get busy child. it's shopping period again. this morning i went to french 4, bio 2, and northern rennaissance art, none of them totally scintillating (although bio seems like a big party) and then to the bookstore where all kinds of other courses beckon with their reading lists. so we'll see. i really don't know how it's all going to shake out.

i was going to tell you about all the people i encountered on my day of travelling - the airtran security guy who in the course of our five minute exchange bragged about his trip to russia, told me the plot of tommy boy, and asked me about my sat scores; the brit photomonteur/city art critic next to whom i sat on the plane and with whom i had my first ever substantial 'single-serving friend' conversation, about art of all things (he said he'd try to check out martha's senior show this weekend); the mismatched group of folks (thankfully all leftish) with whom i caught a taxi-shuttle-van from bwi to union station, most memorably the self-righteous plaid-panted liberal who whined about everything from airports to pharmaceuticals to our compatriots estimates of rents in providence, and wondered aloud if she would see her 'old friends' from fugazi at the march tomorrow - but there's so much else to talk about.

i spent a lovely twenty-two hours or so at unicorn lane, including lovely shabbes dinner with blooms, rosenthals, rosenblooms, blumenthals, etc. and also the perfectly charming jamie (who according to ester has a 'long-overdue romance' with the also charming adam.) charmed. despite ester's assurances, we couldn't find any good movies on tv (just a bewildering fifteen minutes of lara croft, tomb raider and david letterman asking, twice, whether it would float.) so we went to bed.

next: an enjoyable drive up in just under two hours, listening to three feet high and rising and the first disc of a petty box, passing some cars on their way from florida, flying flags and painted up for the big game. it seemed like i saw almost everyone who had been abroad, and almost nobody who was here last semester - except for the thirty or more who gathered at the ogden toke bogey for laurel's 4th annual soup thang. that was delightful, a perfect way to return, especially as it was surprisingly low key (more mingling, less squealing.) good food too (i especially enjoyed the salad.)

i didn't do a whole lot yesterday other than wash my sheets, tidy up my room, and visit with a few folks (rebecca, rabi). i went to sharples for lunch and there were literally only six people in the whole place (apparently nobody else knew it was open; i had cereal and chatted with alejandro), and then i went for dinner, which was a whole different story. i listened to matthew sweet's blue sky on mars, which is underrated (even by me) and has some scarily appropriate lyrics for my current situation. and, eventually, i saw hannah. she's great, in case you were wondering. she made me the delightful matching scarf and mittens that you'll see me wearing around campus. please ignore what you might have heard. we're seeing how it goes, and it's going pretty good for now.

nothing i say or do is enough
everything fits but the size of my love
out of proportion and into your drug