redmed and I flew down to Dulles on Wed. Then we rented a car from Budget (“We’re cheap, we only have one shuttle bus!”) and drove the two hours south to my parents new digs. Interestingly, it was snowing as we headed south. Global warming my butt. On the way south, we stopped off at a Pho restaurant. One thing that Providence desperately needs is a thriving Vietnamese community to support a couple of awesome noodle soup restaurants.
My parents have fixed the place up amazingly. 30 years ago, it was a tiny farmhouse on 7 acres. Most of my real phobias and fears come from very real dangers that existed in this place (poisonous snakes, spiders, …). Now, it’s an estate with a historic outbuilding, several sheds, a pond, productive fruit trees, and the other trappings of just plain awesome. They’ve converted it from a hippie hide-out into a very cool country house.
We stayed in the school house. When they bought it, it was a decrepit shed being used for hay storage. They’ve fixed it up into sort of a grand rec-room / guest house / great hall. It’s about 300 feet down the road (one decent sized field) … which was enough to give a feel of total independence. It was interesting: Many of the trappings of the house where I grew up are jumbled around in there. Bookshelves, couches, tables and chairs, musical instruments. The memories that came back were entirely random.
Also, there was the new kitten. He’s a cute but aggressive little guy. He kept going after my feet. Also, he was positively desperate to nurse on my fingertips. Problem: Very, very sharp little teeth. His name is max, but I quickly started calling him “cactus.”
We both broke our pseudo-vegetarian habit of a year and a half and indulged in the turkey. Free range, organic, and my mom and sister cooked it. Surprisingly, my guts handled the unfamiliar animal protein very well. I don’t feel guilty about this at all … but I also see no reason to go back to eating meat on a regular basis.
My brother is familiar with Katamari Damacy. The rest of the fam looked on in horror and confusion as we sang the theme song over coffee in the mornings. Apparently at haloween, someone in his dorm wrapped himself in duct tape and just taped all kinds of random crap to himself. He was, of course, a katamari.
My sister flattered me by wanting to play chess.
My dad has purchased an Apple Powerbook (15″), which I helped him configure and update.
My brother and I tried to figure out how to work an old boomerang that we found in the house. We agreed that to use it as a weapon, the most effective approach would probably be to sneak up on whatever you were hunting and use the boomerang as a club.
On returning, we stopped off for the 10pm showing of the new Harry Potter movie. I wasn’t a big fan. Probably the stench of puberty that pervades the whole thing. I was sort of able to skim those chapters in the books. Watching stammering teenagers gawk at each other just isn’t my thing. Dark magic, on the other hand, is scary and cool. Plus dragons. Oh yes … here there be dragons.
Today has been consumed by raking, buying groceries, and generally trying to catch up on life.
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