can you say 'homesick'?
what a week. a full seven days with the most ridiculous family ever. not really, but they were pretty overwhelming. my dad's sister, her husband, their son. jesus christ. they used to be cool, but then they found god. i thought my uncle was pretty sweet because i could've sworn my aunt told me he was an architect, but apparently i made that up because he recently retired from working for at&t. oh. cool.
i went to my first church service last sunday. holy crap. people are really crazy. it was one of those intense services that are really loud and obnoxious. i didn't know people were actually like that. there were grown men crying together, holding hands to comfort each other. i was just like, what the hell. get me out of here.
i forget what this family's like, so i visit every year. then i realize why i wanted to get home so badly the year before and i can't wait to leave. they've really lost it this year though. so i go to dc with these people for a week.
my cousin, ben, is ten years old. he tells me all about how he's basically number one in his entire school, but by far the best in his grade. and how he can't wait to further his education in christian schools. i guess he took a test and he's as smart as a junior in high school.
yesterday, he said this to me: "i used to be THE guy, like all the girls liked me better than the other boys. even the boys liked me most. i used to have ALL the best toys and games you could get. now i have the least. i guess you could say that i'm going downhill real quick. i can't even watch star wars until i'm eighteen. i bet you can't spell the word 'yacht', but i can."
even saying grace before dinner, awkward. my aunt telling me all about her experiences with the holy spirit, her telling me why i am the way i am and how i'm too involved with the enemy, awkward. stupid praise music, awkward. a ten year old drawing pictures of jesus for fun, awkward.
i guess that makes me ignorant. or maybe that means that i'm normal. who knows.
really, the town we stayed in was so strange. centreville, virginia. all hotels, restaurants, condos, apartment complexes and a million people my age everywhere. all business. then down the road a few miles or so, all historic sites. no business. no people. strange. i liked this place a lot.
saturday/sunday; bourne, ma. on the cape. their house for two nights. there was really nothing better to do than watch 101 dalmations.
monday; from the cape to baltimore. fort mchenry. interesting, but things like this have always bored me and it makes me get angry with myself because i feel shallow. i wished a certain somebody was there with me. then to the hotel.
tuesday; i like the squirrels that will come up to your feet looking for food. old trolley tour of dc. i liked our tour guide, sunshine. i wasn't in the best mood. we were parked on the side of the street for some reason. there was a car stopped at the light next to us and it was a big black guy singing/yelling and i recognized the lyrics. it was circa survive. i really laughed so hard. you had to be there. anyway, then i saw all the memorials and yeah, they're amazing, but i still couldn't stay interested for more than ten minutes. what a loser. the museum of american history, of natural history and the national archives were all sweet. the fossils and the hope diamond and all the crystals and rubies and gems. i want to go back to the archives someday. i want my family history and it's got to all be in their nine billions records.
wednesday; mount vernon and monticello. their houses are incredible, but i just kind of hung out behind the stables with this horse at mount vernon, haha. i hate myself. i was more interested in that, the dining rooms, the tour guide's suit at jefferson's house and the fact that jefferson learned the spanish language on a nineteen day boat trip. if only i could do that with french. i should have been interested in the important things, like washington's tomb. shallowww. after that, carter's mountain. an orchard covering a three thousand foot mountain. good fooood, good view. i wanted that certain somebody.
thursday; national air and space museum. the wright brothers made this awesome fucking bike and there was this adorable little french boy running around singing french songs and looking for his mom. really kind of made my day. the tour of the capitol gave me a headache. i'm an idiot. the national gallery of art was definitely the best. i found out about andy warhol's relationship with my uncle brian's best friend, jon gould.
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2004/08/25/the_muse?pg=3 so strange.
on yesterday's eight hour drive back to mass, i couldn't stop looking at the sky and it was really kind of annoying. the clouds were good and dark and i saw lots of things. a skeleton from the waist up, one of those floating islands from gulliver's travels, a lady with an oxygen mask on with black smoke all around her and a gorilla blowing a kiss to someone with george washington hair. then i started thinking about how i really wanted to start going from backseat to backseat of all the cars on the highway. any car but the one i was in because of that shitty music they kept playing that made them thank the lord at least once a song. imagine that though. the backseat thing. they couldn't see you, but you sat there listening to their music, their conversations and when it got boring you could just switch to the next backseat. i wanted to do that so bad. i was really so bored.
i still really want to go to quebec city before school starts. somebody help find a way to make that possible. and i want to go see the newport mansions. and i want the murder mystery at castle hill to not cost 100 bucks per person.
and i'm excited that the weather will be changing soon and it'll be cool enough to wear layers.
okay. shut up, kristin.