A Rolling Stone...
That's what my friend wrote in her change-of-address e-mail. She's not really moving to be a drifter. In fact, I think she'd like nothing more than to be settled with her cat in a nice, cozy abode and to not have to move for a bit, but let's just say that circumstances conspired and that hasn't become a reality just yet.
So I had a lovely day of alternative realities.
Alternative realities because we sat in her new kitchen, unpacking the same items that we had unpacked five, short months before, and listening to the same mix of Elvis Costello, Beatles and some Pop Romantique CD that she has. So that takes me back five months.
Alternative realities, because this is the same music we would have had on during our college days, and my friend had bought us cokes for a treat as we worked on her move. Our drink of choice in our twenties.
Alternative realities, because her former roommate and still close friend, whom I also really enjoy, drove in from over an hour away to also help, and we took a break to have dinner at Szechuan West, our favorite from college days and where neither of my friends had been in longer than any of us cares to remember.
Szechuan West is really a trip, because it's a Chinese restaurant in a man-made, white-walled cave. Holes separate alcoves, fake flowers and vines are hot-glued into the holes, and the space is broken up with an occasional plastic tree, complete with silk blossoms and icicles, which catch the light from the recessed studio lights which hang from the ceiling.
We all ordered vegetable dishes, rather than the cashew chicken or other grease monkey dishes from our youth, but other than that... retro time.
Then alternative realities as I packed up my meticulous friend's books, books that have become friends of mine over the years. Books from the productions we worked on as students The Lost Honor of Katarina Bloom, The Collected Plays of J. M. Synge , various tomes by Mayakovsky and Brecht, Christopher Isherwood, Tolstaya, Bulgakov. Deep lit.
Given that it was a day spent wrapping, packing, wrapping, packing, unwrapping, unpacking, with bouts of heavy lifting in between, it was as pleasant as it could be. Pleasant because of the company. Pleasant because of the memories.
Cheers to my friend, S, and good times and a good future in her new place!
What's Cooking?
Well, my brain has gathered moss, even if my friend hasn't. Don't have a clue about cooking tonight. We might break out butternut squash ravioli. The only thing I know for certain is that I want to clear out some non-healthy foodstuffs left over from the holidays and replace them with some friendlier home made goodies. My body is not happy.
