Oh, goody. It's a train.
Having a bad day; I'm mopey and depressed, and generally just feeling somewhat useless and outside the overall social dynamic. Part of it is heat-motivated -- I can't stand to be touched when it's this humid, so everybody else is snuggling and I'm being Siamese on the other side of the room -- and part of it is actually MUSH-motivated -- we all play on the same places, and I feel like I'm the only one completely replaceable in all current plots. So just a little bit rock-bottoming, today.
We got back from being out and about, and I flopped in the grass, at which point Mars suggested that I go out and explore the swamp that runs near the house. I like swamps, I had my bug repellant in my bag, I didn't want to deal with people, I went.
Step one: getting into the swamp. My chosen path was pretty much directly upwards -- I had to walk up the side of a severe incline, which kept trying to dissolve out from under my feet. I managed to reach the top, knocked the dust out of my shoes, and started into the shelter of the trees. (Just as an FYI: this is me, going into the Minnesota woods/swamp, wearing black short-shorts, a thin scoop-necked top, and black dress flats. Yeah. I'm only slightly out of my bloody mind...)
Step two: Blair Witch-ing it. I started to wander under the trees, moving as far away from visible civilization as I could. I saw a rabbit. I saw a deer. I got bit by mosquitos on every exposed inch of skin that I had, while more inventive ones flew down the neck of my shirt and went for the parts of my back and sides that I hadn't managed to get with the bug repellant. I kept walking.
Eventually, I found myself in someone's backyard. I made for the fence, climbed over it, and found a street. Walked down the street until I found a new entrance to the swamp, and went back in.
This time I found a snake, some neat bugs, a really pissed off mockingbird, and a set of railroad tracks. I called the house, where Jens said that he didn't know where I was, but that I could probably find the apartment if I followed the railroad tracks.
Right.
Hiking along the tracks eventually took me onto a bridge, with murky lake to either side of me. Things were moving in that water. And that's when I learned another important lesson about Minnesota...
The trains still run here.
It is possible for an out-of-shape Californian to race an on-coming train off the end of the bridge, dive into the bushes, and not become a thin, tasty meat patty. (My other option involved the lake, and came before 'get hit by the train'...but barely.) I waded through the weeds until I found a small dirt path, followed the path out until I hit pavement, and then found my way back to the apartment.
I have lived out my Stephen King 'the wonders of childhood' novel for the year. Thank you, drive through.
I'm staying inside.
We got back from being out and about, and I flopped in the grass, at which point Mars suggested that I go out and explore the swamp that runs near the house. I like swamps, I had my bug repellant in my bag, I didn't want to deal with people, I went.
Step one: getting into the swamp. My chosen path was pretty much directly upwards -- I had to walk up the side of a severe incline, which kept trying to dissolve out from under my feet. I managed to reach the top, knocked the dust out of my shoes, and started into the shelter of the trees. (Just as an FYI: this is me, going into the Minnesota woods/swamp, wearing black short-shorts, a thin scoop-necked top, and black dress flats. Yeah. I'm only slightly out of my bloody mind...)
Step two: Blair Witch-ing it. I started to wander under the trees, moving as far away from visible civilization as I could. I saw a rabbit. I saw a deer. I got bit by mosquitos on every exposed inch of skin that I had, while more inventive ones flew down the neck of my shirt and went for the parts of my back and sides that I hadn't managed to get with the bug repellant. I kept walking.
Eventually, I found myself in someone's backyard. I made for the fence, climbed over it, and found a street. Walked down the street until I found a new entrance to the swamp, and went back in.
This time I found a snake, some neat bugs, a really pissed off mockingbird, and a set of railroad tracks. I called the house, where Jens said that he didn't know where I was, but that I could probably find the apartment if I followed the railroad tracks.
Right.
Hiking along the tracks eventually took me onto a bridge, with murky lake to either side of me. Things were moving in that water. And that's when I learned another important lesson about Minnesota...
The trains still run here.
It is possible for an out-of-shape Californian to race an on-coming train off the end of the bridge, dive into the bushes, and not become a thin, tasty meat patty. (My other option involved the lake, and came before 'get hit by the train'...but barely.) I waded through the weeds until I found a small dirt path, followed the path out until I hit pavement, and then found my way back to the apartment.
I have lived out my Stephen King 'the wonders of childhood' novel for the year. Thank you, drive through.
I'm staying inside.