2001-06-17
feeling kinda
i had such a disgustingly peaceful weekend, i'm almost embarrassed to be writing about it. i mean, there's no drama, there's not much of a plot, there are no mysterious strangers or McGuffins to catch your attention. just me realizing that not much happened, and it was Good.
after i got back on Saturday, it was all about napping. oooo... naps. the luxury of sprawling out with the fan on for a few hours, sort of sleeping, mostly just shutting down the brain, and knowing that there was nothing urgent demanding my attention Right Then. there are, of course, lots of things that need to get done, but none so critical that it got in the way of the nap.
and i did work a bit. the Cowboy Junkies were at the Pavilion, and it was a nice show. the opening act (Sarah... Harner? of course, the damn site has scrolled the info off the schedule, wankers.) was really much nicer than i thought it would be. oh, well, that's not fair. i didn't think it would be anything because i've never heard of her before. she's from Toronto and records on Rounder, and sounds a bit like Edie Brickell, but with more substance. oh, duh. of course. hang on a sec... Sarah Harmer, courtesy of Rounder Records. silly me. everything is out there to be found on the 'Net.
and thank god for the ocean breezes! it was, in case you missed it, obscenely hot the last few days here. it was sheer torture trying to get down there to work. i actually stopped halfway there to get a liter bottle of water. it was gone by the time i got there. it's only a 20 minute walk. i was all hot and sweaty in a most unbecoming way. it was so bad that the little scrap of paper with my employee number on it that i stuffed in my back pocket looked like it has been thru the laundry by the time i pulled it out again to punch out at the end of the night. that was more than you needed to know, wasn't it? ;)
but by the time the concert started, you could feel the temperature dropping, by degrees every few minutes. where i was posted we caught the best of the breeze off the water. and the sailboats were out on the harbor in full force. it was so pretty to look over every so often and see all the sails scooting by. i really like working on the waterfront, mostly because i so rarely head down to that part of town. we're still a working harbor town, and that section is mostly industry. well, there's a smattering of good restaurants (seafood ones - any surprise?), and a few museums. probably lots more that i don't know, but hey, now i have a reason to explore.
walking back, i realized something. we have this idea that we walk around on solid ground. and we don't. there's a lot of Big Dig construction down there, and i stopped to look down in one of the pits. it's easier to do that at night, because they have it lit up brighter than the noonday sun. staring down on 4 or 5 stories worth of work, you get that the roads and sidewalks are just a skim coat of asphalt lightly holding together the city. makes you think twice or more about our built environment. damn. i need to start studying that again. it's really fascinating.
i actually didn't stay to hear the whole set for Cowboy Junkies (who are much livelier than i remembered from their albums), because i wanted to get home at a semi-decent time, or at least not an indecent one, so i could try to catch up with my sis. good god, that was a ridiculously long sentence! anyway, sis was in town this weekend, and while i couldn't go to dinner with the gang because of work, i wanted a chance to have brunch with her. since i did forget her birthday and all this past week, it was also a chance to get her present to her. we did manage to connect, due to some kind glance from the Gods of Fortuitous Timing. and we had a lovely brunch, enough time to catch up a bit.
we stopped to check out Flyrabbit on the way out. if you haven't been there, check it out sometime. it's an oddly entrancing store. after that, she split to drive home and i decided to do some low key shopping. i'd already dropped too much money on new clothes Friday, but that meant i had to get a few more things. see, this is how it works. i got some sensible things, and then splurged on a dress. but because of the line of the dress, i had to get a new bra. so i had to go shopping again. make sense? no, actually, it doesn't to me either. just go with me on this one.
side note: men's sweaters are always better. i had thought i was finished the other day, but as i was headed out of the store, i spotted a ecru linen sweater in the men's department, on sale. it's a gorgeous sweater - no fuss, no muss, just functional. this is the way clothes should be. why do designers think that women want fussy, delicate things? i mean, they're good sometimes, but practical wins out every time, at least in my book.
i got caught in a huge downpour on the way to the mall this afternoon, and it was great fun. when i got on the T, few small splatters of rain. when we came out at North Station, pouring buckets. i stepped off onto the platform for a minute to let someone out, and was promptly drenched. this was on a covered platform, mind you. it must have been coming down on the order of inches every few minutes. by the time i got off at Lechmere, there was, quite literally, a river running thru the station. standing water 4 or 5 inches deep, and a serious current running downhill. *huge* thunderclaps, a little lightning... i stood there with a grin on my face, just transfixed by the power of nature. when they say don't mess with Mother Nature? no joke. she will kick your ass every time.
after it let up a bit, i slogged over to the mall. i found the bra i needed, on sale, in 10 minutes. let me tell you - this is a miracle of Biblical proportions. shopping for a bra is one of the more exquisite tortures devised. so i was all happy to not suffer much today. also got two pairs of shoes, one practical for work, one for fun. hey, if black flip flops with silver beaded straps are on sale for $10, how can you pass them up? ;) you can't. they call your name, and you answer.
and the rest of the day was just about puttering. sorted thru some clothes, organized a few things, rattled around some ideas for a few writing projects (which are slowly coalescing into real words), hung out with the kittens, listened to my favorite jazz shows all night, discovering a few new artists in the process, and just about now, as i sat down to write, realized that it's been a ridiculously peaceful day. how nice to have something like that sneak up on you.
