It´s been over a month...

It´s been over a month since I´ve last written.

I went to a Reds game...at the Giant´s stadium.  It was incredibly cold, but the Reds won.  ...and I tried these things called garlic fries (sounds simple, right?) and they are allegedly ·also· the San Francisco treat.  ...and I apparently have not assimilated enough into the culture to enjoy them, but those who have swooped in to eat them.  Yucky little things.  ...but I did discover that we have a red plum tree in our back yard...fresh red plums that are only slightly tart and just...amazing.  CALIFORNIA!

Also, I sometimes go to trivia on Sunday nights at a bar not too far from here.  ...I´m pop culture-tarded, so I don´t know many answers, but I still have fun and get to spend time with my buddies.  I helped a friend from work move as well.  I´ve been to a few parties and gone to a few movies as well.  Life here has been good so far.  ...OH!  and I met a person on the BART.  ...he was reading a graphic novel that I´ve been meaning to check out, but just haven´t yet (it was Hack/Slash).   I´ve since been invited to go play board games, which sounds like a very exciting time.  :)  I imagine that not ALL nerds who play boardgames can be single.  ...not that I´m looking for a husband.

Actually, although I´ve given some updates, I really wanted to focus on the people I spend most of my time with here.  Since they´re such a huge part of my life (I don´t want to sound all mushy, but if I don´t see them for a day, I get a little sad), I want to talk about them and the silly way that at least a couple of my friends and I perceive ourselves.

They will be listed in alphabetical order, so they know that I´m not playing favorites.  Since three of them are J´s...I have to break out my dictionary to get them in the right order.  They are Jessica, Joel, Julian, and Zach (aka Scooter).

Jessica is my chick friend here.  She´s a young woman in her early 20s who is at the same time both a journalist and very gullible.  I feel like this is why she and I can get along. ...well, there are many reasons, but this is one of them.  She is from CA originally and knows the area super well, which makes it easy to find good places to go. ...I do have to say that I don´t entirely trust her taste in movies, but she has a record player and a shit load of records, and anyone who has these things is alright in my book.  She recently got to see some really awesome zebras.  She´s the equivalent of Jan Brady.

Joel is...well.  Joel is my roommate.  I live with him...because I have to...because I signed this piece of paper.  He rides a motorcycle, sings for a post-hardcore band and plays bass for an AC/DC cover band.  He´s also recently been employed.  Ladies...?  He´s available.  He definitely has his place here, but he´s also such a little boy in some ways.  ...I mean that affectionately, not like...in a bitch way.  If we were the Brady Bunch, he´d be Bobby.  There is all too much I could say about this boy.  I´m thankful for everything he´s done for me ever...and I´ve only known him for...a year or so.  Right now he´s helping me with music.  Also with getting over some fears.

Julian is the scientist.  He also rides motorcycles.  He also is in love with muay thai, which he´s been taking classes for...for almost the entire time since I´ve been here.  He´s super whiney, and should hire a maid to take care of him.  ...just. ...all of the time to follow him around and take care of him.  He´s definitely the smartest person I´ve ever met.  ...and I´m lucky that I can ask him all sorts of really silly science questions all of the time.  I´m making a painting for him. ...It´s going to be of the calabi yau.  This young adult has allowed me to engross myself in the Ender series.   Also, I recently broke his computer (which I feel awful about) and murdered the science he kept on it.  Julian is the Cindy Brady.  Kind of adorable (no lisp though) but mostly whiney and needy...but people are gonna do shit for him, because he´s Julian.

Last in the alphabet is Zach, who´s definitely the Mr. Brady.  Zach constantly contradicts himself in arguments.  He has such a strange taste in things dealing with women.  I imagine him in a few short years with a glass of scotch and a cigar...in his study or his cigar room. He´s also a skater, but he´s also...not dumb (not that skaters are dumb).  I´ll patiently wait for the day when he and I can have a really good conversation about something...anything really, except for music.  He has lived in CA for a while and knows where some good stuff is.  When we have to make decisions, it´s usually based on his preferences if he´s going.  We definitely do not see enough of him though, which I guess is what makes him the Mr. Brady.

All of these people are my core peeps.  There are other people I hang out with, but not as much as these fuckers.  It doesn´t matter what role I have (I´m the Alice Brady.  yeah, fucking alice.  not that it matters. this isn´t about me...kind of) because I just want to keep living this role as one of the people in this group.  I hope that other people can come into our group, and that if people need to leave it, they can without hard feelings.

All of these people have made my life immeasurably better than it would have been otherwise.  I truly believe that it takes about a year after moving to make and form the friendships that it´s taken me a few months to have.  I´m getting all mushy and stuff, but I really cherish each of these people.  I love all that they have given me.  I don´t need to question whether or not I´ve given anything to them.  I will just continue to enjoy the fuck out of them.

I´ll miss the sound of the train in my dreams.

I haven´t written anything in a while.  ...I think.  I´ve been so busy gthat I haven´t even kept track of anything.  As I´ve been taking inventory of things I own and things to be done, I realized that there were some things on my mind that needed to be expelled...or at least expressed.

The biggest thing that has happened to me lately...is the event that has rendered me car-less.  I brought my vehicle to the mechanic early one morning this week.  ...it was so early that the coldness clung to me.  When I arrived at the mechanic, I set myself to reading...and was later summoned by the mechanic to come take a look at my car.  ...there were tire bits that had melted off and stuck together to form a peak in one of the wheel wells...the wheel that belonged there was down to the metal stripping (or whatever it´s called.  I was unaware of its existence in wheels to begin with).  ...and that was just one wheel.

The mechanic was very nice in his dealings with me.  He gently told me that they would not let me drive the car because it was not safe.  I then told him that I had planned on not bringing it to California with me anyway, since I wasn´t sure it could make it...and the mood in the whole room lightened.  ...I´m fairly certain that the mechanic and his comrades thought I would start screaming or crying, since I´m a woman.  ...but I just smiled and told him it was okay.

My roommate graciously took time out of his schedule to sell my car for me.  I didn´t have to do anything.  I am very thankful for his existence sometimes...and by sometimes I mean all of the time.  I will miss my car, though. ...RIP Coche.

Also, my roommate taught me how to drive a manual last night.  In the rain.  ...I was terrible, but we didn´t die.  I´m thanking him again at this point...but for all of his patience at this point.  ...and I didn´t break his car.  ...that would be a nightmare.  I´m smarter than that.

Tomorrow  I´m getting my tattoo finished...It feel weird to have something that is starting to resemble a sleeve...And I´m really excited that I´ve had the opportunity to be worked on by such a great tattoo artist.  He has such a light touch and such an understanding of my ramblings and vague descriptions of the creatures I want on my body.

Tomorrow we are also having a going away party.  I feel like this brings a sense of closure and renewal and all of the things planned for tomorrow are aimed at keeping a solid look forward, or at least in the right direction.  i am beginning to get very nervous about going, but I feel like moving always brings this anxiety.  I think that my strength lies in knowing that everything will ultimately be fine, that everything has been planned well and at the end of the day, as long as I have a bed to sleep in or a blanket to lie under I´ll be fine.

I´m really glad to have had the opportunity to live so many places in my life.  I´m thankful that I´ve gotten to meet some extraordinary people and do some interesting things.  There have definitely been changes to my person over these six months in Cincinnati (mostly to my palette and my left arm, and the change of going from driver to pedestrian).  I´m really incredibly excited for the things that California will bring (hopefully a really smart, tall boy with tattoos and good taste in music).  And who knows...maybe I´ll paint some things and send them back to you, reader.