soundtrak: nina simone: don't let me be misunderstood
philly last weekend was just what i needed; to get away from my overbooked schedule. friday, i took the metro to union station and caught the 7.10 boston train. of course, being my first time on a train, i almost get left at delaware, but end up losing my seat instead and standing between cars for the 30+ min left to get to the philadelphia station.
it was already dark by the time the train stopped and i got off. struggling, i walked up to main hall and i heard someone scream my name. SM was much thinner from when i last saw her, but alot can happen in four years. SM's partner, may, also came along to the station to pick me up. SM only mentioned her in passing, saying that she had met someone new. leaving the station, we went to chinatown to eat. the absolute joy of my whole trip was the fact that SM is vegetarian too, so she took me to all these great places to eat, including the chinese place we went to that night. everything was vegetarian. it was like vegetarian heaven. i ended up getting the general tao's 'chicken', which was very good. we caught up a bit and SM told me the story of how she met may and how alot of her friends weren't too happy about the pairing. but she's very happy with may and i'm happy that they're both happy. after dinner, we had coffee/hot chocolate at cosi's. i got a chance to talk to may and find out more about her. she's from the city (SM's originally from nj) and a recent grad school graduate. i'm very impressed. getting tired, we decided to call it a night and we went to SM's house (she has a house!) in west philly. i got to sleep in the studio.
the next day, we just went walking around. first, we went to fabric row, where we looked for curtains for SM, but i ended up getting headwrap material for myself.
after that, we mostly just walked around, may pointing out places to me.
i never really got the chance to look around when i was working here four summers ago, mostly because our roommates enjoyed drinking and partying more.
(jeweler's row)
we ended up sitting at home, playing cranium (that's the game right there... must bring it to the masses in maryland) and watching a movie on hellen keller on cbs. we are all admitted homebodies.
sunday, may had to go with her mother, so i said my goodbyes to her. SM and i decided that we would go to the A.N.S. to see the exhibit on chocolate before going back to the station. staying inside seems to be a good idea because of the heavy rains that started that morning. we ended up getting wet, but we enjoyed ourselves at the chocolate exhibit. at the end, the had a chocolate shop selling chocolate from all around the world. my head was spinning and my cavities were aching as we poured over all the choices. we ended up spending $40 each on chocolate. i have yet to touch any of it.
knowing that we wouldn't have time to do anything else, we just roamed around the city and i took random pictures (you know how i do..)
(near A.N.S.)
(university hospital)
(market street)
(penns landing)
(various)
(chinatown)
we ended up at the station, waiting for the 4.00 train back to DC. the train ride back was not what i was expecting. not only was the train late, it was standing room only (and i ended up standing the rest of the way back). then to make everything worse, the car that i had chosen to board was leaking rainwater. the conductor insisted that the car wasn't leaking and we would probably get seats after stopping at baltimore. yeah right. despite all of that, when the train finally rolled into union station, the conductor announced, 'thank you for riding amtrak and continuing to exericise patience with the seating avaliability.... because patience is the beauty of joy...' most of the train laughed tired laughs. walking through the station, the strap on my travel bag decided to break and i had to lug the damn thing through the station to get to the metro. i don't know why i always pack more clothes that i'll ever need.
but all in all, i had a great time. unfortunately, SM and i are too busy to make it an extended stay. maybe next time.
i look forward to this week. experiments from last week went well, so i'll be analyzing all of my data this week. nic is in DC for a conference this week, so hopefully i'll get to meet up with her and give her some really good news. now: i need to get some sleep.
peace.
philly last weekend was just what i needed; to get away from my overbooked schedule. friday, i took the metro to union station and caught the 7.10 boston train. of course, being my first time on a train, i almost get left at delaware, but end up losing my seat instead and standing between cars for the 30+ min left to get to the philadelphia station.
it was already dark by the time the train stopped and i got off. struggling, i walked up to main hall and i heard someone scream my name. SM was much thinner from when i last saw her, but alot can happen in four years. SM's partner, may, also came along to the station to pick me up. SM only mentioned her in passing, saying that she had met someone new. leaving the station, we went to chinatown to eat. the absolute joy of my whole trip was the fact that SM is vegetarian too, so she took me to all these great places to eat, including the chinese place we went to that night. everything was vegetarian. it was like vegetarian heaven. i ended up getting the general tao's 'chicken', which was very good. we caught up a bit and SM told me the story of how she met may and how alot of her friends weren't too happy about the pairing. but she's very happy with may and i'm happy that they're both happy. after dinner, we had coffee/hot chocolate at cosi's. i got a chance to talk to may and find out more about her. she's from the city (SM's originally from nj) and a recent grad school graduate. i'm very impressed. getting tired, we decided to call it a night and we went to SM's house (she has a house!) in west philly. i got to sleep in the studio.
the next day, we just went walking around. first, we went to fabric row, where we looked for curtains for SM, but i ended up getting headwrap material for myself.
after that, we mostly just walked around, may pointing out places to me.
i never really got the chance to look around when i was working here four summers ago, mostly because our roommates enjoyed drinking and partying more.
(jeweler's row)
we ended up sitting at home, playing cranium (that's the game right there... must bring it to the masses in maryland) and watching a movie on hellen keller on cbs. we are all admitted homebodies.
sunday, may had to go with her mother, so i said my goodbyes to her. SM and i decided that we would go to the A.N.S. to see the exhibit on chocolate before going back to the station. staying inside seems to be a good idea because of the heavy rains that started that morning. we ended up getting wet, but we enjoyed ourselves at the chocolate exhibit. at the end, the had a chocolate shop selling chocolate from all around the world. my head was spinning and my cavities were aching as we poured over all the choices. we ended up spending $40 each on chocolate. i have yet to touch any of it.
knowing that we wouldn't have time to do anything else, we just roamed around the city and i took random pictures (you know how i do..)
(near A.N.S.)
(university hospital)
(market street)
(penns landing)
(various)
(chinatown)
we ended up at the station, waiting for the 4.00 train back to DC. the train ride back was not what i was expecting. not only was the train late, it was standing room only (and i ended up standing the rest of the way back). then to make everything worse, the car that i had chosen to board was leaking rainwater. the conductor insisted that the car wasn't leaking and we would probably get seats after stopping at baltimore. yeah right. despite all of that, when the train finally rolled into union station, the conductor announced, 'thank you for riding amtrak and continuing to exericise patience with the seating avaliability.... because patience is the beauty of joy...' most of the train laughed tired laughs. walking through the station, the strap on my travel bag decided to break and i had to lug the damn thing through the station to get to the metro. i don't know why i always pack more clothes that i'll ever need.
but all in all, i had a great time. unfortunately, SM and i are too busy to make it an extended stay. maybe next time.
i look forward to this week. experiments from last week went well, so i'll be analyzing all of my data this week. nic is in DC for a conference this week, so hopefully i'll get to meet up with her and give her some really good news. now: i need to get some sleep.
peace.
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