go ahead, you can cut my throat
but you ain't never getting the cargo of my blueberry boat.
my parents' newest mandate is that i spend as little time at home as possible (which i'd think would interfere with their goal of getting my room cleaned up as soon as possible). so i took off.
i spent a few hours saturday morning on library public access computers, which were barely any better for modern-day web browsing than the fossil from 1998 i've been using since my laptop croaked. i signed on to myspace for the first time in... i don't know how many weeks, where i learned there were in fact things going on this weekend. one of the girls i know from the art shows was having a barbecue at her place in celebration of the seemingly auspicious date 7/7/07. (tim pointed out that this was the anniversary of the london underground bombings, which caused me to feel very guilty.)
i didn't know too many people there, but it was nice to see those i did. the free food was also a plus. so was hearing cat power's "metal heart" as barbecue music.
after that i was off to philadelphia, where one of my online friends (tom) was hosting an all-night live techno show. i'd helped out at an earlier one in may when he got the idea to use my pictures as decorations - it was a springtime show, and he thought my flowers would make nice accent pieces. he told me i could do whatever i wanted for this one, so i thought my pictures from the bahamas would be appropriate for the july weather.
this party was far more tame than the previous one. for some reason i completely failed to anticipate the presence of drugs at such a party, and at the first one i:
• saw one girl doing lines of cocaine in the laundry room
• met a guy "rolling really hard" on ecstasy, who asked if he could hold my hand and later if we could cuddle (i obliged both times)
• was approached by another guy who was talking utter nonsense and later admitted to being drunk and on acid
the party this weekend had half the attendance of the crazy first one (~120 versus 250) and i slept through most of it.
i woke up around 10:30 this morning (i'm such a loser, having a circadian rhythm and all) and hung out on the fire escape talking to tom for a few hours. we then went to trader joe's, where i got my coveted granola bars (road trip food!) and tom bought a ridiculous amount of prepared lunch food for himself and his ravenous friend nik (aka "the sound guy"). we ate and talked for a bit. nik had never heard the term "spooning" before, so tom tried to explain the concept while i used kitchen utensils as a visual aid.
tom went back to bed, and i went off on my way home. but now that it's blueberry season, i had to take the route cutting through the pine barrens to check out the local bounty. at first i couldn't find the spot where i'd had success two years ago, so i made do with what i could find. the lowbush blueberries seemed to all be ripe, but i found that those berries are smaller and have harder seeds than the ones i'd picked before. i tried another road and found my spot, right near the cedar bog (which is quite a sight in and of itself). as soon as i got on the paved trail, i saw them - big, bright, plump, round highbush blueberries. so gorgeous. i popped one in my mouth - sweet and flavourful, and as juicy as you could imagine.
now i have the utmost respect for my homegirl elizabeth white, but i give you three reasons why wild blueberries are better than the cultivated varieties:
1) tastier
2) higher in antioxidants
3) free
#3 is reason enough for me to make the seasonal pilgrimage. i must've picked more than a pound of berries today. i would've stayed and gathered more, but the mosquitoes and flies were really beginning to gang up on me. apparently they're drawn to hot sweaty amy. (but really, who wouldn't be?)
i was all like "you want a piece of me, bitches?"
and they were all like "BRING IT"
an estimated ten mosquitoes and one horsefly died by my hands today.
[note to self: next time wear bug repellent and appropriate clothing (i had on sandals and cropped pants, leaving my calves and ankles vulnerable)]
before finally heading home i got the uncharacteristic urge to go to the beach. after taking a few selfs (to be shown later) i went down on the sand, took off my shoes, and put my feet in the ocean for the first time this year. it felt really, surprisingly nice... pleasantly cool and refreshing, just perfect for when you've been outside in humid heat for most of the day. i went in as deep as my pant legs would allow me - i wanted to go all the way in, but i wasn't properly attired.
maybe tomorrow night i'll take a dip. right now the shower beckons.
all in all, it was a pretty nice end to a rather shitty week.