Less Fake Update
As I was third-wheeling with saxchicbeth and her not-boyfriend tonight, he pointed out to me that I had mentioned deinna a vast amount in a short period of time. I contemplated that fact on the bus ride home, as other thoughts flowed through my brain that needed affirmation more than analysis.
Some people have strong visual memory or strong aural memory cues; the popular belief is that scent is the strongest scent tied to memory. I have lcational memory cues.
In my mind, all of Roanoke, with the exception of the interior of the Civic Center, is linked to Deinna. (Okay, that's an overstatement; the Zero' near Valley View is linked with vtkatt.) I simply can't pass Shaker's without looking for her car. I can't drive down the neighborhood around Memorial without thinking of her last house. I can still half-remember how to get to Melissa's house. Downtown reminds me of my long walks trying to find her house. Little diners, the strip of 460 between Blacksburg and Roanoke, the booth by the window at the original Cinco de Mayo, most of Draper Ave... memries will flash through my mind for all of them.
And it's not just her, I realized; it's just that her locations are closest. The metro reminds me of Rislyn. So does Springfield mall. So does the Woodrow Wilson bridge, The Mall and environs, Boston... that's something like half-a-dozen cities designated to her.
Harrisonburg is saxchicbeth. I doubt I'll ever go to a Green River Valley book fair without thinking of her.
If I were in a school bus, I suspect I'd be reminded of Ginny Franco. Hospitals remind me of Alicia I. I oddly attach memories of my dorm room to vtferball. There's a street in Charlottesville that reminds me of Amy Funkhouser. I expect carriers and submarines will always remind me of my grandfather. There's a spot by the Blacksburg Municipal Golf Course that will always remind me of Jen Brophy. There's a stretch of backroad around Blacksburg designated to rmoigmeirndbt.
I find myself wondering: if I feel lonely upon leaving someone, is that a good sign, showing how much I like time with them, or a bad sign, because it means that they leave me feeling empty inside?
My night has left me wanting to write. I think I'll send out two or three emails. Then I'll go home, since I'm still at work, since the bus stop in the CRC made as much sense as the one on campus for getting home, and this way, I can pick up my electric razor and the rest of the stuff in my backpack, so I can shave, as I stupidly forgot to do before I hopped on the bus.
Tomorrow will be Stepping Out. If you see me, give me a hug; I'm in a huggy mood.