Rainy West Palm Beach
“And the thing that you’re hearing is only the sound of the low spark of high-heeled boys…” – Traffic
So I figure the best way to get back into daily blogging is to just do it.
I’ve been home in New York for six days (well five, considering that I landed on Sunday and I’m currently writing this from West Palm Beach where it’s raining). It’s been wonderful to be able to hug my family and friends and to be in the same room with them instead of seven hours/8,000 some odd miles away. It’s been great to catch up with the Plainview Scoobies (though one lives in Georgia now, and isn’t here) and the trip has only begun!
It’s very weird to be back in the United States after over a year away. I find myself relating to my surroundings differently, nothing that I can particularly articulate, just a feeling…just different. Some things I’ve forgotten how much I’ve missed, like the smell of Long Island after a rainstorm, from the door of my parents’ house (a smell that I’ve never smelled anywhere else in the world) and torrential rainstorms (I love storms).
Long Island, despite how much Long Islanders rag on her, is a beautiful place to live.
In between hanging out with my family and friends (something slightly harder to do since my friends are now gainfully employed), I’ve been working out almost daily. My mom let me take her last two sessions with her personal trainer at the gym. Her personal trainer – Stephanie – is a wonderful woman, she speaks fluent English, Hebrew, French and a few others which I can’t bring to mind at the moment, has her M.A. in Physiotherapy and comes with enough energy to power a few small countries if we could just figure out how to bottle it.
She’s been teaching me new floor techniques that are for a full body workout, meant to trim fat and build muscle, and almost all of them are based on resistance. The best part is that all of them can be done anywhere a yoga mat can be thrown. This is perfect for someone who’s always on the go, who’s rarely home and who’s schedule never quite matches up with the gym…and who happens to own a wonderful, lime green, yoga mat…hmmm…
I’ve been to NYC twice now since I’ve been home. The first time was to go to the Kathy Griffin book signing with my cousin (Rachel) who managed to score a pair of bracelets and the second time was to go to the Museum of Natural History, the M&M Store (not for me) and Strand Books with my Mom (
For those of you who have never been to a Kathy Griffin Book Signing (and this was, indeed, my first), it is exactly what you would expect: the entire Gay Mafia was there with their enforcers in tow (sometimes referred to as “Fag Hags”), two straight husbands were dragged there against their will and protested bitterly the entire time by sulking, and four other straight guys who just happen to like Kathy Griffin managed to fight the above for wristbands to get into the event. Kathy, who is amazing, spoke for a total of five minutes quickly enough to impart about forty-five minutes worth of information to the crowd, signed books at lightning speed, and we were out and on our way in just under an hour…after waiting three hours for the event to begin.
The American Museum of Natural History is amazing – it’s my Mom’s favorite museum and my second favorite, after the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I can’t walk out without feeling more connected: the fact that we can see the universe (or as far as we can presently see into it with the telescopes that we have), that we can see the patterns and the movements of the stars, how the planets were formed, how supernovas occur, how stars are born, live, die and are then reborn later is all awesome to me.
I was pleased to see that they had set up an exhibit using a video the size of a person that played different scientists explaining why they thought that science and religion complemented each other (this may, potentially, turn into a post for a later date and time). I do believe in God…I do believe in Science…I don’t believe that there’s a contradiction in believing in both…and I love the Museum of Natural History for being brave enough to address the issue (since it’s fairly contentious on all sides of the aisle).
I did take a slight bit of umbrage, however, at the fact that Pluto was taken out of the planets discussion during the Journey to the Stars show (I’m an ardent Pluto is a Planet supporter)…after all, if Pluto isn’t a planet My Very Intelligent Mother Just Sat Upon Nine _________!
And, thanks to the miracle of Imax, I am now incredibly and intimately familiar with the mating and sexual habits of beavers…and their musical preferences for when they’re getting it on.
After the museum Mom and I went over to the M&M store to pick up some candy for a chocolate fiend we know and met up with one of my adoptive brothers, Alex, who joined us for coffee and a walk to Strand where I went to pick up Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman and a new Strand bag (my strand bag apparently went missing over the year I’ve been away which is a shame, since I had been meaning to bring it back and it was the perfect size…I am now once again equipped with a Strand bag, though this one much newer and far less stained than the first). After perusing for books (Alex bought “The Meat Bible” started reading it on the train, and then had to put it back in his shopping bag since it was making him hungry) we made our way up to 34th Street/Penn. Station to take the LIRR back home so Alex could finish off what was left in the fridge and the rest of us could finish packing for our trip down to West Palm Beach, Florida. Alex and
theantiview serve valiantly as emergency garbage disposals when they’re called up to active duty
”I could never get the hang of Thursdays” – Arthur Dent
Thursday was chaotic, and now that I’m thinking about it I just realized that I totally blew off
twisty_mirror! We were supposed to have coffee (sorry Cheryl!! I’ll call you tomorrow for an actual apology…I just realized it as I was going through things in my head that I was supposed to do…oy.). Between last minute packing and getting the puppy to the kennel I lost track of things.
Anyway, Mom, Dad, Sam and I made our way to the jetBlue terminal at JFK and flew down to West Palm Beach, meeting up with my twin brother (Dave) who came in from Vancouver at the baggage claim (side note: Dave’s luggage was delayed by a day and didn’t make it to the airport on the last flight that came in, two flights after his) and we made our way to the Hotel, just a few minutes from my Grandmother’s apartment.
Today (Friday), all things considered, was easy. Dad (perhaps over enthusiastic) woke me up at 08:25…at which point I put on clothing, and with one bleary eye opened, and one bleary eye shut walked next door and asked him…nicely to stop making the phone ring…at some point later we were eating breakfast downstairs (Dave and Sam still sleeping in the room) and then Mom, Dad and I went to K-Mart to pick up some things for Grandma before returning to the hotel to pick up Dave, drive to the airport to pick up his luggage, turn around and go to Grandma’s…more on this Tomorrow.
There are lots of people I need to catch up with, penpals, phone calls (which I am ridiculously behind on), emails, but my energy is almost done for the day. I’m hoping to do my telephoning and my emailing tomorrow at around one, or shortly thereafter (since we’ll be having lunch at Grandma’s)…I still haven’t gotten to make any of the phone calls I need to, but I do finally have a cell phone to use for the remainder of my trip which is a good thing and since dad has wireless internet on his laptop, I’ll have access to my phone book on line…and can hopefully be productive.
I am looking forward to Rosh HaShanah, Kol Nidrei & Yom Kippur. I need a New Year…and I’m glad it’s coming soon. With that, I leave you to drift off, happily, for the night.