the hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands
I'm at my older sister's apartment right now, going through her iTunes and labeling songs with no artists. The ones I recognize, at least. I forgot what a beautiful view she has. Mom made me breakfast this morning, and I'm always amazed at how good her scrambled eggs taste. No other eggs ever taste that good. It's strange how, in many ways, it's like I never left. Everything's back to what it was. It's just another hot-ass Tennessee summer. I saw a girl who went to my high school at Texas Roadhouse the other night. She had a baby with her. I don't think she recognized me, and I was glad of that.
The plane ride back was really frickin' long, longer than any international plane ride I've ever taken because I never fell asleep and my iPod's battery died before we landed in D.C. and the films were terrible. I did manage to snag a window seat, though. After arriving in the hell-on-earth known as Dulles I discovered that my flight to Tennessee was delayed. However, I did meet Morgan Spurlock in the waiting lounge at my gate. He was pretty cool, on his way to West Virginia to film more episodes of his show 30 Days Later. What was funny was the fact that I saw a gentleman walking through the airport earlier who looked like Michael Moore, then I saw Morgan and thought that he looked like Morgan Spurlock, and jokingly thought to myself that it must be documentary filmmaker day. I only realized it was actually him when I saw some people shaking his hand. How I could have mistaken that handlebar mustache for anyone else is beyond me.
Speaking of celebs, I thought that my older sister was meeting Dane Cook in October, after I left, but it's September! Which means that I might get to meet Dane Cook, too! She works for a local television news station, and since we have a new sweet-ass cinema in town, they've started having big Hollywood-style movie premiers here, usually ones with a southern twist. One year it was 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' and then there was the 'Talladega Nights' premier, during which my sister miked Will Ferrell. Now It's Dane Cook and Jessica Alba for 'Good Luck Chuck.' I like both of them, and have been a huge fan of Dane's for some time now. In fact I was listening to 'Retaliation' on the plane ride, and my seat mate must have thought that I was having epileptic fits because I was laughing so much. The idea of meeting someone so funny and cool is mildly intimidating, but I'm willing to risk it for the chance to flash him the Su-Fi and get my copy of 'Vicious Circle' signed. Not today, Cap'n Dildo!
Yesterday I saw 'The Bourne Ultimatum,' which was really good, especially the neat escaping-the-feds scene in Waterloo Station (during which Dad kept grinning at me, bless). Then we saw 'Stardust,' which I have some mixed feelings about. I didn't like how they cheesed up the ending to make it more movie-palatable, and I wasn't buying Robert De Niro's over-the-top cliched performance of Captain Shakespeare. However, Michelle Pfeiffer was stunning in every way, and the lead guy was quite good, and Claire Danes actually didn't annoy me for once. Also, it is, after all, a Neil Gaiman story, so it does have merit for that.
I've been having the most intense dreams since I've returned, every single night. I've been on all these adventures, driving in pitch-blackness with no headlights on while holding my breath, escaping from...someone or something while at a magical market, buying magical wares, wearing an emerald green ballgown and matching southern belle hat. One night I made love to a beautiful French girl on my bed whom I desired so much it was painful not to touch her. The dreams have been coming so strong and so fast and so full that I've not even paused to consider writing them down. I'm certain it's everything, it's all the gorgeous new ethereal music I've been listening to, being in my bedroom again, and also being in East Tennessee.
It's been good, going to the farm and seeing Dad's new house, visiting with Mamaw (who was so surprised to see me that she hugged me three times in a row!), singing and baking in my favourite kitchen ever, being woken up by Pilly crawling on top of me and sucking on the comforter, watching 'The Count of Monte Cristo' with Dad and Pippin, 'Sweet Home Alabama' with Moo, 'Employee of the Month' with Satchel and Mom (we like movies, oh yes we do), Nana crawling on my shoulders after a bath to play with my wet hair, Nicodemus being sweet as anything...I got to drive the other day, for the first time since January. I was doing okay, but since both of my sisters and my dad were in the car freaking me out I quickly handed over the keys to someone else. When I was dancing around the living room the other day to Belly I realized that I'll pretty much always be what I am now, a loud barefoot country girl who is happiest hoisting up her skirts to dance around while singing to her cats.
Pippin and I watched three hours of Lifetime TV last week, two episodes each of Golden Girls, Fraiser, and Will & Grace. 'Twas good. And Moo and I keep talking about London plans, as well as singing country music duets. Everything is surprisingly normal, or at least normal for us. There's a hint of family drama, which is nothing new or shocking, but at least I'm not embroiled in this one. I'm just doing what I need to do: listening with a sympathetic ear and staying the hell out of it. Every now and then Mom or Dad will kind of slow down and look at me with teary eyes, so I try not to mention leaving again. Mom gave me a dozen beautiful roses at the airport, a gorgeous deep red-pink colour, as well as the world's biggest freaking balloon. It sings 'You're The One That I Want' when you hit it. Pippin has already tried to eat the roses twice now. Good thing the rose is my favourite flower and not the lily, which is deathly poisonous to kitties.
There's something I'm feeling right now, a peculiarity which I can not quite put into words. I think being back here has been like finding my childhood again, perfectly intact. Very strange. My first night back I stayed up so late that I fell asleep in the bathtub. But I couldn't stop looking at everything, artifacts, books, so many things. I stayed awake looking through stacks of photographs from my uni days and from when I was a young child (and was frequently mistaken for a boy). Perhaps if Satchel's scanner decides to be kind and work I'll scan in some of those pics. Or maybe I'll just take new pics and post 'em. Hopefully I'll be getting a new digital camera while I'm home. Ol' Bessie's been a great camera, even more so for being free, but I'm ready for a change.
Now I must go and get ready to go out to eat at my favourite vegetarian cafe in town, Sun Spot. Their grilled tofu sandwiches are divine. However, I shall return, hopefully with pictures.
The plane ride back was really frickin' long, longer than any international plane ride I've ever taken because I never fell asleep and my iPod's battery died before we landed in D.C. and the films were terrible. I did manage to snag a window seat, though. After arriving in the hell-on-earth known as Dulles I discovered that my flight to Tennessee was delayed. However, I did meet Morgan Spurlock in the waiting lounge at my gate. He was pretty cool, on his way to West Virginia to film more episodes of his show 30 Days Later. What was funny was the fact that I saw a gentleman walking through the airport earlier who looked like Michael Moore, then I saw Morgan and thought that he looked like Morgan Spurlock, and jokingly thought to myself that it must be documentary filmmaker day. I only realized it was actually him when I saw some people shaking his hand. How I could have mistaken that handlebar mustache for anyone else is beyond me.
Speaking of celebs, I thought that my older sister was meeting Dane Cook in October, after I left, but it's September! Which means that I might get to meet Dane Cook, too! She works for a local television news station, and since we have a new sweet-ass cinema in town, they've started having big Hollywood-style movie premiers here, usually ones with a southern twist. One year it was 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' and then there was the 'Talladega Nights' premier, during which my sister miked Will Ferrell. Now It's Dane Cook and Jessica Alba for 'Good Luck Chuck.' I like both of them, and have been a huge fan of Dane's for some time now. In fact I was listening to 'Retaliation' on the plane ride, and my seat mate must have thought that I was having epileptic fits because I was laughing so much. The idea of meeting someone so funny and cool is mildly intimidating, but I'm willing to risk it for the chance to flash him the Su-Fi and get my copy of 'Vicious Circle' signed. Not today, Cap'n Dildo!
Yesterday I saw 'The Bourne Ultimatum,' which was really good, especially the neat escaping-the-feds scene in Waterloo Station (during which Dad kept grinning at me, bless). Then we saw 'Stardust,' which I have some mixed feelings about. I didn't like how they cheesed up the ending to make it more movie-palatable, and I wasn't buying Robert De Niro's over-the-top cliched performance of Captain Shakespeare. However, Michelle Pfeiffer was stunning in every way, and the lead guy was quite good, and Claire Danes actually didn't annoy me for once. Also, it is, after all, a Neil Gaiman story, so it does have merit for that.
I've been having the most intense dreams since I've returned, every single night. I've been on all these adventures, driving in pitch-blackness with no headlights on while holding my breath, escaping from...someone or something while at a magical market, buying magical wares, wearing an emerald green ballgown and matching southern belle hat. One night I made love to a beautiful French girl on my bed whom I desired so much it was painful not to touch her. The dreams have been coming so strong and so fast and so full that I've not even paused to consider writing them down. I'm certain it's everything, it's all the gorgeous new ethereal music I've been listening to, being in my bedroom again, and also being in East Tennessee.
It's been good, going to the farm and seeing Dad's new house, visiting with Mamaw (who was so surprised to see me that she hugged me three times in a row!), singing and baking in my favourite kitchen ever, being woken up by Pilly crawling on top of me and sucking on the comforter, watching 'The Count of Monte Cristo' with Dad and Pippin, 'Sweet Home Alabama' with Moo, 'Employee of the Month' with Satchel and Mom (we like movies, oh yes we do), Nana crawling on my shoulders after a bath to play with my wet hair, Nicodemus being sweet as anything...I got to drive the other day, for the first time since January. I was doing okay, but since both of my sisters and my dad were in the car freaking me out I quickly handed over the keys to someone else. When I was dancing around the living room the other day to Belly I realized that I'll pretty much always be what I am now, a loud barefoot country girl who is happiest hoisting up her skirts to dance around while singing to her cats.
Pippin and I watched three hours of Lifetime TV last week, two episodes each of Golden Girls, Fraiser, and Will & Grace. 'Twas good. And Moo and I keep talking about London plans, as well as singing country music duets. Everything is surprisingly normal, or at least normal for us. There's a hint of family drama, which is nothing new or shocking, but at least I'm not embroiled in this one. I'm just doing what I need to do: listening with a sympathetic ear and staying the hell out of it. Every now and then Mom or Dad will kind of slow down and look at me with teary eyes, so I try not to mention leaving again. Mom gave me a dozen beautiful roses at the airport, a gorgeous deep red-pink colour, as well as the world's biggest freaking balloon. It sings 'You're The One That I Want' when you hit it. Pippin has already tried to eat the roses twice now. Good thing the rose is my favourite flower and not the lily, which is deathly poisonous to kitties.
There's something I'm feeling right now, a peculiarity which I can not quite put into words. I think being back here has been like finding my childhood again, perfectly intact. Very strange. My first night back I stayed up so late that I fell asleep in the bathtub. But I couldn't stop looking at everything, artifacts, books, so many things. I stayed awake looking through stacks of photographs from my uni days and from when I was a young child (and was frequently mistaken for a boy). Perhaps if Satchel's scanner decides to be kind and work I'll scan in some of those pics. Or maybe I'll just take new pics and post 'em. Hopefully I'll be getting a new digital camera while I'm home. Ol' Bessie's been a great camera, even more so for being free, but I'm ready for a change.
Now I must go and get ready to go out to eat at my favourite vegetarian cafe in town, Sun Spot. Their grilled tofu sandwiches are divine. However, I shall return, hopefully with pictures.