March 25, 2004
The Dark Cloud Of Despair That Follows Me Everywhere
Mmm, a vacation away from the snow. How WONDERFUL and WARM and... WONDERFUL. Yes, so I spent a day in Baltimore, a day in D.C., a day at Shenandoah, and a couple days camping in the Smokies. Ha, ha snow! If March can't put you in your place, at least the latitude can! Um.
Except.
Wait for it--
IT SNOWED ON ME. And not just once, and not just a little. FREAKING SNOW THAT I WAS TRYING TO RUN SO FAR AWAY FROM FOLLOWED ME THE ENTIRE VACATION! It snowed while I was at Shenandoah, there was a blizzard in Southern Virginia while I was driving through, and quite a few flurries welcomed me to the Smokies. Yes, and remember how I said it was 70 degrees down there last Saturday? It was a bit like this:
While spring officially arrived in West Virginia on Saturday, accompanied by temperatures in the upper 70s, it was beginning to look a lot like midwinter by Monday, with fresh snow accumulations as deep as 7 inches and record low temperatures in the forecast for this morning.
(And, of course, it's in the 60s there now that I've left. How does that phrase go? Give the world the best you have, and you'll get kicked in the teeth...)
*Le Sigh*
Strange how laughter looks like crying with no sound
Raindrops taste like tears without the pain
-Queensryche
But I still had an immense amount of fun:
- I have a bazillion pictures of awesome things (half of which, I'm sure, will turn out to be of daffodils [side note: I got to LIE DOWN IN A FIELD OF THEM! OMG!!!111oneoneone {and no, that's not me being attacked by a crate of mad squirrels; I'm just excited}]).
- I finally discovered what's up with the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (I think it's a bit of a regional attraction, eh?).
- I spent time on the loneliest road in America (I spent a lot of time on small highways, actually; it was quiet and contemplative and lonely in a bittersweet way).
- I sat by a campfire, drinking hot chocolate and watching The West Wing on my laptop, and felt more content than I have in oh so long (not that I spent much of my time In Nature with my laptop-- just those 44 minutes of sweet bliss, really).
- I walked and listened a lot more (I didn't like so much what I thought about, though, so we'll [meaning, of course, "I'll"] talk about that later [much later, I imagine]...).
- I had dinner with a motley mix of people that included a Taiwanese Brazillion ("Rich Tiawanese went to America; poor Taiwanese went to Brazil..."), an Indian Dutchwoman ("Almost everything's legal in the Netherlands; and even if it's not, you can still do it"), a Swede ("yeah, we're drunkards-- unless there's a Fin in the room"), and a German ("It's possible I could live on beer alone").
In short, life is wonderful and full of items of deliciousness ("items of deliciousness" is the hot google referer phrase of the month [other good ones include "what the hell is a triple integral good for?" and "vegan freaks"]).
Posted by Sean at March 25, 2004 01:19 AM
Comments
umm....
so how long are you going to be gone? I sent something to your home today... don't want it to be gone when you get there... hope nobody steals it. it's cool. it's a candy mold for sean! also I had to send something worthwile with which to weight down the parcel...
Posted by: jay at March 25, 2004 02:45 AM
I'm back now. Mmm, the wonderful world of the Internet, which I missed so dearly. I'm going to Boston this weekend, but that's of little concern because a) the mail doesn't come on Sunday and b) no one would steal my package anyways. Well, if they saw it was from you they might... but I've had [less important] packages sit out there for a week. Mmm, lovely, safe Vermont: where locking doors and caring about personal property is for losers.
Posted by: Sean at March 25, 2004 10:16 AM
I just have a comment on the safety protocols in Vermont, I think I had a dream about visiting you. It was most disturbing. you got shot, and I almost did, before I woke up. do you suppose that it means anything? Probably not. Either way we need to get dream security beefed up a little bit before I'm going to go dreaming about you again.... in that longing sort of way.... umm... never mind. exit stage left.
Posted by: jay at March 25, 2004 05:48 PM
Yeah, so basically you quit your job and took up drinking full-time? Mmmhhmm....
OMG LESS THAN TWO MONTHS UNTIL WE LIVE TOGETHER* AND ARE SO HAPPY FOREVER AND EVER!
*After being 3000 miles apart, living within 20 miles of each other is basically like living together, no?
Posted by: Sean at March 25, 2004 07:42 PM