(no subject)
Monday last week I flew out to Denver to visit my friend Adara (adarascarlet ) in what was my first flight in the last ten years and my first trip to Denver, well, ever, and stayed until Saturday evening. While I'd expected to have fun, the trip really shattered my expectations and was really an incredibly good time.
For those of you who don't know this, which I assume is most of you, I actually originally met Adara through Livejournal about five years ago. We traded comments, became LJ friends, and later she lived in Seattle for a short while, during which time I got to know her. So, here's proof positive that LJ can occasionally be more than just an angsty mess of bad poetry and narcissism. I made a really good friend here.
I arrived in Denver Monday night, horribly sleep deprived from having underestimated how long it would take to pack (all done the night before, of course). After wandering through Denver's creepy ass airport, I met up with Adara outside the terminal. Sometimes you tend to forget how much a person means to you until they're there again in person, staring you in the face. She picked me up and brought me back to her place, where she made an impressive meal of truffle pasta and red wine (really good!), and then we watched back episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report late into the night and ultimately went to bed.
Tuesday the weather pulled a bit of a reversal on us. Formerly the word had been moderate temperatures, something like 50-60 degrees and cloudy, but by Tuesday afternoon, it was starting to snow. By evening, it'd snowed a solid three or four inches, and predictions were for up to another foot the next day. Now, normally I'd be all about snow, but the only clothes I'd brought along weren't exactly warm (or water resistant), and draping Denver in snow left fewer available (or accessible) places for Adara to take me. While those things turned out to be regrettable, it did let Adara and I watch snowflakes drift out of the sky for hours from a window in her apartment, and we experienced a pretty sweet snow thunder storm. It also meant that when she showed me to the roof of her apartment complex, I got to see the surrounding neighborhood covered in a unique white glory- right before she started pelting me with snowballs from behind a nearby patio set. It really was gorgeous up there.
Tuesday night was a busy one for us. Adara took me to the local greasy spoon, a place called Pete's Kitchen that serves great food, including a mean half a gyro (don't ask, it's a sore spot). There we met up with her friend Dave, who I suspect may possibly be Batman. All the signs are there. He was an interesting guy, we seemed to have similar interests and senses of humor and generally got along pretty well. From Pete's, we doubled back to Adara's apartment really quickly and then walked down Colfax (street) to the Squire, a little dive bar having its weekly open-mic comedy night. Because of the snow, I missed out on Chicago, a joke-telling homeless guy who's apparently one of Colfax's primary attractions, but I have a feeling the vibe at the Squire was probably better for having less people crowded in there. Adara, Dave, and I sat into a booth and listened to pretty hilarious abortion jokes for about an hour or so before we went back to her apartment and just chilled for the rest of the night, until after dawn. Adara shared some intimate parts of her past with me that night, and I went to bed feeling that I really knew her a lot more closely than I had before.
Wednesday was a technically less eventful day. Tired from staying up way late the night before, we didn't even really get out of bed until after 5:00pm. We made plans to visit an outdoor mall, but between the snow being everywhere, frozen roads, and our incredibly late start to the day, it just never really happened. Instead, we watched some television and wound up talking- a lot, in fact. Our "failed day" turned into one of those really long, deep, involved conversations where time completely slips away and you share huge amounts of intimate details with each other and end up learning all kinds of things about somebody that you never knew before. Really, there's probably not a more ideal or romantic way to spend a snow day, and it was possibly my favorite day in Denver.
Thursday wound up pretty slow as well, since we ended up sleeping about the same hours as we had before. In the evening, we went out to grab dinner, but the restaurant was way overcrowded and we ended up bailing out of that idea entirely. Instead we progressed straight to a karaoke bar, which had been the intent anyway, and ate some bar food there. After a bit we met up with her friend Keith, and he and Adara took turns going up to the mic. Adara sang remarkably. Her vocal talents weren't really new to me- I've heard Adara sing before, and known for a very long time about her incredible voice- but she's just so staggeringly impressive that each time she sings it's almost like hearing her for the first time all over again. Unfortunately, a mixture of medication and social anxiety got the better of me that night, and I wound up having us leave earlier than any of us would have liked.
Friday was another low-key day. We slept a lot, ate in, and generally stayed in. As lame as that sounds, in some ways it really suited me after the weirdly high anxiety I'd experienced the night before. Staying in was comfortable and relaxing. We watched some Moral Orel, drank up the good wine, and talked quite a bit more. Once again, we stayed up until daylight flooded her apartment. By the end of the night, I really felt like I knew Adara through and through.
A late Friday that rolled into the morning hours didn't leave a whole lot of free time to do much of anything on Saturday. With my flight leaving in the early evening, there was really only time to wake up late, clean up, shower, pack my stuff back together, and drive to the airport. She pointed out how Denver thinks things like fake-mountains-that-look-like-tipis and blue horse statues are stylish along the way. Adara was then good enough to come inside with me- to the extent that the TSA will allow, anyway- and say goodbye. She even helped me check my baggage in a faster way than how I was going about it (which unquestionably allowed me to catch my flight, as it happened).
I'm never very good with goodbye, regardless of the situation, but I found it especially hard to let go of Adara when time came. For days, I felt the minutes ticking away all too acutely and knew that there wouldn't be enough time. I wanted to stay. I had such an amazing time. Things between us were so much more relaxed and intimate than I'd expected. I hope that I can visit her again sometime soon, and for longer.
And now I'm back here in Tacoma, kicking around my house, doing nothing again. Going to physical therapy twice a week, using electronics to fill my time, not a single thing left on my calendar I'm looking forward to. Blah. Hollow. I'd really rather be in a tiny Denver apartment, listening to Colfax traffic, bound up in a red blanket, watching morning light stream across the bedroom ceiling.
For those of you who don't know this, which I assume is most of you, I actually originally met Adara through Livejournal about five years ago. We traded comments, became LJ friends, and later she lived in Seattle for a short while, during which time I got to know her. So, here's proof positive that LJ can occasionally be more than just an angsty mess of bad poetry and narcissism. I made a really good friend here.
I arrived in Denver Monday night, horribly sleep deprived from having underestimated how long it would take to pack (all done the night before, of course). After wandering through Denver's creepy ass airport, I met up with Adara outside the terminal. Sometimes you tend to forget how much a person means to you until they're there again in person, staring you in the face. She picked me up and brought me back to her place, where she made an impressive meal of truffle pasta and red wine (really good!), and then we watched back episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report late into the night and ultimately went to bed.
Tuesday the weather pulled a bit of a reversal on us. Formerly the word had been moderate temperatures, something like 50-60 degrees and cloudy, but by Tuesday afternoon, it was starting to snow. By evening, it'd snowed a solid three or four inches, and predictions were for up to another foot the next day. Now, normally I'd be all about snow, but the only clothes I'd brought along weren't exactly warm (or water resistant), and draping Denver in snow left fewer available (or accessible) places for Adara to take me. While those things turned out to be regrettable, it did let Adara and I watch snowflakes drift out of the sky for hours from a window in her apartment, and we experienced a pretty sweet snow thunder storm. It also meant that when she showed me to the roof of her apartment complex, I got to see the surrounding neighborhood covered in a unique white glory- right before she started pelting me with snowballs from behind a nearby patio set. It really was gorgeous up there.
Tuesday night was a busy one for us. Adara took me to the local greasy spoon, a place called Pete's Kitchen that serves great food, including a mean half a gyro (don't ask, it's a sore spot). There we met up with her friend Dave, who I suspect may possibly be Batman. All the signs are there. He was an interesting guy, we seemed to have similar interests and senses of humor and generally got along pretty well. From Pete's, we doubled back to Adara's apartment really quickly and then walked down Colfax (street) to the Squire, a little dive bar having its weekly open-mic comedy night. Because of the snow, I missed out on Chicago, a joke-telling homeless guy who's apparently one of Colfax's primary attractions, but I have a feeling the vibe at the Squire was probably better for having less people crowded in there. Adara, Dave, and I sat into a booth and listened to pretty hilarious abortion jokes for about an hour or so before we went back to her apartment and just chilled for the rest of the night, until after dawn. Adara shared some intimate parts of her past with me that night, and I went to bed feeling that I really knew her a lot more closely than I had before.
Wednesday was a technically less eventful day. Tired from staying up way late the night before, we didn't even really get out of bed until after 5:00pm. We made plans to visit an outdoor mall, but between the snow being everywhere, frozen roads, and our incredibly late start to the day, it just never really happened. Instead, we watched some television and wound up talking- a lot, in fact. Our "failed day" turned into one of those really long, deep, involved conversations where time completely slips away and you share huge amounts of intimate details with each other and end up learning all kinds of things about somebody that you never knew before. Really, there's probably not a more ideal or romantic way to spend a snow day, and it was possibly my favorite day in Denver.
Thursday wound up pretty slow as well, since we ended up sleeping about the same hours as we had before. In the evening, we went out to grab dinner, but the restaurant was way overcrowded and we ended up bailing out of that idea entirely. Instead we progressed straight to a karaoke bar, which had been the intent anyway, and ate some bar food there. After a bit we met up with her friend Keith, and he and Adara took turns going up to the mic. Adara sang remarkably. Her vocal talents weren't really new to me- I've heard Adara sing before, and known for a very long time about her incredible voice- but she's just so staggeringly impressive that each time she sings it's almost like hearing her for the first time all over again. Unfortunately, a mixture of medication and social anxiety got the better of me that night, and I wound up having us leave earlier than any of us would have liked.
Friday was another low-key day. We slept a lot, ate in, and generally stayed in. As lame as that sounds, in some ways it really suited me after the weirdly high anxiety I'd experienced the night before. Staying in was comfortable and relaxing. We watched some Moral Orel, drank up the good wine, and talked quite a bit more. Once again, we stayed up until daylight flooded her apartment. By the end of the night, I really felt like I knew Adara through and through.
A late Friday that rolled into the morning hours didn't leave a whole lot of free time to do much of anything on Saturday. With my flight leaving in the early evening, there was really only time to wake up late, clean up, shower, pack my stuff back together, and drive to the airport. She pointed out how Denver thinks things like fake-mountains-that-look-like-tipis and blue horse statues are stylish along the way. Adara was then good enough to come inside with me- to the extent that the TSA will allow, anyway- and say goodbye. She even helped me check my baggage in a faster way than how I was going about it (which unquestionably allowed me to catch my flight, as it happened).
I'm never very good with goodbye, regardless of the situation, but I found it especially hard to let go of Adara when time came. For days, I felt the minutes ticking away all too acutely and knew that there wouldn't be enough time. I wanted to stay. I had such an amazing time. Things between us were so much more relaxed and intimate than I'd expected. I hope that I can visit her again sometime soon, and for longer.
And now I'm back here in Tacoma, kicking around my house, doing nothing again. Going to physical therapy twice a week, using electronics to fill my time, not a single thing left on my calendar I'm looking forward to. Blah. Hollow. I'd really rather be in a tiny Denver apartment, listening to Colfax traffic, bound up in a red blanket, watching morning light stream across the bedroom ceiling.