Happy Halloween!

Today is actually warm here in Boston, which should be good news for the kids who won't have to ruin their costumes by putting coats on over them. I never had to worry about that growing up in Tucson. Never even thought about it really until I moved to Chicago.

Tonight I think my roommate Angie and I are going to watch a scary movie and eat popcorn. However, "scary" is relative and we have yet to decide whether scary equals Psycho or a Harry Potter movie. We will hopefully be joined by our other roommate Chrissy whenever she gets home from her job where they work her hard with no time and a half. That should be illegal. Then Jason and I may be going to a midnight Halloween organ concert, where I've been promised Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, which is really the Halloween song.

Here are some Halloweeny links for you all.

Witchy card sent to me by my mom

Ghost Research

13 Real Haunted Places

Worst Costumes Ever

Weird thing I realized this morning: You can sing/speak "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" to the tune of "Monster Mash." Do with that what you will.

Me and Chrissy
Angie
Jason

So I Don't Know If You Heard, But It's Been Windy Up Here

You know it's windy when:

• There are whitecaps on the Charles River.
• You open your car door to get out and the wind closes the door back on you.
• Shopping carts take on lives of their own.
• All of the pretty Autumn leaves have fallen in the space of just a couple of hours.
• The whole concept of "umbrella" takes on an air of laughable futility and you resign yourself to getting soaked while you run all of your errands.
• You wake up angry that your neighbor is thumping his bass at 6:30 on a Saturday morning, until you realize it's actually the sound of the huge gales of wind thumping into the side of the house.

Things I Am Enjoying

• The optometrist down the street from my office who has put Halloween masks on all 20 or so model heads in the front window and then put glasses on them all. My favorite is the Queen Amidala mask with the sassy red frames.
  
• The crazy bells in Downtown Crossing. If you happen to arrive at Downtown Crossing at 8 AM, or are still there at 7 PM, you get serenaded by pealing bells, like those from a large church or cathedral. However, upon close listening, you discover that the bells aren't playing your standard hymns. No, instead they seem partial to TV and movie soundtracks. Wednesday night was the theme from Hill Street Blues and Thursday morning they played the theme to The Godfather. This morning it was a rousing rendition of Hello, Dolly.
  
• Cosi's new whole wheat bread. Makes me feel a little less guilty for indulging in the Wasabi Roast Beef sandwich that I love SO MUCH.
  
• H&M generally. Despite their sizes running small, I still manage to find a couple of cute things every time I go. The entire store is inspiration for losing weight because I want to buy it all. I stand agog, surrounded by cuteness at fabulous prices. The purchase I could not justify today was the $80 mod navy-colored coat with the big buttons. I already have a winter coat, but I looked adorable in it. Trust me.

Apple Picking and Waterfire

We went apple picking a couple of weekends ago because, you know, it's Fall and that's what you do.

After trekking through the sadly overpicked orchard for awhile, we finally found the apples. Hurrah!

Last Saturday night we went to the last Waterfire of the season down in Providence. I had been hearing about how cool Waterfire was and how we needed to go. Frankly, I didn't expect a whole lot. I mean, it is something put on a by a city, how artsy and cool could it be? I sort of expected gas lines to come out of the river and light up and we were supposed to ooo and aah and that was it.

It was so much better than that. The fires were actually wood-burning fires in big bowls arranged in a long trail snaking down the river. It smelled heavenly, like a hundred campfires, and the heat coming off of the fires felt lovely since the night was nice and chilly. The played kind of ethereal music, with an Eastern European/Middle Eastern flavor that gave such a nice mood to everything.* Boats filled with wood** moved back and forth along the river, refilling the fires when they got low. A Pagliacci look-alike coasted along on a boat, handing out roses to people down by the water. Down at the end of the path were two people performing tricks with fire. Gondolas and water taxis coasted down the river among the fires, but we just walked along the path down near the water, soaking in the warmth of the fires. Under one bridge they had placed gas chandeliers to light the way.

Plus, the sponsor of the whole affair handed out free kettle corn, and several carnival food stands were set up on one of the bridges. We got some fried dough. It didn't infringe on the whole mood, since the food was on a bridge above the main path, but it did teach us that eating ahead of time isn't really necessary.

If you are ever in Providence on a night when Waterfire is on, I highly recommend it.

***

* Happily, the program I picked up at the end of the evening detailed all the music they played.

** Next year I totally want to volunteer to work on a wood boat.

*** Jason doesn't like to smile in pictures, because he's all anti-establishment like that. Usually I have to take two pictures of us. One where he looks all bored and blase, and one where I say, "OK now smile this time." I'm posting this one to point out how cute Brandon, Sarah and I look, while he looks really bored, even though I know he was having a fantastic time too. I'm just saying.

The Joys of the Season

My dilemma today is whether to wax poetic on soup, or give you another ghost story. How about both?

First off, the soup. I heart soup in a big, big way. One thing I do not like about summer (in addition to the sweatiness) is that I can't justify eating soup. I'm already hot and sweaty and don't really want to move all that much. I know, I'll pour some hot liquid into my stomach! Um, no.

However, Fall sets in and I revel in the soups and stews and chilis and chowders. It's all wonderful. I try to temper the cream-based, fatty nature of it a little by buying the Healthy Choice varieties or by going to Souper Salad, which has surprisingly low calorie soups. But sometimes I've got to indulge. I just have to say that Au Bon Pain's Harvest Pumpkin soup is Heaven in a little paper bowl.

Now it's story time.

My second year of college my friend Jenn and I moved into Our First Apartment(TM). It was a tiny complex of four apartments behind the Happiness is Submission to God house. If you're familiar with the University of Arizona area at all, you know exactly what I'm talking about, and you know how thrilled we were to be living at this landmark, parking in its parking lot. I'm not being sarcastic here. Thrilled!

On our first night there, the neighbors and all of their friends came over to welcome us. Turns out they were a group of people from Nogales who had all at one time or another lived in our particular apartment, which they informed us was "the haunted one."

They told us a sad story of how someone had been murdered in the parking lot for religious reasons and that since then, our apartment was haunted. They had stories of seeing dark mists in the bedrooms, and of the sliding glass door being broken during a thunderstorm and the glass arranging itself oddly in the house.

We thought that they were just trying to scare the new kids and didn't really take them seriously, although it was kind of fun to have a ghost story associated with our place. Every time something went missing or something strange happened we blamed the ghost.

One day I was putting my contacts in and dropped one. I looked all over the bathroom and got down on my hands and knees with a flashlight. It was nowhere. So I ordered another one from my eye doctor.

About a week later I got a call saying the contact was in. I mentioned it to Jenn who said, "You never found it?" I told her no and she suggested maybe the ghost took it. I said that must be in and then said, "OK, Ghost, can I please have my contact back?"

A couple of minutes later I walked into the bathroom and there on the countertop was my contact. I called Jenn in and pointed to it. She said, "Is that your contact?" I said yes. Then I said, "I guess we shouldn't make fun of the ghost anymore, huh?"

We didn't really have any more experiences (although, Jenn, if I'm forgetting something, please let me know), but that one was enough to make me think maybe those Nogales kids weren't just kidding around.

Spoooooky

This story isn't actually mine, but some co-workers and I were discussing the whole ghost thing a few days ago and his story came out. Basically, there is a little girl who keeps showing up in his apartment. He admits that he has seen her generally when he's tired and about ready to go to bed, but he's still awake. There was also one instance in the middle of the day when he caught her out of the corner of his eye. He usually sees her out of the corner of his eye, but he says she is definitely there. She looks to be about 10 years old, and he says he feels like she watches him until he notices her and then she disappears.

Ghosties and Ghoulies and Long-Legged Creepies and Things That Go Bump in the Night

In honor of the spooky season, and the rainy, dreary day today, I'm going to post some of my ghost stories for your enjoyment. Please feel free to join in. If you'd rather not post in the comments, email me your stories at frazzled.kelly@gmail.com, and I'll post them (anonymously, if you like).

I am a big fan of ghost stories. The kind of stories that make your flesh crawl and wonder if anyone is looking over your shoulder. I love movies like The Sixth Sense, The Others, and Poltergeist. In my youth I devoured tales of ghosts from the library. Between the ghost books and my interest in Greek mythology, my reputation as that weird, geeky girl was obviously well-deserved.

Throughout my life I have had various experiences of ghostliness. I suppose you could argue that my penchant for ghost stories affected my dreams and produced these "ghosts." Or, maybe my experiences inspired my desire to learn more about ghostly tales. Some of my experiences can be explained away by the fact that they were in the middle of the night, right after I woke up, but some of them I have no explanation for.

So here we go.

**********************************

I had several unexplained occurrences in the house I grew up in. After telling my mom about a couple of them, she told me about her own experience.

Right after we bought the house, my mom went over to clean before we moved in. She knew from the realtor that an elderly woman named Ella McGuire had bought the house when it was built and had lived there with her husband. The husband passed away, and a few years later, Ella followed. Then my parents bought the house.

While she cleaned, my mom kept feeling like someone was watching her, following her as she went through the house. Finally she stopped and said out loud, "Ella, don't worry. We'll take care of your house." She said the feeling went away and she never again felt a presence in the house.

I, however, used to hear things. Mostly footsteps. One time when I was alone in the house, practicing the piano downstairs, I heard footsteps above me. I stopped playing and a couple of seconds later, the footsteps stopped. I sat there for a moment, wondering what to do, listening for noise upstairs, and when I didn't hear anything else, I started playing again. The footsteps started up again. I stopped playing and a few seconds later the footsteps stopped. I stared up the staircase, wondering if someone was going to come down.

I thought someone had gotten into the house so I went to the back door, thinking if someone came down the stairs I could run to the neighbor's house. I probably stood there for about 15 minutes and didn't hear anything else upstairs. Eventually, I did the exact wrong thing and actually went upstairs to check things out. I opened all the closets and looked behind shower curtains. Nothing. The windows were all closed and I was still the only one in the house.

My most vivid experience in that house occurred on a bright sunny day while I lay on my bed reading a book, my cat lying next to me. Suddenly I heard footsteps charging up the stairs. I thought maybe it was one of my friends who had come over, but when the steps reached the top of the stairs, they ran down the hall to my doorway. My door was open and there was no one there. My cat had jumped from her sleeping position and was now staring fixedly at the doorway. I sat, frozen. Just as suddenly as they had come up the stairs, the footsteps retreated, running down the stairs and slamming the front door.

I sat on my bed for a few minutes, not really knowing what had just happened. Eventually, I went downstairs where my parents were sitting in the family room watching TV, on the opposite side of the house from the staircase. I asked them, feeling ridiculous, if maybe one of them had just run up the stairs and then run down the stairs and slammed the door. They looked at me like I was crazy and shook their heads. So I told them what I had heard. They believed me, but of course had no explanation either.

Copping Out

I'm going to a Halloween party next week and I have NO IDEA what to dress up as. I think I prefer theme parties, since then you have parameters - even if I tend to be really unimaginative within those parameters. The thing that bugs me is that I have thought of at least 3 Halloween costumes during the course of this year and each time I told myself to remember them because I knew once Halloween rolled around and I possibly had a party to go to and was put on the spot I'd be unable to think of anything. Do I remember those ideas? Did I write any of them down? Of course not.

So anyone have any costume ideas? I need something kind of simple since shopping time and money are limited.

I suppose I could always go as a beatnik like I did a couple of years ago. I have a beret and funky blue-purple glasses with black frames. But I kind of want something original. Oh yeah, I would also like to be pretty if that's possible at all. My favorite costume ever was the Southern belle get-up freshman year of high school. I may have been all snaggletoothed (pre-braces, after all), but I sure looked elegant.

Clumsiness Personified

There's a rumor going around that I am a klutz. Actually this kind of surprised me since I never really thought of myself that way. I mean, it's not like I thought I was the Queen of Grace or something, but I didn't think "clumsy" described me. Then several years ago my parents made some comment in front of me and the guy I was dating about me being clumsy. I was going to object vehemently when I noticed the guy nodding in agreement.

"Really? You think I'm clumsy?" I asked him, aghast.

He looked a little sheepish then. "Well, yeah, kind of."

As if to emphasize his point, a couple of nights later I missed a step coming out of my apartment building and almost fell right on my face. This was my building, mind you, and I had been up and down those steps at least 572 times by that point.

When telling tales of scars and broken bones with friends, I somehow seem to have racked up an inordinate amount of injuries. Historically, I have a high tolerance for pain so I often can't really tell how badly I've hurt myself. Over the years I've learned that if I feel like I'm going to throw up, I've probably broken something. The pain really isn't an indicator to me.

I have broken my collarbone twice. Fractured my right arm ice skating. Sprained my ankle jumping on a trampoline. Ripped off my big toenail by kicking a stone step. Bent my tailbone. Fractured my right sacrum (bone in the lower back). Broke a bone in my wrist that I didn't realize I had broken until a couple of years ago when I noticed that the bones in my two wrists were positioned differently (After comparing my wrists with those of my friends, I realized my left one is messed up and I think I know when I did it, but I can't be sure). Except for the time I broke my collarbone when I was 4 and ripping off my toenail, I never had any idea how badly I'd hurt myself until several days, or even years, later. This includes when I broke my collarbone as a baby. My mom said I was fussy for a few days, but it wasn't until she picked me up and heard something click that she realized something was wrong.

My latest injury is a sprained ankle. It's not a bad sprain, but it is sore and it swelled up nicely. I did it walking down the street. A co-worker told me I need to come up with a better story. In my defense, I would just like to state that the sidewalks in Boston are a menace. There are cracks and fissures all over.

On Monday morning on the way to work my left foot hit an uneven spot in the sidewalk, my ankle turned, and I did this marvelous move of stumbling, dropping to my right knee, and then popping right back up. The lady walking behind me asked if I was okay and I said yes, and explained that my ankle had turned. She tsked and said, "That sidewalk is bad!" See! Validation!

Since I just sit at work, I didn't really know how bad it was until I walked the mile home and then drove my manual transmission car down to Providence that night. By the time I got to Jason's, I had a nice knot on my ankle. Over the past few days I have iced and heated my ankle and wrapped it in an ace bandage to hold it still.

Despite my attempts to be graceful and aware of my surroundings, I am still the pinnacle of clumsiness. Pity me.

Needing Some Good Karma Coming My Way

I interviewed this morning and I think it went really well, but, as they themselves told me, they got a HUGE response from their posting. I should find out within the next couple of weeks if I got a second interview or not. After meeting with them, I do still really, really, really want the job so I've got my fingers and my toes crossed.

Both of the people I met with were personable and the office sounds like a good environment. Small, collaborative.

Good signs:
- There were several instances of casual jokes and laughter.
- When I answered their questions there was a lot of smiling and nodding in agreement. For instance, they asked why I want to work in health care. I gave my touchy-feely answer, which also happens to be the true answer, and it seemed to be what they wanted to hear. I see it as a good sign when my answer seems to directly correlate to what their own answers would probably be based on their follow-up comments.

So to sum up, stiff competition, but I think it went well.

Needing Some Good Karma Coming My Way

I interviewed this morning and I think it went really well, but, as they themselves told me, they got a HUGE response from their posting. I should find out within the next couple of weeks if I got a second interview or not. After meeting with them, I do still really, really, really want the job so I've got my fingers and my toes crossed.

Both of the people I met with were personable and the office sounds like a good environment. Small, collaborative.

Good signs:
- There were several instances of casual jokes and laughter.
- When I answered their questions there was a lot of smiling and nodding in agreement. For instance, they asked why I want to work in health care. I gave my touchy-feely answer, which also happens to be the true answer, and it seemed to be what they wanted to hear. I see it as a good sign when my answer seems to directly correlate to what their own answers would probably be based on their follow-up comments.

So to sum up, stiff competition, but I think it went well.

True Love

While putting together my "Party Party" mix Saturday night, Jason started playing a song for me. Upon hearing the first couple of notes I recognized it as Richard Marx's Right Here Waiting.
Me: I loved this song in 7th grade.*

Jason: I could play this on the piano back then.**

Me: Oh my gosh, I would have SO been your girlfriend.

Jason: I might still be able to play it, actually...


* Because I was super cool like that.
** Jason was super cool too.

Can't Think of A Catchy Subject Line

For the 15 or so of you who still read my blog, Hi there.

I know I am sporadic and unreliable, and when I actually do write, I'm kind of boring. But here's the scoop. First, for the past 2 weeks I've been reading background materials on the case for my temp job in a place where the only computers we had access to were located in a workroom with paralegals buzzing around. Now we're at the work site and I am one of the fortunate ones who actually has a computer, but, alas, no login to the system yet. So we're still reading the case materials. One thing I don't like is my computer faces out to the room at large so everyone and their brother can see what I'm doing. So now I have to have a work ethic and junk.

Second, I am STILL not completely moved in and I'm finding this frustrating. I have 3 boxes to deal with, a load of stuff to take to Salvation Army, and a stack of papers to sift through, ideally before one of the bills in the stack becomes due.

Third, one of the reasons I am still not moved in is because I've been having birthday festivities and occasional drives down to Providence to see my man. It's really not that big a deal, and way easier than the whole Boston to DC and DC to Boston thing was, but it still takes an hour each way for us to hang out.

Fourth, I have an interview and am all a-flutter and calling in all my contacts to get advice. I really, really, really want this job. I made it through the HR screening and have an in-person interview tomorrow morning. Then there's a second round. Did I mention I really want this job? I was kind of reticent to post about the interview here because if I don't get the job then I have to announce that too and I'm tired of doing that, but I figure I can use all the good vibes and good wishes I can get. So please send some good feelings in my direction tomorrow around 9:30 AM.

And that's that. My birthday party was Saturday night and it was fun. Low key, but fun. Or maybe it's low key and fun. Or low key, thus fun. I guess it depends on your perspective.

I have also decided that I'm going to start leaving progressively more hateful notes on the cars of my neighbors who can't seem to figure out A) how to parallel park, and B) that they are not the only people who live in this neighborhood and park on the street. I came home last night at about 12:30 and drove around and around becoming more and more irritated as I counted at least 20 cars taking up 2 parking spaces. I think my favorite was the van parked in an area that has been known to accomodate 3 cars.

Pictures (ie Jason Has A Memory Card Reader)

We ate lunch here.

Seafood pizza with scallops, shrimp and crab, conch fritters and sweet potato fries. Yum!

Jason got a gumball.

Big house at the beginning of the cliff walk. Or the end of the cliff walk, depending on where you start.

View from the path.

Big house.

The Breakers. Some people had too much money.

Mossy rocks

Fisherman


Happy Birthday to me!

Missing Stuff

So I had a really excellent birthday (and it's not over yet), and I have pictures to show you all, but I can't get at them because some things seem to have disappeared in my move. Of note are my packing tape dispenser, my memory card reader, and the cord that connects my camera to my computer. The packing tape isn't really important to this post, but both the reader and the cord are integral to the whole transferring pictures to my computer process. Darn it!

Well, to sum up, the past couple of days have been wonderful! Jason has been so sweet to me. On Monday afternoon we drove down to Newport, Rhode Island where he took me out to dunch (it was 3 PM or so) and then for a walk on the cliff path. It was an amazingly beautiful day and we saw some awesome houses.

I took yesterday off of work and spent a couple of hours roaming around Target, buying presents for my 3 friends who are having babies soon. You know what? Despite my cooing over the adorable clothes and accessories, I actually felt really glad that I myself am not having a baby. Mostly because, well, do you have any idea how much paraphenalia babies need? A lot. And they keep growing and eating and pooping so you have to replace a lot of the paraphenalia on a regular basis. It's kind of exhausting just thinking about it. But I'll be a happy pretend Auntie to my friends' babies any day.

Jason came over in the early evening, having left work early to come hang out with me. He brought me a few little presents: a mum plant, an oregano plant (mmm, herbs!), a pretty candle holder with leaves and a little bird. Then he took me out to dinner at Oleana, which you need to go to if you're near Cambridge. I had lamb steak and fava bean moussaka, and Jason had salmon with an autumn vegetable tabbouleh. It was all divine.

Even though it was chilly, they had heaters set up outside which kept the lovely garden area nice and toasty. There were dahlias blooming in the garden and a little bit after we arrived two musicians came and started playing Mediterranean music on an instrument that looked like a big lute (I don't know what it's called) and a drum. Then a couple showed up with their little girl who announced that they were playing music so that she could dance. Well, of course.

After dinner Jason and I went to go see Little Miss Sunshine, which was great. Funny, sad, heartwarming. Excellent. We capped off the evening with ice cream cake back at my apartment with my roommates.

I also got some great cards and presents from family and friends. I think my favorite was the Jane Austen action figure from my Aunt Vickie. Complete with writing desk and quill pen! Rock. On.

This Saturday night is my birthday party, and then next Saturday my friend Liz and I are going out for lunch or dinner since her birthday was on the 7th. I love stretching out the celebration.

30

That's right. I'm all grown up now.

This and That

My ipod is broken. Friday at work it suddenly quit in the middle of a song. I tried resetting it and it just showed me a little picture of a folder with an exclamation point. So I plugged it in today and itunes attempted to restore it, then told me it couldn't be restored. Crap. I guess it's off to the Apple store I go on Tuesday to see if they have any advice. I'd hate to think that it's dead after only a little less than 2 years. Hopefully I can get it fixed quickly since reading the background materials on the case at work is unbearable in absolute silence.

So I've been a working girl again since Tuesday. Not that I really had a break, but this is a new job in a new city. I am so glad that I got work right away, as it makes life more comfortable and I don't fee guilty for buying frivolous things like food. For the first two weeks at my new job we're just reading the background materials of the case. Some of it is mildly interesting, some of it is just really, really not. The good thing is, since we're only reading we were allowed to bring home materials to make up some hours at home for Columbus Day.

There are 6 of us sittng in a conference room reading all day. After the first day, we all pretty much determined that frequent chatting breaks were both useful and necessary to preserve our sanity as much as possible. It's amazing what you can find out about people after 4 days together in a small room. I'm working with some interesting folks, who all seem to be doing other things on the side. One guy is a musician/lawyer/former pastry chef. One guy is searching for a job in health care just like me. Rather than focus on our inherent competition, we've decided to swap emails and keep each other abreast on leads. The other woman in the room is doing a pro bono divorce for a family friend that has escalated way beyond what she ever imagined and has her rethinking that whole "pro bono" idea.

I did bring some work home this weekend, and planned on doing about 4 hours today, but instead I got caught up in unpacking. I thought I would unpack some and then read, but I just couldn't stop with the unpacking and the tidying and the hanging things on walls. I still have some piles around my room, but the majority of the boxes are gone and I actually have a floor. Plus I have 3 boxes of stuff for Salvation Army and 5 full trash bags downstairs in the trash cans. I also have a new clothing policy: if I buy something new, I have to get rid of something. I bought 4 sweaters at Macy's on Tuesday and I managed to find 4 shirts to get rid of today.

Tomorrow I'm cooking chicken and dumplings because it's Fall and chilly. Or at least it has been for the last couple of days, I have loved wearing socks and snuggling down in my bed, which is The Most Comfortable Bed in the World thanks to 400 thread count sheets, a microsuede duvet and a lovely memory foam on top of the mattress. Plus, the bed has risers so every time I get in it, I kind of have to hop up because it's so high. I'd like a little set of steps to walk up to my bed, which would greatly appeal to my Victorian sensibilities.

I still have time to finish my homework since I am actually taking a four-day weekend. Monday is Columbus Day and the firm is closed, but Tuesday is my birthday and I took the day off just because I could. I will work a little, but I intend to laze about a bit too. I wanted a chocolate raspberry ice cream cake, but no one has chocolate raspberry ice cream right now. Sadness. So I settled for cookies and cream, which I honestly like a lot, but it's not quite chocolate raspberry, is it? And I'm having a party on Saturday. If you know me in real life, and didn't get the evite, email me. I want everyone to come and adore me. Well, and enjoy the tasty treats. I think I may mull some cider for the occasion.

Things I'm Learning

In case you were wondering, I made it to Boston. I just have to say that driving my little car up in wonderful, beautiful sunshine and skipping New York City altogether because I can take the Garden State Parkway in a car is much preferable to driving up in a moving truck underneath a neverending storm cloud. Other than the entire state of Delaware being under construction and the resulting traffic jams, the drive up was great. Now I'm trying to get all of my stuff unpacked. Tomorrow I'll be hitting IKEA for a new dresser and bookshelf.

It does feel kind of weird to be back. Almost like I never left. Like that year in DC was just a little blip in my Boston existence. Friday night I hung out with Jason and then he went home and I stayed at my apartment and it reminded me what it's like to live in the same city as your boyfriend. It also reminded me that it kind of sucks to have to say good night.

Last night I went to a Finnish sauna with some friends (because I now have a life again). Very low-tech and utilitarian, but nice. You sit in the hot, HOT (216 degrees) room and bake and sweat and then you go jump in the cold lake. A Massachusetts lake in late September is obviously not as extreme as a hole cut in the ice somewhere in Finland, but it was cold enough for me.

The only bad part was when our friend Christy tripped in this big hole behind the parking space and sprained her ankle. As an attorney, I suppose I could advise her to sue, but, I don't know, it's just not very neighborly. Everyone there was so nice and helpful and there seemed to be a real community around the sauna experience. One woman brought tubs of scrubs and cocoa butter and loofahs to share, as well as some eucalyptus oil, which we mixed in the water that we threw over the rocks.

I need to get used to the idea that I can see Jason on a regular basis. Today I came down to Providence and he had forgotten that he had to be somewhere in Boston at 3:30. So we only had a couple of hours together, during part of which he was working on a fellowship application. I felt kind of ticked when he told me he'd have to come back up to Boston so soon because I thought we'd have the whole day together, but then I realized that this isn't just my weekend visit time like before. I can actually see him probably tomorrow and Tuesday if I want. Sometimes our time won't be planned perfectly, but that's alright because now there's always more around the corner. It's a nice realization