is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
�Not Moving.� Nostalgia. Birthdays. Parties.
�Not Moving.� Nostalgia. Birthdays. Parties.
I had dinner with Evany and Marco on Tuesday night, and it was fun, tasty and hilarious. After dinner, they stopped by my house to see all the boxes, since everything was all pretty much packed up, given that the movers were set to arrive at 8am Wednesday morning. Marco walked around to take in the place for one last time and said he felt nostalgic for the end of an era even though he�s a relative newcomer to my apartment. I�ve been getting calls all week from friends all over the country about how they can�t believe I�m really moving. My house has been party central and guest central for many over the years. So at this point I am more reconciled to the move than are most of my friends.
Like I�ve said before, for myself to hear and for others, not having an apartment here is not going to change the very important ways in which this city is my home. These friends are my family. And my family is here, too.
Anyway, as Marco walked around the house, he began to laugh. He came back to the front room and said, �Why did you phrase the signs as �not moving� and �this room not moving� instead of �do not remove this item� and �do not move things out of this room�?� I was all, �Dude, I just wrote what they told me to write.� As you have now gathered, there were signs on various objects that said �not moving� and signs on doors saying �this room not moving.� Of course such a situation is rife with comic or tragic possibilities. Am I supposed to think that the chair is moving? Is it really sitting still? Do my eyes lie? Have I gone mad? Marco�s take on it: �I�m going to go home and put a sign on my door that says �This door does not hate me.��
Speaking of Marco�s door, he and Evany are having a little going away party for me on Friday night. The invite Evany sent out is funny, as it says something like �Please attend our �We hate to see Jill leave (But love watching her go (Regarding her Fine Ass))� Party.� When I got the copy for the invite I was glad that I had decided not to invite anyone from my �professional� life. I also made Evany add an addendum about how often I�ll be back. I am not in denial. I will be back in August, October, November, and for most of December and January. And more. It is ALL TRUE!
Yesterday was Heidi�s birthday and today is Richard�s. Except by now Richard�s birthday is almost over because he is in Vienna. He called yesterday and left messages on my answering machine and voicemail and he didn�t sound very cheery. But then I remembered that he has been in Vienna all summer and so he has his Austrian voice on. He sounds more like the glowering guy you run into on Viennese public transit. Don�t get me wrong. I LOVE VIENNA, and I heart all of Richard�s friends there, and they are all a lot of fun, too. But there is a way of holding one�s face and speaking in Vienna that is really not Californian at all. (Ha.) On the subway in Vienna I used to pass the time by looking at all the faces and imagining to myself the various heinous deeds just performed by the all the anonymous people with their dark and gloomy no-time-for-jokes looks. Anyway, Richard described to me all the festivities surrounding his final days before he returns to Calgary (he is Austriamericanadian) for the fall semester, and they are not gloomy at all! Activities include a concert performed expressly for him, some friends spinning records at clubs, and an impromptu club set up on the Prater right beneath the ferris wheel (the very ferris wheel made famous in The Third Man which, if you have never seen, shame on you, you should go rent it right now.) (I don�t really want you to feel shame. I�m simply manipulating you into seeing one of my favorite movies.) Anyway, I kind of wish I was there! I feel nostalgic! I want to dance to crazy DJ music beneath the ferris wheel, or in some hard-to-find club populated only by the coolest locals. Oh, nostalgia. In turn, Richard was calling me because he feels nostalgic about the years he and I spent living in the apartment I am leaving. This chair is not moving. Really.
In other news, Wednesday night Evany and I took Heidi out for drinks and Japanese food in Japantown. I tried to use one of the new and complex photo-sticker machines that operates only in Japanese, and had to get the help of some Japanese girls to figure out what to do. I felt proud of my resourcefulness. Then I put my $5 bill in and nothing happened. And the guy who watches over the machines had gone home for the night. Sadness enveloped me. Briefly.
7:12 p.m. - August 11, 2005
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
