July 1, 2006 Beantowning

So, Boston! I went to Boston for the first time recently. It was a jam-packed trip to be sure. There was the eating at Legal Sea Foods near the water of many dishes containing lobster on our first night there. There was a day spent in Provincetown in the rain, eating at a Portuguese bakery and at Karoo Kafe, a South African restaurant, for lunch and shopping and splashing down the street. It was lovely. It would have been lovelier if it hadn't been pouring down rain, but I'm still glad we went. There was the 5K for which I'd been training for what felt like months on end. We were late. We walked for miles in the rain to even get to the starting line so I doubted I'd be able to run the entire thing, but I did. I ran very slowly, but I never stopped to walk, and I feel good about that. It was sort of a hilarious time in general, and I'm very glad that my sister and her fiance ran it with me even though they must have felt like they were running through quicksand to slow themselves down so much to my pace. They were incredibly encouraging and awesome throughout. It feels great to have actually set a goal and to have achieved it. Mostly, we just walked. We walked in Provincetown and we walked for two days in Boston Freedom Trailing and what-not. The Freedom Trail was cool. It rained every day but the last day, but we just kind of became one with the rain and the big purple ponchos. I forced them to watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which I'd watched on the plane and had fallen in complete and total love with. At times, her fiance laughed so loudly that we had to pause the movie. I think my sister would be making a good decision to marry him if for his laugh alone. I'm still not completely clear on certain parts of the mystery and really think it's all just kind of screwy and nonsensical, but I think you just kind of have to say to hell with it. This is such an enjoyable movie. Clearly it was already known that Robert Downey, Jr. is beyond brilliant, but who knew that Val Kilmer had it in him? I sure didn't. And I liked Michele Monaghan so much that it sort of pains me to think of her having to pretend to be in love with Tom Cruise in her next film, but what're you gonna do? We also laughed at the Celtic women who seem to be on TV twenty-four hours a day and the ridiculous way that they sing "Sail Away." Obviously there was no going to Boston without meeting Jessie, with whom I've been corresponding for what feels like forever, which we did over abundant scoops of ice cream. We sat and chatted for nearly three hours, and it was great. It's very strange to watch someone come alive who only existed in printed words before for you. Jessie = fantastic. As is coffee oreo ice cream from J.P. Licks. We stopped at the Public Garden on our way to meet up with Jessie on Newbury Street. I thought of Cynthia and Tom Terrific and Hawk and Seth Sandroff and Beverly and Derek. Sort of like with Jessie, people I knew from words only came to life. It was moving, and on my next trip, I'll spend more time there. We watched Deep Sea 3D and vowed never to eat shrimp again. Later that night, we got Thai takeout which contained multiple shrimp. And now I'm home, trying to get back into the swing of things at work, playing Scrabble, eating scones, getting massages, watching Days of Our Lives again because the old school character action is just too good to be true, taking the stairs every day in the attempt to get my hiking muscles in shape for our backpacking trip, and preparing to paint my kitchen Dill Weed green. More photos from the 5K are here. More photos from the trip are here. About this time in ... 2005: 6/29: But the navigation to such destination is precarious and daunting and mostly I just closed my eyes, held my breath, and let myself be steered through the madness while praying that a stroller would not sever my foot at the ankle. 2004: 7/1: I cannot count the times this book made me sob into my pillow. 6/30: I am counting down the days until the weekend. Saturday night is a big party at some bar that I have not been to since I was twenty years old and my memory of it is one of feeling so crowded and sweaty and drink sloshy that it was akin to standing in a flushing toilet. 6/28: Ultimately, no matter what anyone thinks of Michael Moore, those people, both American and Iraqi, and the people who love them, are (physically or emotionally or both) forever wounded and forever devastated. Or dead. 6/25: My love for Tim/Martin is escalating absurd heights. I cannot separate the two. 6/24: The look on Dawn's face when David Brent came out of his office in the t-shirt and jeans was so awesome that I had to rewind it like five times. 6/23: I'm kind of ashamed that my sister, mother, and grandmother shared this awesome Scrabble bond but that I, lover of words, would fall asleep and start drooling on the table if attempting to play with them. 2003: 7/1: It's too bad that I don't have a peaches and cream complexion, flaxen hair, eyes as blue as the Pacific Ocean, and drive a red Fiat spider. get notified. journal archives © Copyright 2006 elb