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A middle-class, post-teenage girl who lives in a fantasy universe most of the time and suburbia the rest of the time because she can't deal with reality.
She likes soft and shiny things and plans on writing the first Great American Epic Fantasy Novel.
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Sunday, August 27, 2006
So! What Have I Been Doing Over The Summer?
-Pericles by Shakespeare Theatre Company. Once upon a time a girl named Ange sat down to watch an enchanted play. And glitter fell from the sky and Diana walked on voluminous water.
-Karissa got married! ... How is it that jeans-and-t-shirt turns into gossamer, satin, froth and veils, or dormroom hair to lady's coif? Is it the same person? People I know are getting married, and I'm starting to feel, if not old, then, adult.
-My first job! I've been the phone and office monkey for Baltimore City Council at City Hall and discovering the inefficiencies and meaningless tedium of government employment, how pretty I look in a skirt, the Baltimore-UMBC bus route, the beauty of neo-Baroque municipal architecture, how to answer phones with powerless diplomacy, outdoor cafes, the old character of a city, new buildings built on top of and around old ones, the chugging diesel motor of the water taxi and the water rolling like a molten metal sheet and the skyline in a golden haze hanging on the horizon, and, after spiralling interminably up a stone gothic staircase, a clear sunny view of Baltimore from a belltower on a gold-capped dome.
-Baseball. Air conditioned baseball, in a box. Hotdogs. Beer. Bad beer. Government work has its perks. I could get used to this. The getting sick at a bar in Fells Point, though, is an exception. NO MORE FUCKING NATTY-BOH.
-Re: above ... I have discovered that I don't like beer. Not even Trappist beer. Belgian monks may find God through beer. As for me, in this respect I remain an atheist.
-Visiting Fallingwater. The Mona Lisa of residential houses, if you haven't heard of it - I suppose not everyone's mom is a structural engineer. (She actually complains about its structural flaws, so don't believe that it's the praise that's informed me.) I find myself to be an ardent fan of beauty. Unfortunately, sometimes beautiful things come without air conditioning. I don't know that I'd want to live in a 30's house that despite everything is somehow showing its age. Nothing in particular, just the moldering scent of oldness. The interior of the house is vastly underrated, the way you flow like liquid from room to room, from inside to outside and outside to in, bed to terrace, steps to water, cavern to light; architecturally and philosophically, the artificial thing we call a "room" does not exist. After all, the outside of a house, beautiful as it were, graces postcards. The inside of the house though, is where you live.
-Whitewater rafting! (Lower Youghigheny River, class III) On a scale of one to ten I rate this: "Awesome." As nerdy as I am, real adrenaline is unparalleled, all digital challengers not withstanding. I fell out twice (once because we rammed the boat in front of us for shits and giggles, and I bounced out on impact) and can tell you that even in late July, river water is cold -My glasses didn't wash off because I had the forethought to tie them on. Nonetheless, I'm of the belief that I'm good at rafting because I'm naturally lazy, odd as it may seem. My body doesn't wish to perform any movements that are more work than necessary, and so I paddle efficiently and well. Rafting is an unexpected combination of wild sensation and quick, coordinated discipline (mostly involving being shouted at like a galley slave). Other notes: consigned to a suburbanish "campground" complete with pool, arcade, and trailer park. Wet sleeping bag + insects + night-time temperatures in the 50's = shivering ick. But nothing beats s'mores and setting things on fire. I toasted the whole shebang instead of just the marshmallow and everyone thought I was a genius.
-Have you ever stood under a waterfall in a torrential downpour? The world is gray and silver and pounding and wet.
-Got my driver's license.
-Love's Labor Lost, Shakespeare Theatre. It's like Shakespeare: The Band. Which is not a bad idea. I am so glad I didn't live in the seventies, because man I would've embarassed myself.
-Going to the Montgomery County Fair and kissing on the Ferris wheel. Playing carnival games and losing, and knowing you'll lose due to the imperceptible yet unyielding mistress of the universe, Physics. Admiring epic vegetables. Eagerly anticipating the 4H queen. Spinning mobiles in the sun and wind. Bunnies, chickens, poo and hay. Behemoths made of living beef. Allergies. Equestrian ballet, the Star Spangled Banner, and polo to August glare. Summer evening and the smell of roasting cinnamon nuts and the rhythm of a blacksmith's hammer. Such is the stuff of life.
-Dieting
-Watching the Army Band play at the greensward by the Washington Monument, joggers in the park comically exercising to the full brass blast of the live Olympic theme (not every day do you have your own theme song!), the silhouette of uniformed men in swinging strides (black shadow with white glowsticks), cannons firing in time to the 1812 Overture and a brief surge of joy and billowing clouds of gunsmoke on the wind, soft and pale against the dark sky.
-Beat Final Fantasy I, am now working on Final Fantasy II and Tales of Phantasia. Go emulators!
-Reading: La Chanson de Roland, The Complete Odes and Epodes of Horace, Prince Valiant: Volume 1, and the Crown of Stars .. uh... septilogy.. or trying to.. MAN I'm a nerd!
-Writing poorly written surrealist short stories
-Playing the violin and butchering Eine kleine Nachtmusik.
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