Need a vacation after this vacation
Saturday:
We got into Florida at around 7 or 8-ish. The palm trees and warmth seemed unreal. Then we got to Arlene's, and the realness hit us in the face. The usual uncomfortable conversations dominated dinner, along with the cringe-worthy food (thankfully, because of my mouth stitches, I got to pass on the old tubs of mayo-smothered stuff from Costco and carefully consume an omelette). I became Silent Julia. I think Arlene thinks I am super anti-social. But that's just how I handle being around her. I don't know any other way to do it! Certain parts of the conversation made me a bit angry, as usual. Thankfully, since we ate on the later side, everyone decided to pass on the giant Costco keylime pie dessert and just get ready for bed. I slept in the ugly study. The sofa-bed was surprisingly comfortable, so the ugliness didn't actually matter; it was just something that I noted over and over again in my crankiness. I couldn't wait for my sister to arrive.
I had a long, strange, symbollic dream where (to make a long story short) a lady in a tea shop thought I was a rock-star so she gave me free tea that had tons of drugs in it and made me trip out majorly, but then she realized I wasn't who she thought I was so she got angry and kicked me out, and the next day she and her possee (which included one person I'll be working with this summer) found me at the beach and stole all my clothes even though I was crying and trying to scream but couldn't. I was so anxious when I woke up!
Sunday:
The weather was nice, so my mom and I sat out on the sunny deck chatting with Arlene while we waited for dad to come back with Em. Em had been visiting Cal Tech for a couple of days and flew a red-eye from California to Florida. I was so relieved and happy to see her. They even brought a box of Krispy Kremes! *drool* For lunch, dad and Em had gotten fruit and yogurt for smoothies earlier at the super market (when they had gotten the Krispy Kreme donuts). So we didn't have to endure more tubs of slimy Costco "salads." Soon we all went over to the pool area of the gated community, by the under-construction old-people's clubhouse. The pool and hot tub were lovely, as was napping in the sun. I wore more sunscreen than usual, for some reason, so I didn't get super tan, but I did lose my glowy/sickly winter palor. Napping, swimming, and soaking where the primary activities for the rest of the day until dinner. Again, thankfully I didn't have to eat too much of dinner, which Arlene had made herself. She cannot cook. She REALLY cannot cook.
I went on a nice substantial, stress-relieving walk with Em and my parents after dessert. It was dark and warm and peaceful and not filled with Arlene. We all found the walk to be a nice, much-needed release.
I had another long, strange, symbollic dream where (to make a long story short) I believe I was in Art & Idea again because there were the same people and the same teacher, but he was calling for a sort of celebration that was to be like Godfather (school tradition where at the end of the year seniors give the juniors a large joint and all smoke together) except different and for the Man Dance. But instead, in a completely unconnected way he just gave everyone in the class a big bag of crack. I mean like really absurdly unheard of big backs of CRACK. I didn't use mine, I just held onto it for a while and went on with school, and eventually asked a bunch of my friends in the class if they had yet.
Monday:
We went on a walk through a little bird-watching nature reserve that we'd gone to before. It was peaceful and pretty, and it was nice to get away. I'm getting tired of writing this. We hung out at the pool more, and went out to dinner at a Thai place in Delray Beach that my family had gone to before and loved. I had some really delicious crab. Arlene acted REALLY weird during the dinner. She was really intrusive on random diners, acting like a stalker. It was kind of awkward and uncomfortable for everyone who was aware of her. Sigh.
Watched a bit of "House" in the evening.
Had a dream about school being an endlessly huge building that was partly under construction, and wandering slowly to class while talking to Robin, even though I was semi-aware that she is no longer with us. Doug was teaching a class in this enormous stairwell. I hung out in that class for a little bit. Alec was there. I never went to my own class.
Tuesday:
We went to intercoaster Florida, walked around a lovely sculpture garden for a while, went to a place that turned out to be pretty much an outdoor shopping mall with all of the stores of the Natick conniption. My grandfather came with us. I may have found my graduation dress in Anthropologie. I'm pretty sure have fallen madly in love with it, but I am trying to not be completely exclusive until I've shopped around a bit more ;) That evening we went out to dinner to a seafood restaurant which was a very stressful crazy Arlene experience.
In the evening Em and I watched "The Parent Trap," which was a nice, much-needed temporary escape.
I had allergies all day from the stupid Florida springtime. I hadn't thought it possible, but it does make sense. Damn pollen allergies.
I had more crazy dreams that I'm too lazy to really describe. I won a contest, and other stuff happened. Woo.
Wednesday:
I had terrible allergies on this day, all day, even once I was home. It sucked. We went to a cyprus grove in the morning. Thankfully Arlene was unable to attend. The grove was kind of small and unexciting until we drove over to the fishing area where we encountered a few large alligators in close proximity, just chilling in the water. That was cool. After much strategizing, we figured out a way to not have to eat lunch with Arlene or my grandfather. You have no idea how difficult it is to get out of such plans with Arlene. But we did it. We escaped, told a slight lie about our flight time, and after much insisting, escaped to Delray beach just the four of us for crepes and ice cream. It was SUCH a relief to finally be without the two of them, and to know that we were DONE with being around them. Our flight was smooth and easy. We had a flight change in Washington D.C., and for the first time as we flew towards the airport, I saw the grand historic area of our nation's capitol-- the mall, the monument, everything. I waved hello to Obama. I don't think he saw though.
In the airport a super stinky lost soul creepo with missing teeth sat next to me, shook his hand, and introduced himself (his name was Brian). It was gross. Thank god our flight was ready to board just then, and he was not going to Boston. Ugh ugh uhg gross.
We got home in the late evening, I found out I got waitlisted at Kenyon, took a shower and fumed for a while, cooled down, was talked back into my senses and realized the fuming was ridiculous, snuggled with my sister, took allergy medicine, and went to bed.
Today I took the dog for a nice long walk. It was so lovely out. Then around midday after a bit of lunch I went to the movies and saw "Watchmen" with some girls from my first-mod American Mythology class (when we all read the book) and Craig. It was a tiny bit awkward in a funny sort of way, but at least I didn't have to sit next to him during that long and graphic sex scene hahaha. The whole reunion was super fun, and I loved "Watchmen." Totally kick-ass, especially the guys who played The Comedian and Rorschach. Laurie not so much. But it was still really great. Came home and found out I got into Bryn Mawr (they sent me a link to this bizaare little congratulatory video that consisted of a humorous skit and then a clip of the girl who toured me saying "congratulations, Julia, welcome to Bryn Mawr"). Was very happy, made some happy phone calls, then found out that I have PROBABLY gotten wait-listed from Oberlin, which was a downer. And then felt bombarded with emotions out of nowhere about the whole college situation for a while. Now feeling better/neutral/distracted.
We got into Florida at around 7 or 8-ish. The palm trees and warmth seemed unreal. Then we got to Arlene's, and the realness hit us in the face. The usual uncomfortable conversations dominated dinner, along with the cringe-worthy food (thankfully, because of my mouth stitches, I got to pass on the old tubs of mayo-smothered stuff from Costco and carefully consume an omelette). I became Silent Julia. I think Arlene thinks I am super anti-social. But that's just how I handle being around her. I don't know any other way to do it! Certain parts of the conversation made me a bit angry, as usual. Thankfully, since we ate on the later side, everyone decided to pass on the giant Costco keylime pie dessert and just get ready for bed. I slept in the ugly study. The sofa-bed was surprisingly comfortable, so the ugliness didn't actually matter; it was just something that I noted over and over again in my crankiness. I couldn't wait for my sister to arrive.
I had a long, strange, symbollic dream where (to make a long story short) a lady in a tea shop thought I was a rock-star so she gave me free tea that had tons of drugs in it and made me trip out majorly, but then she realized I wasn't who she thought I was so she got angry and kicked me out, and the next day she and her possee (which included one person I'll be working with this summer) found me at the beach and stole all my clothes even though I was crying and trying to scream but couldn't. I was so anxious when I woke up!
Sunday:
The weather was nice, so my mom and I sat out on the sunny deck chatting with Arlene while we waited for dad to come back with Em. Em had been visiting Cal Tech for a couple of days and flew a red-eye from California to Florida. I was so relieved and happy to see her. They even brought a box of Krispy Kremes! *drool* For lunch, dad and Em had gotten fruit and yogurt for smoothies earlier at the super market (when they had gotten the Krispy Kreme donuts). So we didn't have to endure more tubs of slimy Costco "salads." Soon we all went over to the pool area of the gated community, by the under-construction old-people's clubhouse. The pool and hot tub were lovely, as was napping in the sun. I wore more sunscreen than usual, for some reason, so I didn't get super tan, but I did lose my glowy/sickly winter palor. Napping, swimming, and soaking where the primary activities for the rest of the day until dinner. Again, thankfully I didn't have to eat too much of dinner, which Arlene had made herself. She cannot cook. She REALLY cannot cook.
I went on a nice substantial, stress-relieving walk with Em and my parents after dessert. It was dark and warm and peaceful and not filled with Arlene. We all found the walk to be a nice, much-needed release.
I had another long, strange, symbollic dream where (to make a long story short) I believe I was in Art & Idea again because there were the same people and the same teacher, but he was calling for a sort of celebration that was to be like Godfather (school tradition where at the end of the year seniors give the juniors a large joint and all smoke together) except different and for the Man Dance. But instead, in a completely unconnected way he just gave everyone in the class a big bag of crack. I mean like really absurdly unheard of big backs of CRACK. I didn't use mine, I just held onto it for a while and went on with school, and eventually asked a bunch of my friends in the class if they had yet.
Monday:
We went on a walk through a little bird-watching nature reserve that we'd gone to before. It was peaceful and pretty, and it was nice to get away. I'm getting tired of writing this. We hung out at the pool more, and went out to dinner at a Thai place in Delray Beach that my family had gone to before and loved. I had some really delicious crab. Arlene acted REALLY weird during the dinner. She was really intrusive on random diners, acting like a stalker. It was kind of awkward and uncomfortable for everyone who was aware of her. Sigh.
Watched a bit of "House" in the evening.
Had a dream about school being an endlessly huge building that was partly under construction, and wandering slowly to class while talking to Robin, even though I was semi-aware that she is no longer with us. Doug was teaching a class in this enormous stairwell. I hung out in that class for a little bit. Alec was there. I never went to my own class.
Tuesday:
We went to intercoaster Florida, walked around a lovely sculpture garden for a while, went to a place that turned out to be pretty much an outdoor shopping mall with all of the stores of the Natick conniption. My grandfather came with us. I may have found my graduation dress in Anthropologie. I'm pretty sure have fallen madly in love with it, but I am trying to not be completely exclusive until I've shopped around a bit more ;) That evening we went out to dinner to a seafood restaurant which was a very stressful crazy Arlene experience.
In the evening Em and I watched "The Parent Trap," which was a nice, much-needed temporary escape.
I had allergies all day from the stupid Florida springtime. I hadn't thought it possible, but it does make sense. Damn pollen allergies.
I had more crazy dreams that I'm too lazy to really describe. I won a contest, and other stuff happened. Woo.
Wednesday:
I had terrible allergies on this day, all day, even once I was home. It sucked. We went to a cyprus grove in the morning. Thankfully Arlene was unable to attend. The grove was kind of small and unexciting until we drove over to the fishing area where we encountered a few large alligators in close proximity, just chilling in the water. That was cool. After much strategizing, we figured out a way to not have to eat lunch with Arlene or my grandfather. You have no idea how difficult it is to get out of such plans with Arlene. But we did it. We escaped, told a slight lie about our flight time, and after much insisting, escaped to Delray beach just the four of us for crepes and ice cream. It was SUCH a relief to finally be without the two of them, and to know that we were DONE with being around them. Our flight was smooth and easy. We had a flight change in Washington D.C., and for the first time as we flew towards the airport, I saw the grand historic area of our nation's capitol-- the mall, the monument, everything. I waved hello to Obama. I don't think he saw though.
In the airport a super stinky lost soul creepo with missing teeth sat next to me, shook his hand, and introduced himself (his name was Brian). It was gross. Thank god our flight was ready to board just then, and he was not going to Boston. Ugh ugh uhg gross.
We got home in the late evening, I found out I got waitlisted at Kenyon, took a shower and fumed for a while, cooled down, was talked back into my senses and realized the fuming was ridiculous, snuggled with my sister, took allergy medicine, and went to bed.
Today I took the dog for a nice long walk. It was so lovely out. Then around midday after a bit of lunch I went to the movies and saw "Watchmen" with some girls from my first-mod American Mythology class (when we all read the book) and Craig. It was a tiny bit awkward in a funny sort of way, but at least I didn't have to sit next to him during that long and graphic sex scene hahaha. The whole reunion was super fun, and I loved "Watchmen." Totally kick-ass, especially the guys who played The Comedian and Rorschach. Laurie not so much. But it was still really great. Came home and found out I got into Bryn Mawr (they sent me a link to this bizaare little congratulatory video that consisted of a humorous skit and then a clip of the girl who toured me saying "congratulations, Julia, welcome to Bryn Mawr"). Was very happy, made some happy phone calls, then found out that I have PROBABLY gotten wait-listed from Oberlin, which was a downer. And then felt bombarded with emotions out of nowhere about the whole college situation for a while. Now feeling better/neutral/distracted.