Travel Log #3

May 31, 2009

Before I leave on my adventures beyond U.S. borders, for however long, I need to leave my space in the United States as sparse and as orderly as possible. This involves a great deal of purging. Before I left Worcester, I purged. That was five gigantic bags of clothing, linens, random objects that I'd accumulated over the years. I gave it all to the Salvation Army. I sold off almost all of my furniture. The Worcester purge left me with three suitcases of clothing, fifteen boxes of books, and three of "miscellaneous".

That was only four years. Today's purge goes back to the Savannah days and before--to Brooklyn. I found hair ties from 1990 that I wore when I was three. Remember the big clips with shoelace decorations? The bauble ties? Polly Pocket, Shmushies, trolls, pictures from camp, jewelry I got for my Bat Mitzvah that I hated at the age of twelve but like now. I found old Silly Putty (still preserved), old stuffed animals, the letters I've been saving since I was four. Yes, I have saved every letter and card I've ever gotten since I was four. And, of course, books. I have so many books, I can't even comprehend it. When I'm finally ready to get an apartment or house, or some kind of permanent living space, I should just rent out an empty library. I twill be filled in about three seconds and I'll have to start thinking about building an additional wing. Books are the one variety of item that I never purge. And the collection keeps growing. As it should.

Anyhow, I got rid of fifteen years of clothing and miscellaneous junk. Well, put it downstairs on the bed after I stripped it (sorry Iquo). Noah helped me drag it all down there. Sam helped me go through items, like the rediscovery of my calendars, years 2000 through 2003. I collect calendars, for those of you who don't know.

The sun is almost set now, at almost 9:30pm. Fireflies are skipping on the air outside my window. When I was a little kid in New York City, I used to catch them and watch them light up in jars. Now, the bugs catch me instead. The mosquitoes here are literally the size of my face. A couple night ago I nearly had a total breakdown over the stupid monster flying cockroaches flying in my face. And that one was only a baby.

I don't really mind bugs, except for cockroaches. Things that make other people scream in horror make me laugh. I've had my array of stray pets: lizards, huge procreating black spiders from the backyard, baby doves that fell out of the tree in the front yard.

Actually, speaking of the doves I adopted: one died and one flew away. But before that happened, the entire nation of doves came and protested my helping them by setting up camp in our front yard in Savannah. Pretty amazing sight.

Yesterday, I went swimming with Lindsay in her pool and had the most fun I've had in a long time. On top of it, I managed not to get burned! Yay full body suit. Swimming is, once again, my sport because it's too expensive to dance right now.

Speaking of money, I applied for another scholarship for OTZMA. I should be hearing this week whether I get in or not. Hopefully it's "yes" and then I really have to hope for the rest of the money to drop out of the sky and i also really, really have to step on the Student Loan deferral nonsense. Clark told me that I can definitely get them deferred because it's a year of service. As for Pardes, I calculated that I would need to take out another $20,000 in loans or so--so: ABSOLUTELY NOT. They didn't mention the whole part about having to take care of housing on our own and everything else. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Anyway, time for some reading and guitaring...

June 3, 2009

One of the things you never forget about the South once you leave it is the unrelenting heat. The other is the humidity. The combination of the two makes for a slow and oppressive atmosphere, where people spend long days hunched over, burning in the sun in silence or collectively singing hymns, and a refreshing hiatus in the water, pool, lake, stream, or otherwise. Or, if we live in suburbia, long days of summer camp, hoses in the front yard, gardening, trips to the air conditioned bookshops. Sometimes we go to parks. The rest of the time, we just deal with the heat.

Last week wasn't this bad. Now, the heat has set in, with its humidity. I used to complain, but the climate shifted to drought and nothing felt right without the daily thunder storm and the buckets of rain. The air was all wrong last year when I visited and I could attribute the adjective "arid" to it and one-third of the state was on standby for the call to immediately evacuate to nowhere in particular and for an indefinite amount of time due to lack of water.

The fans are on high and the roaches are out like crazy. Flying ones that feel comfortable on your face. Mosquitoes are out, too. They're literally the size of my face. Daddy-Long-Legs have taken over the downstairs bathroom and won't stay away. But this is what we get for trying to impose on the wilderness. It could be worse. The bugs could be the size of horses instead of the size of my face.

I get in the car and drive. Ordered my foreign currency. It's in already. still waiting on word from OTZMA. My patience, which is generally infinite, is dwindling. But I will know soon. I drove farther--visited my amazing friend, Cher. I came home with a new guitar. Martin has a sibling now: Therem. A beautiful, sweet-toned Yamaha, with exactly the sound I was looking for. I also got my one-and-only cucumber sandwiches and fantastic sweet tea. And, of course, Cher's company.

I'm about to go swimming. I'll start writing again later.
Later, 6:19pm
Back from the pool. I used to be an amazing, hardcore swimmer, always in the pool, had an Olympic Medalist for a coach; I was a GCAT member. I won medals. Now, I'm not in swimming shape at all, but in dancing shape. I start Zumba on Monday. Closest thing to dancing I can get, and it's free. Also, Spinning, Yoga, and another dance-esque class. I went from twelve hours of dance a week during competition season to zero. Time to get back up to speed. If only I could find a reliable partner who knows what he's doing...

Anyhow, nothing's interesting except the Southern heat and the ensuing wildlife that has made its way into the house. More when craziness happens--or some good inspiration. Write back to me. I miss all of you.