Falling Down

I'm using this post as a means of forcing my eyes to remain open. No idea why, but travel makes me ridiculously sleepy even if it's a relatively short flight. Of course, I got home later than planned because Skybus can never run on time: it's a law of physics. Not that they didn't try valiantly to be on-time in this particular instance. I was actually sitting on the plane at 7:21 for my flight that was scheduled to leave at 7:17, which is as close to perfect as Skybus gets. Of course, the other retahds getting on the plane took forever to get organized and settled, and by the time they did, the 15 minute freak blizzard outside had dumped 1 1/2 inches of snow on unsuspecting Columbus. Meaning the plane had to be de-iced. Meaning there were only 2 de-icing trucks and about 12 planes. Meaning we took off 1 hour and 20 minutes later than we were supposed to. And of course, just to make things even more fun, all the waiting made the (Hardrock, NH) high school girls' volleyball team on the plane (all 30 of them, plus 10 mothers) especially loud, obnoxious, and completely unaware that there were other passengers on the plane who perhaps didn't care to hear about how much they sweat during games, thankyouverymuch. It was the same team I had to travel with on Friday night, and it seems no amount of sacrificial rites was enough to keep them off my returning flight. At least I got to sit next to two girls who were my age and just as aggravated by them as I was. We commiserated as one for the 1 hr. 50 min. flight back to Portsmouth, NH.

The trip to Kenyon was splendid, though I did rue the fact that dear Jeffrey could not join us in Gambier as it was his off-weekend. :o( I arrived on campus around 1:30am thanks to a last minute airport ride via allstu, located Adrienne, attempted to break into Calista's room and pass out in the extra bed, and was dismayed to find her door locked. She was on keg duty at the Archons' 80's workout party, so that left me dumping my stuff onto Annie/Cait's common room floor and creating a makeshift sleeping pad from chair cushions. I finally passed out at 2am, so oblivious that not even Calista's impromptu visit at 5am could penetrate my unconscious state. Waking to the sounds of Annie's vocal warm-ups in the shower around 10am, I realized just how excited I was to hear her recital. Ernst food, though certainly not fine cuisine, tastes so much better when you've experienced the pain of grocery buying in the city for months on end. At 1:30pm everyone headed down to Brandi for Steve Dowling's senior recital, where I encountered a (now sober) Calista and Anna Stevens. A joyous exchange! Everyone milled about until 4pm rolled around and it was time for Annie's recital--and what a recital it was! I loved every piece she sang, and decided that she should be accompanied by lute music wherever she wanders after hearing her sing three pieces accompanied by said medieval instrument. Her voice was stunning, her beauty was stunning, her dress was stunning (how it looks on the model doesn't even compare to how it looked on Annie--classic and classy!). Brava, bella. :o)

After the recital Adrienne, Stew, and I journeyed to the VI for some dindins where Anna and Calista joined us. Man do I love their Mac & Cheese! Annie was also there, having dinner with her parents, Doc Locke, and Kay. We hung about in Calista's room until 7:45pm, when we sauntered back over to Brandi to listen to Aaron Hatley's senior presentation on Aaron Copland and why he was The Man when it came to American Music. Very well done and interesting, especially since I'm already a huge fan of Copland. Stopped by Caples to say hello to Messr. Phil Fine. Then Adrienne, Anna, and Cait headed on over to the New Apts for a music-major packed party. Being exhausted from everything in the past few days, I opted to return to Calista's room with my stuff, watch the end of Ever After, and pass out at 12am after reading a few chapters in Caucasia. I awoke bright and early at 7:15am to catch a ride to the airport with Annie's parents, and waited there until 10:30 for my parents to pick me up. We then headed over to Easton for some B&N browsing, lunch at Cosi (a tradition), meeting up with my sister and her/my friend Maggie, shopping at Anthropologie for my (early) birthday present (yay cute clothes!), shoe browsing at Nordstrom's, and then finally the ride home. After much coercion, Mom made my favorite comfort dinner (tuna noodle casserole), invited our neighbors over, and presented me with a small ice cream cake for my birthday dessert. In addition to the clothes from Anthropologie, I got an amazing matted print from a local art show, cute note cards with my name on them, a very nice flat iron (finally!), and a Sundance long-sleeved t-shirt from Park City, UT. Quite a good haul, and I still haven't received Megan's present or any of my presents from my extended family! I love birthdays.

Mom drove me back up to Columbus to catch my plane last night, during which we encountered several random blizzards along I-71. It was just as sad/upsetting to say goodbye to my parents this time as it was at New Year's. I'll never get used to the miles between us. The happenings of the flight you already know, so when I arrived at 10:30pm to Portsmouth's airport and saw Yuval waiting for me in the lobby I threw myself at him in excitement and sheer relief to be off that damn plane. The drive home was lovely and uncomplicated, though tinged with a little sadness since I won't be seeing him again until next Sunday night since he has to fly to Israel tonight for his grandfather's funeral. :o(

And now for some nonsense! The following two paragraphs are excerpts from spam emails I got advertising "sexual enhancement products". Usually I just delete these without looking, but my eye caught one of the phrases at the end of the email, after the product pitch, and I just had to share. I've since discovered that all of them have these things at the end! I have no idea what they are, only that the sound like found poetry taken from random foreign translations of James Joyce's rantings, translated from these 10 different languages back into English, and then squashed into one paragraph. Watch for the Poirot reference and enjoy!

"It, but there's no time. How is a poor devil to evolution. if some one had said to her that she and jolly good ones, too, aynesworth answered, perform it on the spot. And all the men did so. Simply sat watching her with eyes in which there chose to marry her in the depth of winter, when it seemed a change of front. It certainly gained current carries it out again, and so down the mr. Caspar unexbeamed Hastingsi have been to had a lot of physical pain —but if you have pain, all thought came from the park?' 'i don't remember mustn't be nervy. After all, you can't escape well, that was fair enough, that dealt with trade, antibes. Poirot discusses the case everybody looked there and so tid her cranduncle, for a fillain."

"Covetous men are wedded to envy and anger. They them, becomes emancipated.27 bandoning, with that smear their bodies with mire, that have their mais le nain est tresmal habille, il a son bonnet ruler of the bhojas. Besides these, many others they are embodiments of merit. They are high and of gold. They are also adorned with flowering time during business hours, and afterwards there apartments, where, resting among a pile of cushions desire exists, rebirth becomes possible. The universe, and experience of the world preserved count o'halloran for his son, gave his consent to their playing the silverwhite sands and huge rolls of purple deceived by them. O satyaki, draupadi also was vows and fixed mind and observing the vow of perfect."

Also, My three goats won't stop jeering at me, and I love them for it.