Valentine's Day

I was going to go on a date Sunday, then came to my senses regarding driving down to Baltimore after a date in NYC and Josh and I met up Saturday night (after I picked up new hiking boots at Campmor in Paramus), we went to a bomb Vegetarian restaurant in Greenwich Village called Gobo, then we hit Smalls, which is a live little hole-in-the-wall jazz club for a really lovely set. I had a really amazing time and am looking forward to seeing this guy again soon sometime! Other than dating, I've been swimming my 550 in preparation for the summer and also I am breaking in my new hiking boots and practicing carrying around a backpack full of stuff for the work expedition that's in a couple of weeks. Did I mention I hate swimming and can't wait until it's over and done with, my lifeguard cert? I was also blessed enough to go work in Trenton this week, and I was so excited to see them! Yesterday one of the children who came up to PBC with the Donelly Initiative and was in my group for a week earned his shirt at Foundation Academy, meaning that he proved himself to be a part of the school community. This is a student who often finds himself in a yellow shirt and on the bench, who thinks he knows all the answers, but I cannot help but love him, he's so smart and clever and vibrant. It made my week to see Frederick wearing a Foundation Academy shirt.

I have yet to be eaten by a bear.

Even in the center of the western world, New York City, I find a little bit of heaven barefoot in the grass in Central Park, chomping on a Snow Cone. As I relaxed on July 4th, Independence Day, with my faux-family in Allentown, PA, I came to the realization that I long passed my own "independence day." And yet, somehow, I am still not entirely dependent. I find myself relying on others now more than ever, now that I am part of the Real World. This morning I woke up thinking I was driving someone just 45 minutes away to a NJ Transit stop in Dover. Shortly thereafter I found myself in Newark on a train to New York City, without earphones, wireless card, or cellular phone. I'm heading back out on the subway to Penn Station just as soon as I can remember how to get there and rest my toes. I spent $4 on the ticket to NY, $2 on the subway, and $5 on the Met (don't go to see the Tara Donavan piece, it's unimpressive at best, and if there were more air currents in the room it might be a little more lively.) Artscape is going on in Baltimore, and here I am, miles away and a world apart from all I know and love, and I'm doing just fine okay at that. ...And now, just hours later, I'm back on the porch of my cabin, Twins, enjoying a hazy late afternoon and watching the young phoebe's that nested atop my porch light hawk and hover in pursuit of some unlucky flies and such. Drinking white birch beer and enjoying the midsummer breeze, I've got to say that New Jersey, thus far, has become quite good to me.

Uhm...thanks?

Guy from OKCupid who keeps IMing me even though I put forth no effort to cover up the fact that I'm not interested via AIM: Hahaha I'm in the bathroom taking a dump and one of my managers goes "you need to start getting up at 6am and handling that" aahhah Congratulations, you have been blocked. Update on Friday night talking with Neil Meyerhoff, who's chairmain of the board of trustees at MICA, and of course my New York City trip yesterday, with reviews of 50 Years of Helvetica, Global Feminisms, Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting, and Comic Abstraction: Image Making, Image Breaking.