and that he was spending so much time simply maintaining the relationship that his needs were not being met. Danielle was doing all this stuff she wanted to do, and he wasn't doing any of the stuff he wanted, and he couldn't do those things while they were together. Danielle wants to get married, settle down, have children. Michael doesn't, never has. And while I thought he had gotten over his fear of marriage and distate for children, he told me that was merely Danielle's influence. He really DOESN'T want to get married and have children, which makes me feel better because I'm not alone anymore. One of my fondest and funniest memories of Mike is the night we both realized we didn't want to have children and announced to mom that she would never get any grandchildren out of us.
Anyway, Mike sounded okay, very at peace with his decision. Said he kind of needed to move out to Portland in order to realize that things weren't working. Danielle has temporarily moved out of their house. She's going to stay with her mother until September, she wants Michael out of the house by then. Here's where the story gets interesting. Danielle has been supporting Mike since they got to Portland. He has been unable to obtain work. He has no income, no friends, no place to go, no one to fall back on. He has no money to fly back to New York and Mom and I have no money to send him. So he basically has less than a month to find a job and a place to live or else he WILL be out on the streets. I'll let you know how this situation works itself out.
Returning from that digression; I got off the phone with mom and spent the remainder of the evening reading, dozing, and watching television. At 2 AM I found Waiting for Guffman on HBO, a movie my mother has been trying to get me to watch for years. It's a film that pokes fun at small town community theatre. Very funny shit. Not as funny as Living in Oblivion or Soapdish, both of which totally nail their subject matter, but pretty damn good none the less. Eugene Levy is a fucking genius and Christopher Guest should be canonized.
Day 5: Other Mike found his way to my hotel room round about 1 PM. We sat around and talked for a bit. I gave him the bomb making book I picked up at the library. He was delighted. We kissed and cuddled and did stuff not fit to be discussed in polite society. Afterwards we went out for lunch. We found this cute little greek place where I ordered some chicken soup to soothe my throat. Around that time Mike started complaining that his throat was starting to hurt. I just stared at him and smiled. It took him a minute to realize I had given him Gabe's cold.
After lunch I dragged him to the local Petco because I had a sudden urge to play with animals. So we played with the kitties and looked at the snakes, rodents, and fish. Went back to the hotel for a little more talk, and then he departed.
That night I made my way back to Gabe's for some more Cowboy Bebop. I arrived around 10:00 PM, and we sat and discussed our respective days before wrapping ourselves in velour blankets and starting the sessions. We watched nine episodes in a row. By the time we stopped it was 2 AM so I wound up spending the night.
Again, this has become too long and the rest of the week must be put off for another day or two.
If there is anyone on earth who cares enough about me and my experiences to actually READ all of this then many thanks and kudos to you. You get a kiss or a cookie, which ever you find more appealing.
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Date: 2004-08-10 09:15 pm (UTC)