A Weekend with Devo
opening music, instrumental of 'new york, new york'. the scene is a passenger's view of route twenty two going eastbound towards newark airport intercut with various scenes of the industrial wasteland that surrounds newark
I'm writing this while Devotchka is asleep on the couch, I picked her up, she checked in at the hotel and now we're back here at Casa Studebaker. I was asleep a bit but I couldn't sleep after a while and just had to get up. She says that I seem relaxed and stuff which is what I figured except there's this wee bit core inside of me that is tense but I'm sure eventually that will evaporate and just be cool all the way through.
Just want to make her feel comfortable and like she can be herself with no pressure from me and not being heavy. Part of me feels like I'm on eggshells but I'm certain after a wee bit I'm going to say fuck it and stomp to see what happens. Metaphorically, of course.
Oh yeah, when she got off the plane I gave her a lovely lei and welcomed her to New Jersey.
I did do a subtle test for what it's worth and probably after she reads this she's going to be like, "Oh, I always do stuff like that." At the airport when we were getting into my car I opened the door for her then walked around the back a bit slow and by the time I got over to my door I saw her reach to unlock it for me. I got that from A Bronx Tale. Here's the exchange:
Sonny: Alright, listen to me. You pull up right where she lives, right? Before you get out of the car, you walk over to her. You bring her over to the car. Dig out the key, put it in the lock and open the door for her. Then you let her get in. Then you close the door. Then you walk around the back of the car and look through the rear window. If she doesn't reach over and lift that button so that you can get in: dump her.
Calogaro: Just like that?
Sonny: Listen to me, kid. If she doesn't reach over and lift that button, that means she's a selfish broad and all you're seeing is the tip of the iceberg. You dump her and you dump her fast.
I gave her the nickel tour of my town and later on tonight we're going out to dinner with my father at the diner. Saturday will be NYC, which she alread saw the skyline of while walking back from the plane, and it looks like Sunday will be a visit to Raisin Acres and going over to Cape May.
Either I'm going to update the diary all in one lump or I'll find some time to squeeze in online to so I can upload the entries. Bah, I forgot to take a picture of the Powerpuff Girls airplane that was parked over at Newark and I had my digital camera with me too.
My dream was simple, Ben had run away from home and I was trying to track him down. He was headed in the direction of Summit and was traversing the hilly roads between here and there. By the time I got within spitting distance of Summit I saw his big brown back and waggy dinosaur tail wagging in the distance and he was much larger than usual. His shoulder was a touch higher than treetops. Basically I gave up because I figured I wouldn't be able to catch up with him and he seemed to be much happier being away from home.
I had another plan for Devotchka when I picked her up but it didn't come to fruition because of money and a lack of accomplices. I was going to have my hair pulled back tight and wear a suit or something suitably chauffer. So here's how it would go, Devotchka would exit the plane and see me standing there and she would say hello, wave and smile being all familiar with me. I would apologize for the ruse but I am not Haakon Studebaker and how I'm his personal assistant George and how Mr. Studebaker had me drive out to pick her up at the airport and drive her to his residence. There would've been a Cadillac or a limo waiting there. We'd drive back someplace ritzy or upscale where I would lead her to "Mr. Studebaker"'s room or office explaining how Mr. Studebaker is a very private man who uses his personal assistant to represent himself. "Mr. Studebaker" would end up being one of my friends or maybe someone really elderly. For five minutes the ruse would be kept up before letting her in on the joke.
Still, no dice but she laughed at the prank.
When I told this to Jaybird, he said that was a decent idea and if he were closer that he would've gone in on it and while portraying me he would've said he created this entire personality because he was getting tired of maribou and wanted to fool around and he felt this was the most discrete way.
Saturday in NYC.
This was Devotchka's first time in NYC and I showed her lots of stuff, we started out with the Empire State Building (as she put it, she spent nine bucks to ride an elevator up and down) then we headed uptown to Central Park where we visited the zoo and saw the polar bears, a baby squirrel and a cute red panda among other beasties that dwell there.
I had a moody moment on the observation deck where I sat down and stared sullenly for a bit, this was after I finally threw the ring that Kinja gave me off the south end of the observation deck accompanied by the 1974 penny I had been carrying in my left pocket for the greater part of the week. It was part of a spell to nudge things in a good direction. I only felt sad because I figured the penny didn't work or some things are greater in life than magick.
Or magick is a sham. Like faith in deities.
Que sera sera.
We were in New York City way too long and daylight savings time is to blame since it always felt earlier than it was and I'm sure had it gotten darker earlier we would've been back at a decent hour. Jesus, we got to Penn Station by eight and the train didn't arrive until 8:42 which meant we were back in Millburn come 9:33. Worn out from all the walking, we just went back to her hotel room to sleep. Deep sleep.
Maybe Devotchka will write something here to fill out the whole day.
moo!
the ring kinja gave me is gone
the city is full of freaks
a wee baby squirrel
mr. polar bear
at the central park zoo
taken high atop
the empire state building
look out below!
penny and a ring comin' down!
the new york city skyline
nappy service
for all the colored folk!
'somewhere beyond the sea' sung by frank sinatra plays in the background starting in on the line about golden sands. fade in.
Today we slept in late and got a late start on our trip down to Raisin Acres. We got there in two hours where I met Malyss' boyfriend in person and Malyss met Devotchka for the first time. Definitely have to say that I was majorly uncomfortable, it was the silences and sometimes the talking felt all forced to fill up the empty spaces when there was seemingly nothing to say. At least Devotchka was able to get folks talking about more than just /The_Cat/ who is always a subject because she's so tubby tubby.
Malyss was kind enough to give us directions to Cape May and we followed her car until we hit Rt. 55 south and then went the rest of the way to Sunset Beach.
holds court
Sunset Beach is a lovely beach on the very tip of New Jersey that is known for being the source of Cape May diamonds which are probably just quartz that's been tumbled in water so they're smooth and quite pretty along with other rocks that are red like the surface of Mars and white moon-like stones among others. Devotchka found a dead crab under the sand while searching for pretty stones. Time wore on and we were hungry so we weren't around for the sunset but it was pretty damned close by the time we left and the sun was already sinking behind the clouds on the horizon so it was kinda like a sunset. Certainly was fucking beautiful.
So we drove around Cape May in search of a good, reasonably priced seafood restaurant and got sticker shock three times until we found this place called The Ugly Mug. They have bunches of mugs on the ceiling which represent members of their Ugly Mug club. The living members have their mugs facing west but the dead members have their mugs facing the ocean to the east, it's pretty cool and Devotchka and I kept looking up to see who was dead and who wasn't dead. Some of the mugs were made strange so the bottoms looked like they could've been openings but eventually our death voyeuring was sated and the food arrived.
Jesus, the ride up the Parkway was MUCH longer than the ride down the Turnpike by an hour. Terrible. Sometimes it felt like the time was just dragging by but I think I kept a reasonable speed (like seventy) and we weren't lollygagging despite all the miles traversed. We finally returned to the room a few minute ago and it looks like the sleep of the dead will be ours once again. Boy oh boy did we talk a lot while coming back which is a Good Thing (tm).
Guten tag.
on the beach
devo watching the sunset
pretty stones collected
at sunset beach
she sits on golden sands
Monday is the day that Devotchka returned home.
It's the shortest day too.
We didn't get things moving until eleven and check out time is noon which we have very little time for anything except getting her some food and taking her over to the airport after she takes a peek at some files I have on my computer at home. She wants to see the naked MOOer pics that I have on my disk drive. I'm still disappointed by the fact that I didn't have the foresight to download pics so long ago before they simply vanished from the web or became password protected.
The only folly of Devotchka's visit is the fact that we seemingly had so little time together. On Sunday we drove 350 miles. Saturday was way too long in the city. Those facts are my fault since I wanted so much to show her so much stuff figuring there was more time in the day. Sure, I dreaded the fact that we might end up going into NYC, walking around and then we'd have seen every sight that I had planned upon but it would still be three in the afternoon and the entire night looming before us with nothing to do but sit around awkwardly or have a game of chess.
Devotchka told me this morning that she had a dream about meeting my mother. I had sneaked Devotchka into a social gathering at my house but she was in one room and everyone was in the other room. She was going to sneak into the other room but hadn't had the chance yet. My mother thought she heard a noise and wanted to know who was in the room and went inside where she found Devotchka. That's all Devotchka remembers.
(Heh, there has to be a better way to do that effect. I think XML was suggested the last time but why create yet another DTD for download?)
Since my mother expressed the fact that she wants nothing to do with me back in December and doesn't want to hear about my life. I'm surprised that I didn't write that in my diary back in December and all this time I thought that I had written it into an entry. So, yesterday at Malyss' place she mentioned how the only times my mother was pleasant was when she was fucking drunk and that only happens around the holidays. Anyway. My father and I hatched a little scheme so he could go out for dinner with Devotchka and myself without any real questions being asked about his whereabouts. My mother simply thought my father was going to therapy, he started going again because my mom's looney toons and I think on hormones which fuck her up something serious, and dragging me along with him since the therapist had a "few choice words" and wanted to know the totality of whatever pathology I bear. Fuck you, mom.
So anyway, if there is a next time where Devotchka comes out to see me I reckon there will be only one big trip on one day and the rest would be hanging around doing stuff like, say, food shopping or playing with super soakers in the yard or a park.
What's next? I gotta plop the photographs into this entry and then upload this A.S.A.P. so no one thinks that I have given up the ghost when it comes to the diary.
How am I? I am happy.
Devotchka is a real person (not that I considered her any less real before, just the whole different dynamic of being with someone in person and getting the full story, blah blah velveteen blah blah broken record) and I'm seriously going to miss her company IRL. Thing is that online it seems like we haven't been talking as much which got me feeling a bit insecure wondering if there was no common ground but it's just the fact she's a listener and given time to be herself she starts talking up a storm. That vibe just isn't conveyed in the electronic medium of MOO or ICQ.
So...
P'raps I'll write more after everything's said and done and the only thing lying before me is simply sleeping some more. I reckon I didn't sleep that well since I was in a strange bed in a strange place in the same room with someone I've only known for seventy two hours in real life.
Okay, time's passed. Devotchka went immediately on the plane since we were running behind and said our farewells as she ran aboard. Driving back was a fucking pain in my ass because there was this dipshit in a green minivan going forty in the god damned left express lane. I cut around him close on the right and cut him off before speeding down the open road back to my father's shop where I'm gonna hang out for a while until therapy comes 'round.
Oh yeah, last night while we were playing chess we were looking over the directions and I noticed something very funny which shows how far racial sensitivity has gone. The rules state:
- Opposing Kings and Queens go directly opposite each other.
- Position the gameboard so that the square in the lower right corner is a light one ("light on right").
- The White Queen goes on a light square, the Black Queen on a dark square ("Queen of color")
Holey mackerel, Andy! Dey's got Saffire on det dere checka board!
Have I mentioned I'm happy? It's a content kinda happy and not some flying around manic kind of happy which is just my speed.
