Monthly Archives: October 2005

I had a fantastic last night in Baltimore with old friends Hannah and Edith and new friends Stephen, Sidjay and Kartec at the Son Volt/Fruit Bats concert. We danced and talked until nearly 2 AM.

It was a little sad to leave Baltimore yesterday because I had become so attached to the neighborhood, Hampden, where I was living and met such nice people on a daily basis. I pulled into Chapel Hill around 6:30 PM last night, after a 6 hour drive. My iTunes and headphones kept me happy and singing the whole way.

It is great to be here, and especially wonderful to see my sweetie Clinton. I have been waiting nearly six months to live near him again! As soon as I arrived, we went out to eat in Carrboro, a nearby town (5 minutes from here) where all the really hip people live. (We want to live there someday, by the way.) We had quesadillas and burritos at “Carrburritos” which is also where the hipsters eat. These people are of the type who wear thermal vests and hiking shoes, carry their kids in those child backpacks, walk dogs while holding big insulated mugs of coffee, recycle on a regular basis, play board games, shop at the co-op, go to yoga class and frequent the public library. These are the type who want to leave the world a better place than when they found it, in more ways than one. How wonderful it is for me to live in a place where people have the same world view as me!

Our house on Barclay road is really great. Clinton did a good job picking it out. It’s on a wide, very quiet street, with lots and lots of pine trees. It’s also very near the famous Franklin St. where all the cool stuff in Chapel Hill can be found, like cafes, restaurants and bookstores.

This morning I got in my car and drove around aimlessly (on purpose) for a while to explore and see what there was to see. I got very hungry, so I stopped in at the local Whole Foods to get some pita, hummus and corn chowder, and I met some very nice people, right there in the grocery store! It probably didn’t hurt that I was wearing a very big smile and have been since I got here. One older teacher man named Burley gave me the biggest, nicest Chapel Hill welcome I could imagine and told me that he hopes to run into Clinton and me around in the neighborhood. I think I will be very happy here.

No, not those kind of cold feet! I am getting very excited and happy thinking about the upcoming wedding.

It’s really my feet. My feet (and hands and nose) are literally almost always cold.

My mom tells me to put on extra thick socks or layers of socks. It doesn’t seem to help. According to an Australian snow expert, “Warm feet are the result of good blood flow in the foot and not the insulation rating of your socks.”

So is it a circulation problem? I’ve tried hot showers, electric blankets, brisk walks and foot massage, to no avail. I’ve even rubbed icy hot and Tiger Balm on my tootsies. According to foot doctors, “a number of medical conditions can cause cold feet, such as multiple sclerosis, heart disease, peripheral neuropathy and Raynauds disease.” (Whatever those last two are, I’m not sure, but I really don’t think I have any of those things.)

Today I went out and bought a tiny $19 made-in-Taiwan space heater at the local hardware store, plugged it in and aimed it at my feet. (Which are currently in extra thick fuzzy green socks from Target.)

It doesn’t help that my blood is ‘thin’ from living in hot and humid places for the past 3 years. Any outdoor temperature less than 72 degrees is cold to me. In Baltimore right now it’s 54! Brrrrrrr! It also doesn’t help that I’m staying in a huge, cold house all by myself and don’t know how to turn the heat on. Last night I slept in 2 sweaters, a sweatshirt, jeans and a scarf.

I imagine that one of the best parts of getting married will be getting to put my cold feet on someone else’s leg.

Since the first day I received my license, I’ve driven at or just under the speed limit. Perhaps I feel it is in some way my civic duty to set an example – to demonstrate good driving behavior for others. I have never been pulled over for speeding and ne’er a ticket on my record can be found. Yet I am punished on a daily basis simply for following the law. When did heeding traffic rules become a crime (and breaking them the norm)?

Ahh, the angry Chevys revving their engines at me at every stop sign (I come to a complete stop and wait a full and deliciously slow “one one thousand” count to make a point of it) and the shiny SUVs snarling in my rearview mirror on every roadway. Driving the speed limit has become my own private form of rebellion, the kind where by actually OBEYING the law I am the maverick. No, no! I will never conform!
I especially like to pretend I am batty and oblivious, driving 24-25 miles per hour in the 25 MPH zone. In all honesty, I relish it exquisitely. Kiss my fanny, Escalade.

In case you need to come up with some cheap shots on the double, check out this fun random insult generator.

On Saturday I ran 7 miles (10 kilometers) in the Baltimore Marathon. Together our relay team of four ran the whole 40 km!! It was a very sunny day and thousands of people were cheering us on. It was exciting to wear the microchip ankle bracelet and hand it off to my teammate at the exchange point. We saw a runner dressed like Elvis and one lady in a bat costume. At the end we each received a really nice medal and got to drink Michelob Ultra, complete with crab coozie. We didn’t win the race, of course. The Ukrainians and Kenyans got all the big prizes.

Yesterday it was another beautiful blue-skied day. I went hiking for a few hours with “˜my people’ – the couple I live with – and their dog China, in Patapsco Valley State Park, which is about 30 minutes south of Baltimore. We walked along the Patapsco River, crossed a swinging cable bridge and visited a pretty waterfall.

Lastnight I saw Old Crow Medicine Show, a Nashville-based band of five very talented young men who play old-timey alternative revivalist bluegrass country music on banjo, upright bass, guitar, fiddle and harmonica. I recommend them to anyone! Your toe will be tapping, and the lyrics will make you laugh out loud. I had no control over the whoops and yee-haws that were coming out of me the whole evening.

Today I worked hard on my term paper for my Couples and Reproductive Health course. It’s about the reproductive health needs of HIV sero-discordant couples. I also did 1 1/2 hours of hardcore yoga.

Finals are one week from tomorrow!

I haven’t posted in a long time, because I’m busy writing my masterpiece, my manifesto.

But I have also been:

-Watching movies: saw Zorro last night (so funny!)
-Doing homework
-Applying for jobs in North Carolina
-Shopping: finally bought comfortable shoes that are not running shoes or flipflops!
-Dog-sitting for “my people”, the couple with whom I live. They go out of town a lot.
-Philosophizing
-Running 3-4xs around the lake at Druid Hill Park: training for Saturday’s marathon!

Crystal’s top ten favorite foods, as of today:
1) The Hamburger. Everything on it!
2) Thai food!
3) The Shrimp Po-Boy with Louisiana’s Crystal brand hot sauce
4) $4.00 gyro from Greek man’s cart at corner of Wolfe and Monument in downtown Baltimore
5) Indian food!
6) Grilled fish from Gabon, with piment.
7) Vietnamese noodle soup (“Pho”).
8) “Triple Delight” from Asian Taste Chinese restaurant in Hampden (Baltimore, MD)
9) Sausage of any kind: polish, kielbasa, Italian, bratwurst, all-beef frank, mystery meat hotdog, smoked, summer, salami, etc. Lots of mustard, onions and sauerkraut.
10) Sushi

Okay, ya’ll have to read this one at the Daily Kos. “Strong Families. Strong Communities. Strong Nation.” It fills my heart with love and my eyes with tears.

Friday, September 30th, the day Crystal was born!
Ahhh, to be 28 years old and in the prime of my life. I started my birthday by jogging in my new little neighborhood, called Hampden. It’s right next to Johns Hopkins University’s main campus as well as a few parks, so it’s perfect for jogging. My jog started out nice but it didn’t last long, because I had (have had) so much stress and tension in my shoulder muscles and neck, and the sun was hurting my head so badly (you know that really sensitive part right behind your eyes?) that I felt super nauseous and needed to hold onto a lamppost to avoid falling over. My head was throbbing. I really need to go to yoga class again soon and find some seriously large amounts of inner peace.

Later in historic Fells Point district of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, I met my Dad’s friend Jimmy (another displaced New Orleans-ian) for Chinese food. My Dad must have called him in advance, because he showed up with a big bouquet of birthday flowers. We ate egg rolls and commiserated about how sad it is to be living in a strange town without your family and depending on strangers all the time. He told me that if I go to register with the local Red Cross, I can get food stamps and a doctor exam. I’ve gotta put that one on my list!

That night, some wonderful old Peace Corps friends (Hannah and Edith) took me out to dinner at Holy Frijoles, a Mexican restaurant and bar near my new place in Hampden. It was fantastic! We were planning to go dancing afterward but had so much fun talking that we just moved to another bar — Dizzy Issie’s – afterward.

Saturday, October 1
Yesterday I woke up at 5:30 AM to meet Carly so we could make our way downtown and walk in the Race for the Cure. We were part of a team organized by the school where she teaches, called St. Paul’s School for Girls. One of the teachers has an 8-year-old son named Antonio. He is the cutest little boy (with curly black hair and long eyelashes) and one of the smartest and most charming I have ever met. As soon as he figured out that I like Starship Troopers and playing video games, we became best friends. He kept asking his mom if I could come over and help him with his Lego project. Our team walked 5K in a little over an hour – a VERY leisurely pace! It was a beautiful day.

That night, Carly took me out to a really awesome seafood restaurant that was, yes, actually called The Crackpot. We ate half a pound of shrimp and six crabs, Maryland style. I was a novice, so I ended up covered in flecks of crab and Old Bay seasoning. We drank “Natty Bo” from cans and a pitcher of Yuengling. Afterward, we polished off a Chocolate Oreo Bash and a piece of Cherry Pie a al Mode! Can you say blissful stomachache?

Last night I could barely sleep because my roommates Wendy and Keith were out of town, and I was terrified of being alone in the creaky old house. Me afraid, can you imagine?? They had taken the dog with them on their trip to Pennsylvania, so I was really, truly alone in their huge house.

They had also showed me how to use their fancy security system. Now, that SHOULD have made me feel better, but it actually made me more afraid: the gosh-darned security system TALKS TO YOU. Yes, I’m totally serious. You can push the “Arm” button, and it will say, in a very ominous voice, “Doors and Windows: Secure”. Yikes. If you turn on the motion sensor feature (motion sensors are all over the house), it will tell you “Warning. You are not authorized. You must leave now” or something like that. It reminds me of those horror movies where the security system actually works against you – you know, the ones that TRAP YOU INSIDE THE HOUSE WITH THE KILLER. I began to hear all kinds of odd noises coming from the 1st and 2nd floors. I didn’t sleep until I was finally so exhausted that I could no longer grip my pillow in fear.

Today
This morning I did my grocery shopping (Baltimore has a Trader Joe’s!!) and got some gas. Gas costs $3.11 here. (Down from $3.58 a couple weeks ago.) Then Carly and I went to see a matinee of Serenity, the new sci-fi movie. The movie is about a group of heroic space travelers who outsmart their corrupt galactic government (the Alliance) to uncover the secret of the “Reevers”, which are scary evil monsters that attack you out of rage and then EAT YOUR FACE. Thank goodness my roommates and the dog are back from Pennsylvania! There is no way I’d sleep tonight. Reevers would surely know how to outsmart a security system.