Meat Muffins of the Daleks
Nearly all of the Dubois crew has vamosed off to Pittsburgh. They left on Friday and I do not expect that they will return before Monday night.
On Thursday (24th), I headed over to Jolene's place by way of Sue's van. Once there, J and I had planned to be musical, but we wound up simply chatting, and breaking ice in general. There was a small amount of music made, but it was not what I would call productive. We sat on her roof like snipers and snaped passing friends. We got three clear shots off, but Sarah was too good for a little snaping and decided that she would ride around on the roof of the van to demonstrate her superiority. Three cheers for the Hempress of Colney 'Atch. I ate foods with la familia de Jolene, then bumbled off to Alessandra's place to take Alessandra and Caroline down for desert somewhere in town. This plan turned into just a threesome when Caroline remembered that she had to-do list items unchecked, and we got "ice cream with eggs" at Meadows.
Friday morning, the crew left. I got myself transported to the M-fam residence via the N-fam vehicle, and proceeded to terrorize the kittens with my camera. We all went into town and hung at the pool for a while, where I met Sue's friends, Tiffany and her family. We went to her place, where I pwned Eli at some Wii games that neither of us had played before. Headed back. We cleaned up around the house, I fixed their tv/dvd, and we watched some Return of the King before sleeping - everyone in the basement. Mark didn't get home until it was really quite late. After sleeping on the futon, I got up before everyone else, and played Civ IV until Sue took me over to the library.
I met Jolene at the library. She introduced me to various books, and after determining that I was not yet eligible for a library card, Jolene checked out a book for me. The books reminded me of Asimov On Numbers, one of my favorite childhood books. I didn't watch as she checked it out, but I imagine that the librarian was far from convinced that she was checking it out for herself. Jolene and I skipped over to Hockmans for some goodies and then headed back to "my place" for some Scrabble and Fawlty Towers. She headed home around 6 or so. the rest of the night was spent on Civ IV and Stargate SG-1.
Sunday: Walked over to Jolene's place to ride to her church with her family. It's a fairly sparse place, but of course, that particular church is located in a fairly sparse town. Went back to their place for lunch. The afternoon was spent lazily twiddling with guitars (more fun than thursday; really rather enjoyed it today. less awkward, more collaborative and experimental) and books, and general conversation. And cleaning her room, of course. Can't forget that.
I have apparently spent 22 hours with Jolene in 3 out of the 4 days I've been in town. This, of course, is largely due to the absence of my host family and others in my local jeesh.
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The numbers book is called Beyond Numeracy: Ruminations of a Numbers Man. It was written by John Allen Paulos. So far it is generally interesting. None of the mathematical topics or perspectives are new to me, but I'm enjoying his stories because he thinks about things in ways that I think about things.
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Jolene's mother is very talkative. Oh my. I don't mind, though. It's a great way to become better acquainted with the family, and she's far from boring. I imagine to family members who have heard all the stories before, it's a bit less interesting. I have the advantage of being new and able to appreciate these stories and topics for the first time.
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I think I'm going to alternate between churches for now, and see where it goes. I think that St. Nicholas has more to offer me, but Jolene's church would present more opportunities for me to be useful in serving folks. The second is more valuable to me, but I don't seem to be ready to commit to either church, not 100% anyway.
---
Dubois is great. I enjoy the ability to walk everywhere I want to go in under 20 minutes. I enjoy that the town is large enough to support the people in it. That is, it's not a small town that people leave to work other places, like Richmond, Maine, or any sort of suburb elsewhere. The town feels small and it's the first time I've ever lived somewhere that has the lax feel of a small town and also the convenience of a variety of local businesses. The proximity to friends and companions is a blessing that I still haven't swallowed. I feel like I'm visiting and will have to go home soon. It's a gut feeling that vaguely says it's not going to last, or that I have a big trip coming up and can't commit to any plans in town. The only major things in the immediate future are Warped Tour and a brief dip down to VA for Mimi's wedding. I originally had plans to see a few more people this summer, but most of those plans didn't work out so well.
---
Rosemary's coming on Wednesday. I'm pretty sure that was the day, at least. I hope to take a walk around town, lounge and talk privately somewhere, and do a little Old School Doctor Who with Alessandra and Jolene. Maybe throw some ice cream into that mix. And bananas and jelly babies and sonic screwdrivers? We'll see, I guess.
---
Definitely a little lonely without the family being noisy upstairs. Much as I value things like calm, peace, and a general lack of juvenile chaos, I don't enjoy sitting alone for 10 hours watching sci-fi and playing games as much as I used to. Productive tasks are pretty good, though... I think that I would like to work on one now.
On Thursday (24th), I headed over to Jolene's place by way of Sue's van. Once there, J and I had planned to be musical, but we wound up simply chatting, and breaking ice in general. There was a small amount of music made, but it was not what I would call productive. We sat on her roof like snipers and snaped passing friends. We got three clear shots off, but Sarah was too good for a little snaping and decided that she would ride around on the roof of the van to demonstrate her superiority. Three cheers for the Hempress of Colney 'Atch. I ate foods with la familia de Jolene, then bumbled off to Alessandra's place to take Alessandra and Caroline down for desert somewhere in town. This plan turned into just a threesome when Caroline remembered that she had to-do list items unchecked, and we got "ice cream with eggs" at Meadows.
Friday morning, the crew left. I got myself transported to the M-fam residence via the N-fam vehicle, and proceeded to terrorize the kittens with my camera. We all went into town and hung at the pool for a while, where I met Sue's friends, Tiffany and her family. We went to her place, where I pwned Eli at some Wii games that neither of us had played before. Headed back. We cleaned up around the house, I fixed their tv/dvd, and we watched some Return of the King before sleeping - everyone in the basement. Mark didn't get home until it was really quite late. After sleeping on the futon, I got up before everyone else, and played Civ IV until Sue took me over to the library.
I met Jolene at the library. She introduced me to various books, and after determining that I was not yet eligible for a library card, Jolene checked out a book for me. The books reminded me of Asimov On Numbers, one of my favorite childhood books. I didn't watch as she checked it out, but I imagine that the librarian was far from convinced that she was checking it out for herself. Jolene and I skipped over to Hockmans for some goodies and then headed back to "my place" for some Scrabble and Fawlty Towers. She headed home around 6 or so. the rest of the night was spent on Civ IV and Stargate SG-1.
Sunday: Walked over to Jolene's place to ride to her church with her family. It's a fairly sparse place, but of course, that particular church is located in a fairly sparse town. Went back to their place for lunch. The afternoon was spent lazily twiddling with guitars (more fun than thursday; really rather enjoyed it today. less awkward, more collaborative and experimental) and books, and general conversation. And cleaning her room, of course. Can't forget that.
I have apparently spent 22 hours with Jolene in 3 out of the 4 days I've been in town. This, of course, is largely due to the absence of my host family and others in my local jeesh.
---
The numbers book is called Beyond Numeracy: Ruminations of a Numbers Man. It was written by John Allen Paulos. So far it is generally interesting. None of the mathematical topics or perspectives are new to me, but I'm enjoying his stories because he thinks about things in ways that I think about things.
---
Jolene's mother is very talkative. Oh my. I don't mind, though. It's a great way to become better acquainted with the family, and she's far from boring. I imagine to family members who have heard all the stories before, it's a bit less interesting. I have the advantage of being new and able to appreciate these stories and topics for the first time.
---
I think I'm going to alternate between churches for now, and see where it goes. I think that St. Nicholas has more to offer me, but Jolene's church would present more opportunities for me to be useful in serving folks. The second is more valuable to me, but I don't seem to be ready to commit to either church, not 100% anyway.
---
Dubois is great. I enjoy the ability to walk everywhere I want to go in under 20 minutes. I enjoy that the town is large enough to support the people in it. That is, it's not a small town that people leave to work other places, like Richmond, Maine, or any sort of suburb elsewhere. The town feels small and it's the first time I've ever lived somewhere that has the lax feel of a small town and also the convenience of a variety of local businesses. The proximity to friends and companions is a blessing that I still haven't swallowed. I feel like I'm visiting and will have to go home soon. It's a gut feeling that vaguely says it's not going to last, or that I have a big trip coming up and can't commit to any plans in town. The only major things in the immediate future are Warped Tour and a brief dip down to VA for Mimi's wedding. I originally had plans to see a few more people this summer, but most of those plans didn't work out so well.
---
Rosemary's coming on Wednesday. I'm pretty sure that was the day, at least. I hope to take a walk around town, lounge and talk privately somewhere, and do a little Old School Doctor Who with Alessandra and Jolene. Maybe throw some ice cream into that mix. And bananas and jelly babies and sonic screwdrivers? We'll see, I guess.
---
Definitely a little lonely without the family being noisy upstairs. Much as I value things like calm, peace, and a general lack of juvenile chaos, I don't enjoy sitting alone for 10 hours watching sci-fi and playing games as much as I used to. Productive tasks are pretty good, though... I think that I would like to work on one now.