the battle of pirate hill

I dreamed about you last night!

All of you!

The lot of us, plus Lucas S-B for reasons that will become apparent, were hanging out in a barn on a mountain in NY state and it was great. Which pretty much already happened. And we had guns, which also already happened. But they were real guns! Also an airplane! And we got bored so we divided into two armies and started having a battle. My side had Evan and Lucas and Micah and Meg and Steve, and we holed up in the barn and took shots at the airplane as it buzzed us at twilight. After a while I started to worry a little bit that this was a dangerous pasttime for friends, but we had no way to communicate that to the folks in the airplane (you were merciless!) so I had to keep shooting and was running out of ammunition and then looked down and my gun had turned into a sawed-off shotgun with a cork tied to the muzzle with twine, and when I pulled the trigger it shot out water. But it didn't shoot straight because of the cork. And then the battle was over.

There was something about winter coats, too, and drawing on the walls of a cabin.

Thanks for not shooting me, guys.

new news

Hi folks,

I miss all of you so much! This is an I just got a job post and a holy moly I have to move to New York City post! I am going to work as an editorial assistant for a college text book publisher and I am so excited (but also nervous about moving). I need somewhere to live! If anyone has a cool friend who needs a roommate in Brooklyn starting in August...or even a couch that is crashable for a week or so while I get on my feet, I would much appreciate any leads. (Seriously, email me, mklinger at wes and save my life)

In other news, I saw Meg yesterday! We went to Cockaponset/Pattaconk, mostly just for the names, went for a hike and a swim and saw some chipmunks and a swimming hotdog dog. We went panning for gold in a pretty and somewhat oily lake using our bare hands and got covered in a brown oily scum, the prospector's curse!

What are you all up to?

I hope you all post updates soon and I hope that all is well with everything!

A guy from a high school group of friends that I've mostly lost touch with passed away suddenly this week. At the wake today, I saw all of his friends huddled around, looking just awful. I can only imagine what they're going through right now. Since then, I've been thinking about my own friends and how much I care about all of you, and how devastated I - and everyone - would be if anything happened to you. So, if you'll excuse an Evan moment here, I just wanted to say that I love you all. Take care of yourselves.

Perspective

It is 4am and I have been trying to unclog a toilet for about an hour and a half.

At this precise moment, you are all doing better than me.

Croquet in America

During the 1860s croquet swept across the Atlantic into America, where it was immediately embraced by most as a truly elegant and fasioinable sport and, above all, a great civilizer. The New York periodical Galaxy declared in 1867 that "croquet is an essentially social game, provocative of good humour, wit and fellowship, one in which old men foreget their gout, young ones their bills unpaid; in which old ladies trip gayly across the sod in the chase of an 'enemy'...in which the young ones blend duty and enjoyment so evenly that health blooms in their cheeks, lustre in their eyes, and renewed life throbs in every elastic step." One manual of croquet went even further, claiming that croquet was "a protection from evil influences by keeping all members in the household ranks ... [since] with rational amusements at home, no-one will be inclined to seek irrational ones abroad." Yet not all were so enamoured. In 1878, the American Christian Review listed the inevtable disasterous consequences of social activities such as croquet (see diagram). In 1867, the Commissioners of New York's Central Park made a generous exception to their normal prohibition of active adult sports. Splendidly, they allowed young girls to play croquet in secluded areas--away from main thoroughfares--on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.


a social party
social & party play
croquet party
picnic & croquet party
picnic, croquet, & dance
absence from church
imprudent or immoral conduct
exclusion from the church
a runaway match
poverty & discontent
shame & disgrace
ruin


- Ben Schott, Schott's Sporting, Gaming, and Idling Miscellany

Let's see, let's see.

If you read between the lines of Evan's last post you may conclude that Silver Bay is the best place in the world. This is good, because it's the truth. I like convincing other people of this. Maybe you should stop by when I'm there in August, huh?

My brain is all funny. I keep getting all teary-eyed at emotional-but-not-sad things. And I had horrible dreams last night! The delightful sanatorium of the farmhouse turned into an enormous luxury hotel with metal and marble, but also a real sanatorium in which people were dying and we all sat around watching the news. And then some of you were in a bumper-car pileup and needed rescuing. Oh hormones. I'm going to be such a neurotic mom.
But yesterday I finally ordered a bridesmaid's dress and shoes for my cousin's wedding. Both on sale but unmarked so it was a surprise! Happy happy. Strappy happy shoes. I am already thinking of ways to alter the dress after the wedding so it looks less I-do-y and more cocktail-y.
Next week I get to see my old roommate Cory and then my mom, and after that.... well, New Orleans, hopefully, but we're still working on that.

The guy at the computer behind me is snoring. It mixes with the whirring of the microfiche machines and the clicking of people typing and the occasional giggle from everyone else around and the intermittant snick...snick...snick... of the librarian's stapler.

Traveling was great. As always, spending time with Laura was wonderful, and it gives me consolation to know that her extended family is as semi-logically nit-picky towards her as she is towards me--in the cosmic scheme, she gets what she gives. The two-days-and-change that I spent up at Silver Bay involved much hiking, attempts at water-skiing, a nighttime kayak-run (one of my favorite things to do in the world), some pell-mell post-midnight back-country driving, a solo stay at the Simko/Bednarski Farmhouse for a night (spooky), and meeting/re-meeting some of laura's extended family, who are all absolutely fantastic people. I was thrilled to be among them.

The pell-mell back-country driving finally did-in a wounded intake hose on the volvo, however, and though it drives it does so slowly and it hiccups occasionally. This lead to my missing my dentist appointment in NJ this morning, and will cost me time and money to repair... I think it's too far gone to patch it up with JB weld again. so, alas, cant get back up to silver bay before laura leaves.

That said, I want to go hiking nearby (up on the Hudson) some time this weekend. Maybe Sunday? everyone is invited... Please please please comment on this post if you'd be interested in making that happen. Also, in a few days when the parts come, anyone wanna get greasy and wrench around the Volvo with me?

Love
-E