I, too, would totally swim for meat

This is kind of what it would look like if you were about to be attacked by a white Bengal tiger in a swimming pool.

NEW YORK CITY

A few days after returning to Seattle, I went to New York to visit some friends and see the sights.

I arrived on Saturday evening and went straight to Marybeth's apartment in Queens. We hadn't seen each other since my first trip to New York almost three years ago, but it only took several nearly uninterrupted hours of high-speed conversation to catch up and a few more to reminisce about London, the LSE and times since. On Sunday we went to Tea & Sympathy for breakfast, and sipped a bit of the mythic melon-flavoured gin from the Borough Market for dessert. I met her boyfriend and their dog and enjoyed the novelty of the downstairs neighbors' Reggaeton wake-up call. It was lovely to while away the time with mb again and even better that we are both better, stronger, happier people than we were the last time we did so. [Although it could have just been me that sucked.]

Here we are in the office which mb will soon vacate for greener, uptown-er pastures



I saw Reggie and Tommy when we were all in Seattle just last December...




But I was greedy for more. Lucky for me Reggie had a show and Tommy a reading of his new play while I was in town. [Note to parents: this is where you exclaim "what talented friends you have" and I smile and nod and try to avoid talking about the projects of said friends, which included, respectively, the song "fuck shit stack" and a most ingenious way to kill your wife and her lover if you happen to be a 16th century Italian composer who is above the law].

Although I was unable to visually document the lovely Lia Aprile, seeing her shining face again was a delight that my mortal self could only just bear. We didn't have quite enough time together; dinner, the theater and a couple of beers, but spending even just a little time with her again was a time warp in a good way. It felt as if we'd been in better touch during the many years since I had last seen her, and really she has been present in my life always and everywhere, as have all those friends from whom I have taken inspiration and comfort and shared excellent times with over the years. I'm sorry if that makes you throw up a little in your mouth, but it's true.

Now I am in Seattle for a week and a half to visit friends, bunny-sit, prepare for my departure to Taiwan, and help my old friend and former boss Alia get her new teahouse on Bainbridge Island open. It has been nice to commute by ferry the last few days and to work with my hands for a change. Yesterday I built 12 tables and drank almost as many cups of a delicious Taiwanese Oolong with an aroma redolent of peaches and butter cookies.

Pictures of the rabbits are forthcoming.

THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME

Or perhaps I just don't know its name. Railophilia? Trainfatuation? All I know is that I can't get enough of riding on trains. I really should have been a hobo.


For those of you who haven't been on Amtrak for awhile (or, ever, for all you pussies) it's a smooth ride. In coach from St. Louis to Seattle I never had a seatmate and the deluxe fold out leg and foot rests meant that I slept (as the Chinese say) like a dead pig. Smuggled booze also helped me to drift off after sunsets like this one, in Wisconsin


And to then sleep through most of North Dakota. Aboard the westbound Empire Builder, several groups of charming old men board the observation car to provide commentary and history over the loud speaker (only quietly). This is how I learned that Rugby, North Dakota is the geographical center of North America, and what apparently prompted the retirees in front of me to remark "Hunh, this is the geographical center of North America, how 'bout that?" (when called to the dining car for their lunch reservation, I discovered ominously that they were called "the Darko party").

Here are some pictures:





Most of the trip was self-catered (I don't want to brag, but let me just say it involved a lot of Nutella), but I went to the dining car a few times to meet some of my fellow passengers at the shared tables. At lunchtime on the first day I met a Mennonite grass seed farmer from the Willamette Valley with six rosy-cheeked children (honest, I saw their picture) and striped suspenders, as well as a saucy senior citizen who talked to me about urban planning and her "philosophical problem with Wal-mart". Nice folks all around.



But the primary reasons I chose to take the long way home were the solitude and the endless hours of wistful staring out the window time. I also studied lots of Chinese, wrote letters, lounged in the observation car, and took multiple naps.


Montana's mighty Glacier National Park





The sun set on the second day as we were leaving Whitefish



And by the early morning time we were cutting through the Cascades in my beloved Washington State and I was almost home.

GOODBYE BLOOMY, GOODBYE BLAMMO

I have four best friends in Bloomington and they are the most important of the few reasons I was sad to leave that horrid little place (other reasons include my shiny red bicycle and seeing shirtless undergrads waking from a stupor in someone's lawn while I am riding said bicycle home on a Saturday morning). We refer to ourselves by the acronym 'BLAMMO' but no one can really remember what it stands for any more since I conceived it only to meet our pre-existing desire to be called BLAMMO.

60% of BLAMMO lives in the storied Lincoln Street residence with official mascot b.b. savage. Here is a picture of savage, back in the fall before she knew the joys of The Outside.



She also enjoys bags and boxes of all kinds. Donations are welcome.



b.b. joined the house after the final approval of Sarah, pictured here in the epilectic floral Lincoln Street living room sharing with us a nice picture book about the paparazzi.



Sarah is the Alpha Female of BLAMMO. Many of the good times we've had over the last two years have been the result of her initiative, and I will always cherish the memory of the patented samarion party face. After the final week of school, Sarah thought we should take a field trip to Lake Monroe:



We sat in the sun reading works of our own choosing (hipster literary texts, People magazine, etc.) and the written responses of undergraduatues to their end-of-term tests were read aloud and marveled over.

In the following days our numbers began to dwindle. I said goodbye to Jessica on Monday before she left for a brief visit home and then for summer research in Brazil. I adore Jessica for actually dragging out her old travel journals to show me what a difficult time she had once had with Portuguese and to empathize with my study of Chinese. Soon, we will both have bilingual superpowers.



New to Lincoln Street as of the fall, Georgia was rescued from a home full of men and from a dangerous and fast-growing addiction to dance dance revolution. Georgia is my favorite Case International Tractor enthusiast and she can also run fast and dance in slow-motion.



That healthy glow comes from good clean Iowa farm living.

The night before my last, my housemate Peiwei held a traditional Chinese hotpot dinner as a farewell for me. Everyone from BLAMMO save Jessica were in attendance. After we got good and full we took one last trip to the park to play on the toys. Bryan Park has 4 awesome slides, a teeter-totter and a big sturdy swingset. When we go there at night we sometimes see teenagers, but usually they are more interested in setting off firecrackers and making out than playing on the toys. Silly teenagers!





We were all delighted to have Allison among us at the park that night. Allison is BLAMMO's outreach coordinator and she keeps us aware of the fact that social activities exist outside of sitting on the couch with beers, blankets, cat, and youtube. Although we are greedy for Allison, we know that we must share her. Charm like hers cannot be contained.



Before Allison departed for six weeks of digging for bones in the Belizean jungle, we had one last great night of drinking, dancing, Zep, and eating angel food cake with our fingers. The next morning I rolled on out of town. It was a lovely week. I miss you all my girls.

I also miss this beautiful creature, Sebastian,



as well as the boys of Mitchell Street, the farmer's market, Hendrick's on ice, sharing meals with Archie, being called "gigglepants" by Del, and the rabbits, everywhere the rabbits.