New England Summer Pt. 3

The 28th of July dawned bright and beautiful, and a sudden urge took me to take a long walk and enjoy the brilliant clarity of the air. Two hours later, I walked into lab, and worked for six hours. Feeling highly accomplished, I continued my day of action with a bike ride with my friend Sara, to the Worcester Public Water Supply Reservoirs, along the bike route that goes there from Park Ave. It was as if that route belonged to another dimension, separate and apart from Worcester. You could not tell you were in a city, and it is at times like those, my friends, that I am happiest. Wind in our faces, and green and sparkling silver and blue everywhere, we biked for two hours and more, and I felt I could have gone on forever. I got back to my house, and found my bathroom flooded, as something had gone wrong with the pipes. I felt like this was going to ruin my day, but as soon as I had done, as if she knew exactly when I needed it most, my friend Liz called me, and asked me if I wanted to go rock-climbing. So we took off, myself, my friend Aaron, and her, and she gave me my birthday present, a night at the rock-climbing gym, and more importantly, a new experience. It was fantastic. I climbed, and bouldered, beginner-level climbs really, but I managed them and that was great, for I'd never actually done anything quite like it before. We came back and celebrated our energy and vitality, and then I was off to see Cali and Miah and Colin, and we played a rail-road track building game that was suspiciously like Risk. That day was the fullest and most satisfying of the summer here, starting at 5am, and ending at 3am. Crazy, huh?

On the 31st and 1st, I was with my friend Dave on a 4 1/2 hour car ride to Portland, through torrents of rain, and throughout we shared music, and laughed continuously, enjoying people-watching (car-watching) and being watched. We got to my friend Joe's house in Portland, and saw Carly, one of my best friends, there. Portland was such a good city, it felt to me like a larger version of Brattleboro, green and wholesome, but also quite the city, bustling and full of life. Half the time we were there, we played with their dog, Hobbes, the sweetest and most loveable golden ever. The other half we spent at Crescent Beach. That place was gorgeous, right off of a forest/marshland, with a stream bisecting the beach and running into the ocean. The stream was blood-red with iron in the water, and as it came into the sea it sank underneath the lighter saltwater, and caught by currents, made lovely patterns of red in the blue canvas of the Atlantic. I collected many rocks and sea-shells, relapsing into an old hobby of mine. Really, I just like shiny things. We had a good dinner at a tavern nearby, and when we got back, we made a fire outside. Sitting there, with Hobbes next to us, drawn close to the fire outside our home (cave), was such a primeval pleasure.

Sunday the 2nd we came back, and my friend Becky had finally come back from her trip to Jordan and was visiting in Worcester. Kind and generous both she and Emily were, showering me with birthday presents. We went to a cafe like we have back home, a rarity in these parts; we sat outside and chatted and drank our tasty brews. The Bean Counter, I believe was its name, on Pleasant St. Then we went right across the street to Corner Grille, far and away the best pizza place in Worcester. We shared thoughts on books we'd read; those days I was reading the sayings of Confucius, and thinking about the Bhagavad-Gita, so it was both a pleasure and a need to share them, some of the oldest and yet most intelligent writings humans have ever achieved.

The next day, the 3rd, was Monday, which was 10 cent wings night at Peppercorn's. I'd never gone, but Liz and Aaron invited me, and I was delighted for another excuse to try something new. They were quite tasty. The 5th was Taco Night at Downing, we made really tasty ones, after going to Peppercorn's across the street for free drinks at the COPACE social. We went and sat out on the Dana quad on the grass, and brushed up on our French. I also got the chance to help Sara with photographing the full moon that night. It was an odd scene by any account, but if you did not know what was happening, it must have been so weird; there we were out on the sidewalk, with a tripod and a camera pointed at the moon and trees and houses, and us counting time for the exposure, at like 1am.

The 6th I had worked at the infodesk all day, and was quite tired and ready to go to bed, when I got a message from Emily saying that it was the 1st anniversary of the Abbey, and they had live music, a really funky, good, band, out on the patio of the Dive. I was like, ok, I guess I'll go have a drink and listen to a few songs and come back. And that's what they thought too. But no, we ended up staying and dancing until 1am, they were so good. Half of Clark was there that night, and the whole night had very spontaneously gone from a regular music night at the bar, to an all-out dance party. Everyone was unselfconscious about it too, which is the mark of the very best dance music, I think.

The 7th was Friday, and after working in lab until 1230 or so, I had lunch and gave Arabic lessons to Sara, who is perhaps the greediest learner I know. She might even be as bad as I am. Then I went with my friends Liz, Aaron, Cassie, and Kayleigh and a bunch of other people (NEW friends!) to Douglas State Forest, a beautiful forest and lake area, with Atlantic white cedar swampland as well. The water was beautifully warm, and chock full of interesting fish and plantlife to look at. The water was clear enough to look at from above, even down to a meter and a half, and it was even better with goggles, seeing the sun's beams spear through the water and the plants and the schools of fish that circled me. We went to Coney Island Hot Dogs after, in Worcester, and for the one time this summer, I broke my rule about buying red meat, in order to have this new experience.

And so, that concludes my adventures this summer so far, and looking back, I have done plenty in these 6 weeks, and have had some of the best times of my life. From now on I shall try to write about my experiences as they happen, to keep them fresh and infused with the true emotions and sensations of the moment, and not as filtered memories. I can try, anyway.