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Since my rendezvous with Comcast, I've fallen prey to the guilty pleasure of The Girls Next Door. It is sickly fascinating — and good for a few laughs. And I can always count on this blond bombshell to make me feel smart, even on my dullest days. Thank you for that, Kendra.
P.S. This is an actual quote, in case you were wondering.
This past weekend I gained a renewed appreciation for the city of Athens. I went up for a day with 2 of my 3 long-loved but retired roomies (we missed you Meg), traipsed around our old stomping grounds and discovered some new ones.
Eat: Transmet (best damn food in the state of Georgia as far as I'm concerned), Little Italy (the best grease money can buy), Last Resort (good menu selection, if you can stomach the snooty staff), Calientitos (authentic mexican)
Shop: Pitaya (cute boutique), Junkman's Daughter's Brother (everything under the sun. really.)
Play: Genco (classic), The Loft (for old time's sake, back when it was the Annex), 283 Bar (fun but chill, slightly "older" crowd. by Athens standards, that means over 19.)
Though we had a great time, I stumbled upon a realization that led to a few other realizations. Number 1): my college days are over. Subsequent realizations: 2) I am either really slow or 3) I have been living in denial. Even though I've been back to Athens a handful of times, it has always been on football weekends when a lot of other friends are around. To be back there this weekend, it felt a bit like a ghost town. And I was a the ghost.
But I'll end on a light note. Later on Sunday, back in Atlanta my friend Dana sent me an old email that she found. I had written it to my roommates when we graduated and left Athens 2 years, 3 months and 1 week ago:
On the way home, i tried to take 120 instead of 85, only to run into a blocked road and a detour. i started to get really pissed off because i didn't know where i was going, but then i just started to laugh. i know its corny, but i couldn't help comparing it to life right now... things don't always go the way you plan... sometimes you have a detour or roadblock along the way... none of us really know where we'll be 6 months, or 6 years from now... but ultimately, you wind up exactly where you're supposed to be. Four years ago, I drove down the same road in the dark, only It was the early morning dark, and my dad was driving me to athens with all my stuff packed in the trunk. I had no idea what to expect from UGA and had no friends there. now four years later, here i am driving home in the dark, already missing my three best friends, with all my shit packed EVERYWHERE, but this time I'm in the drivers seat. As confusing as it is to not know where we're headed, it's also thrilling at times. i sit here typing this in my room — with quite literally, pieces of my life scattered around — and as sad as i am, i have a gut feeling that, cliche as it is, although this is the end of an era, it is the start of a new one.
I'm extremely lucky to still have the amazing friends I met there. And even luckier that they live close by. And really, maybe the luckiest part of all is that I don't have to feel like I'm "getting old" on my own.
I went to see Tropic Thunder with my brothers at Starlight Six. Fairly funny movie + excellent company + my first ever drive-in cinema experience = a fantastic friday night.
a good poem[e.e. cummings]
it is at moments after i have dreamed
of the rare entertainment of your eyes,
when (being fool to fancy) i have deemed
with your peculiar mouth my heart made wise;
at moments when the glassy darkness holds
the genuine apparition of your smile
(it was through tears always)and silence moulds
such strangeness as was mine a little while;
moments when my once more illustrious arms
are filled with fascination, when my breast
wears the intolerant brightness of your charms:
one pierced moment whiter than the rest
-turning from the tremendous lie of sleep
i watch the roses of the day grow deep.
a good laugh
[what my yearbook photo could have been, had I been born a few decades earlier]
a good workout
I thought I was in decent shape. The folks at Atlanta Yoga proved me wrong. If you're looking for a get-your-ass-handed-to-you workout, I recommend it.
I readily admit, I have been remiss in my blog-writing. In an effort to make up for lost time, here are 12 things I am grateful for — one item for each day I've missed.
1) A good haircut: I finally got much-needed haircut. I went to a friend of a friend, who works out of her amazing studio. If anyone needs a stylist, I would recommend her: Tammi Ferrell, #404.771.7660
2) The shore: I was lucky enough to spend a few days up at the Jersey shore with my aunts, uncles, cousins and Ryan (who drove down from Boston). They were renting an amazing ocean front house, with an amazing view, and the weather was perfect. I spent just about every summer of my childhood at the Jersey shore. I hadn't been in years though, and it was so nice to be there again.
3) Luke Mclean Mattocks: My youngest cousin, who just turned 1. The last time I saw him was Christmas... needless to say he has grown a lot. He crawls around a lot but doesn't walk yet, is perfectly content to play with his toys, likes to cuddle, and is about the happiest little boy I've ever seen.
4) Philly: On my way home from Jersey, I had to fly out of Philadelphia. Ryan was taking me to the airport but we had a few hours to kill, and decided to do a speed tour through the city of brotherly love. We made a quick loop through downtown (in the rain), then parked and looked at the liberty bell through a very thick window and scarfed a cheesesteak before heading out.
5) National Geographic Adventure magazine: Recently fell in love with this magazine. I've added it to my list of [wildly optimistic] aspirations to become one of their staff writers.
6) Cheap cable: After months of damning the man, I broke down and signed up for cable. The good news is while I'm paying for basic cable ($18/month for about 20 channels), they accidentally hooked me up with full cable (60 channels). I win.
7) Michael Phelps: The man is a golden god. I didn't think he was anything special before, but since I've been glued to the Olympics, I can't help but think he is incredibly cute. Sorry Ry.
8) Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble: I bought McMurtry's "Terms of Endearment" for one penny. And found a hardcover Paul Auster book for $4.98. How amazing is that? (I love a bargain.)
9) NPR: My new morning companion. It's interesting and educational. Not always as entertaining as Q100, but also not nearly as depressing as the local news.
10) Two Urban Licks: A fantastic dining experience, both for the food and the company.
11) D. Lo's safe return: One of my best friends, Danna, was frolicking through Europe for the past month or so. I'm glad she had fun, but for my own selfish reasons, I'm very glad to have her back.
12) The Classic City: Even though I have been out of college for two years, there is a part of me that aches to go back to Athens around this time of year. When the humidity starts to relent, just the slightest bit, and everyone starts talking about football season again, it only seems natural to return to the classic city. Which is why my former roomies [featured below] and I are making a road trip up there next Saturday. Yes, it is only one day. But what a glorious day it will be.
Often when I start to feel overwhelmed, I like to think about how small a human being is in the grand scheme of things. Thinking of this adds some perspective — it helps me remember that whatever issue I may be facing is less than a speck of sand to the universe, and that in the long run it will wash away just as quickly and easily. I found these two photos and thought they were too breathtaking to keep to myself:
In the upper right corner of the image, the Small Magellanic Cloud is a nearby dwarf galaxy to our own Milky Way. It is visible in the Southern Hemisphere, and is roughly 210,000 light-years away. (Nasa)
Grains of sand up-close (magnification 95x), from Plum Island Mass. (Discover)
Don't think I'll ever look at the night sky or the beach quite the same way again.
"To see a world in a grain of sand // And a heaven in a wild flower // Hold infinity in the palm of your hand // And eternity in an hour." -William Blake
Since my rendezvous with Comcast, I've fallen prey to the guilty pleasure of The Girls Next Door. It is sickly fascinating — and good for a few laughs. And I can always count on this blond bombshell to make me feel smart, even on my dullest days. Thank you for that, Kendra.
Eat: Transmet (best damn food in the state of Georgia as far as I'm concerned), Little Italy (the best grease money can buy), Last Resort (good menu selection, if you can stomach the snooty staff), Calientitos (authentic mexican)
I went to see Tropic Thunder with my brothers at Starlight Six. Fairly funny movie + excellent company + my first ever drive-in cinema experience = a fantastic friday night.
2) The shore: I was lucky enough to spend a few days up at the Jersey shore with my aunts, uncles, cousins and Ryan (who drove down from Boston). They were renting an amazing ocean front house, with an amazing view, and the weather was perfect. I spent just about every summer of my childhood at the Jersey shore. I hadn't been in years though, and it was so nice to be there again.
4) Philly: On my way home from Jersey, I had to fly out of Philadelphia. Ryan was taking me to the airport but we had a few hours to kill, and decided to do a speed tour through the city of brotherly love. We made a quick loop through downtown (in the rain), then parked and looked at the liberty bell through a very thick window and scarfed a cheesesteak before heading out.
8) Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble: I bought McMurtry's "Terms of Endearment" for one penny. And found a hardcover Paul Auster book for $4.98. How amazing is that? (I love a bargain.)
In the upper right corner of the image, the Small Magellanic Cloud is a nearby dwarf galaxy to our own Milky Way. It is visible in the Southern Hemisphere, and is roughly 210,000 light-years away. (Nasa)
