Monday, Dec. 30, 2002
I know you're hungering for words I ain't spoken (and you still probably will be), posted at 12:05 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com It's been a whirlwind few days, and I'm not sure how much I want to write about the biggest news I have. Here's a hint: It's about her, and it's wonderful and wrenching and exhiliriating and so many other things and it's going to have to be over in just two days when I return to Baltimore and that thought is more frightening than I care to admit.The rest of the goings-ons:
Home was nice. The time with my family was one to be cherished and remembered.
I gave a lot of nice stuff and received a lot of nice stuff. The gifts from Hugasoul were especially great, and really showed just how well she knows me: A Stupid White Men (Michael Moore) desk calendar, the DVD of the Margaret Cho video Notorios C.H.O. (we were laughing so hard we couldn't stop), the book Lies My Teacher Told Me that I have always wanted to read. Other favorites include a bunch of nice clothes that fit me from my parents and sister (they now believe me that I wear a size 32 pants and a size M or L shirt), a frog shower curtain that has already been an amusing topic of conversation, and Tracy Chapman's new CD (beautiful, sometimes stunning, but sags towards the end... I miss the old Tracy a bit, though - it's tough to believe this is from the same woman who wrote all those political, angry, and hopefully transcendent folk songs in the late eighties).
Other highlights of my vacation so far:
My dad, Holden, and I took a 6-mile walk down the Kal-Haven Trail, and it was fantastic.
Good times with my sister, who is moving and starting the next chapter of her life. I'm proud of her, and hope this radiology thing works out. My dad said to her as we dropped off her stuff, "Don't forget who you are," and although it was a bit cheesy and we sort of made fun of him, I do hope she remembers it.
Jeremy and his brother (who I must say is an incredibly nice guy, I sort of never realized it before as much as I did this week) came up for a night of dancing and carousing around South Haven. It was supremely nice to see them again, and to catch up on Jeremy's adventures in Florida. I see our friendship has evolved mostly to the point where I'm doing most of the contacting/staying in touch work, but we get together or conversate and it's just like old times, completely forgetting about some of the rough times we had at the end of his tenure as my roommate and remembering that he's one of the best friends a guy could have.
At JC Penney, I was using $100 my parents gave me for Christmas to purchase a new winter coat and a new pair of shoes, neither of which I've had in years. All coats were 50% off there, and I picked out one that was marked $140. I wasn't going to spend that much (it would have been $70), but my shoes were cheap ($25), and the coat looked and felt great so I decided to do it. While up at the counter, though, I noticed another tag that read $30. The color on that tag was the same, so I thought that perhaps that tag was correct. I eventually realized otherwise, but not until the guy was ringing it up. He never saw the other tag, and rang up the $30 tag. Because the other tag was for a coat, it was 50% off - meaning I got a $140 coat for $15. I felt marginally bad about it, but honestly didn't know it was incorrect until it was almost too late - it was no duplicitious, planned out tag switch - and feel like a big conglomerate like JC Penney isn't going to miss out that much. And I felt like I needed a break, especially after the crap that's happened to my car and computers this past month. Anyhow, the coat is great. You should see it.
I've seen two movies so far this break, way below the output I was expecting but still satisfying. The Two Towers was just as good as I expected, a rousing, beautiful, and amazing film that didn't feel as long as the first one and thus worked better. The last half hour or so was intense and made up for any dry stretches in the early going. Gangs of New York was also excellent, with an amazing performance from Daniel Day-Lewis and a good one for DeCaprio and a story that was incredible. I thought the transition at the end from the conflict of the Irish folks to the conflict of the whole city was a bit too quick and not explained well, but otherwise this was very good. The camera work and battle scenes were astonishing - this is Scorsese's best work in years.