A Surprise Visit to Another World

I went for a beer with a classmate of mine after class Wednesday and she invited me to a party being thrown in her honor at her friend/coworker's house.

"Bring something to swim in, they have a pool. I'll get you the directions by Friday." Cool enough I thought. So Friday she came to pick me up, we drove up to a housing plan near Cranberry. We followed the directions, and the end part read: "approach the far right gate, dial ____ and we'll buzz you in. " So there's a camera and a phone-type dialer, no guard, and you call the folks you want to visit. I had never visited a gated community before, and after assuming that we were going to an apartment building complex or something, so I was a little freaked out by it at first. Sorta like a condominium complex, but all gated off. Not with barbed wire like the FBI buildings per se, but definitely on top of a ridge, secluded, and secure. The folks there were gracious hosts, friendly, and conversational. Their home was a lot like any condo you've seen, and there was no guard. And not unlike so many pool partied I've been to, nobody went in. I don't understand it, but my guess is it was just cooler air, and why not hang out close to the food and beer and stuff? I dunno, I imagine in my life, I'll probably visit another gated community, and it was cool enough I suppose, but still felt a little wierd, and felt good to get back into the city. I don't know if I could ever live in a place like that.

Picked and plucked from George Eliot's The Lifted Veil: The fluctuations of hope and fear, confined to this one channel, made each day in her presence a delicious torment: to heighten my boyish passion, and make me more and more dependent on her smiles. And when they vanished, the gardens, the summer sky, the consciousness of Bertha's arm being within mine, all vanished.

The shadow passed from between us, and was no longer the object nearest to me. The girl whose light fingers grasped me, whose elfish charming face looked into mine--who, I thought, was betraying an interest in my feelings that she would not have directly avowed,--this warm breathing presence again possessed my senses and imagination like a returning siren melody which had been overpowered for an instant by the roar of threatening waves. It was a moment as delicious to me as the waking up to a consciousness of youth after a dream of middle age.

For all of you who like graPHiC aRts stuff . . . you'll like these comic-book style drawings from fotolog . . . they kinda remind me of comic book style series or something Rich Engel showed me a ways back, a series about depressed hottie english lit type co-ed girls. He said 'you should date girls like this," to which i said, " too bad those girls seem to find me dreadfully boring." maybe i never had enough tattoos or misfits t-shirts or something

A cool quote about self respect that dan brown turned me onto:

"how to deal with the realization that the goals you work toward aren't worth a candle, while nonetheless understanding that giving up is morally unacceptable"

"get busy livin' or get busy dyin"

once again, i'm reminded of dave burke, because of his outdoor trekking adventures, not his pants.

Not a whole lot going on outside of my coursework, work and ya know getting an occasional beer.

I did get a new (new to me) queen size bed. I was in a twin bed for a while, well, I guess since like I moved out of a crib, my bed has been a twin bed. I've slept in Queen and King sized beds, but now I have my own. Sure, for you folks who've had big beds for ever and ever, it's no big deal. But I like waking up in that bed. I mean I like sleeping in it and waking in it and maybe it's just that there's new sheets on it . . . but really, Ilike the s p r a w l factor. And determining which side of the bed I wanna sleep in. Right now I like sleeping in the middle, taking up as much space as I can.

Oh yeah, there was a guy who was gonna pick up my old twin, but never came back. Figures. So, if you or someone you know needs a free twin bed, lemme know ASAP. Or the Goodwill folks'll get it. Good solid Heavy wooden frame. Bookshelf headboard (I'm gonna miss that ... )