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Aug. 17th, 2003 11:36 pm
caraig: (Default)
[personal profile] caraig
Well, just to update y'all: I made it back home safely.

Yes, I am once again in New York. Over the course of the next few days I'lll be updating my web site to reflect this.

A bit about the trip.... Packing was simply awful. I was, literally, Not Jonathan this past Friday. I kept throwing stuff in the trailer, coming back to the apartment, and finding something else that needed packing. Packing alone stinks like nothing else.

I was right, though, in that once I got on the road I'd be all right. And I pretty much was, the drive was uneventful except for a few... issues. Here they are. (Gaze in awe upon my 1337 #7m1 $ki11z! Or not. =) )

  • All northbound parts of the beltway were closed from about 8PM Saturday night to 10AM Sunday morning. I learned this at 6:16 PM (1815) on Saturday, seventy miles from the Beltway. It was a classic case of mob behavior. As we were tooling along I-95 North, we saw the flashing sign giving us this vital closure information. There was perhaps one mile after where we were all considering our options... then bit by bit the ambient driving speed started to increase. We were all thinking the same thing: If we hurry, we can make it. We did not. Turns out they meant SIX PM, not 8. I ended up stopping about an hour earlier than I wanted -- not a bad thing -- and got a good rest.

  • There was a two-mile backup. Turns out a company that makes log cabin homes was making a demonstration model. So of course everyone on I-95 decided to stop and watch. Dumbkopfs!

  • As further proof that the road gods were colluding against me, the northbound lanes (sense a trend here?) on the bridge between Maryland and Delaware were closed due to an accident. I ended up reminding myself in Harve de Grace, MD, why I dislike McDonald's.


Fear Non Sequitor Man: While I was in Maryland spending the night, I caught Deep Blue Sea. I think Samuel L. Jackson has the most... ignominous... death... EVER in that movie. I mean, really. Speech speech speech speech speech speech SPLASH CHOMP.

So I'm sitting at my desk here in New york. It's the basement apartment to my parent's home. I must have spent a good portion of my adult life here. It's nice, all in all. Chilly, even in summer, for which I'm grateful. I'm wearing a sweater right now. It feels so good to wear a sweater after being in Florida.

But the particular position I'm sitting in, with a sweater, typing at the computer, the faint chill of the room.... I'm having strong flashbacks to December. And not merely of when I was here in New York, but my classes in December at school, as well. It's a very wierd feeling. If I close my eyes... and give myself a few moments... maybe even listen to the right music... I can suddenly find myself remembering a few moments with terrible clarity. Sitting in what would become the HP computer lab, waiting for the instructors to check off our latest work. Sitting in my apartment, hammering away at my latest prose on the laptop. Standing in the hallway, waiting for the chance to see and say 'hi' to her again. And up here in New York, when the air outside the window was as still as only a cold night could make it, with the sodium lights casing a yellow-orange hue through the windows, reflected from the gentle snowdrifts piled against the house, the Christmas lights making little festive glows of reds and golds through the blinds, Mom and Dad upstairs playing some Christmas'y music.
I don't know why I'm suddenly having these were memory flashes. It's not so much disturbing as... disquieting. I don't want to say there there's some sort of sense of loss here, but... I don't quite know how to otherwise describe this feeling. I feel out-of-place when I come back to the here-and-now.

Well. Tomorrow is going to be a lot of unpacking. I also need to return the trailer, and then I can...
Well... try to find a job. In an economy that sucks mountains.
The biggest fear I have right now is that in four month's time I will be saying, 'Would you like fries with that?' But I gotta be positive. I will get a job in computer animation. Even doing flying logos can be very cool. So I have to hold on to that.

Date: 2003-08-18 09:02 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] frostedelves.livejournal.com
Huzzah, on getting back safely with a degree and demo reel for your desired profession!

Date: 2003-08-20 12:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] caraig.livejournal.com
Thanks! Which reminds me, must put together a bunch of demo reels and torture people with them. Bwahah!

Want coffee

Date: 2003-08-19 07:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fairietink.livejournal.com
Ok, now we must get together for coffee at some point .. I will be at PA Ren Faire this Sunday but other than that you let me know and I will do my best to make it over/up where ever to meet you!
Tink

Re: Want coffee

Date: 2003-08-20 12:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] caraig.livejournal.com
Sure! I'm going to have an oddball schedule for the near term but that'd be great! =)

Re: Want coffee

Date: 2003-08-20 03:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fairietink.livejournal.com
well you just let me know, I work from home so........ e-mail me and I'll send you my cell phone number, or read past post :-)

Date: 2003-08-20 06:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tigerfae.livejournal.com
I-95 is evil! Evil, I tell you! We got stuck in traffic on our way to and back from North Carolina because Ben's stupid GPS system told us to use 95. Stupid commuters. Stupid DC. =P

Anyway, good luck on the job hunting! I will look around here for you, if that's not too annoying. Why? Simply because I need more friends to live in the Midwest!

Date: 2003-08-20 12:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] caraig.livejournal.com
Yeah, up around the beltway I-95 gets very very wierd. Usually though I-95 is a godsend for East Coast travellers. Just jump on it and be anywhere, without worying about getting lost. It just gets wierd in some places... like DC... the New Jersey Turnpike... Boston... you know, little places like that. =)

It's good to be back, though, and I hope all's going well with you and Ben and Sage! =)

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