Back in Fargo after an incredibly lovely little vacation! The second half of my East Coast trip was just as good as the first, and I got to see a number of additional friends, in Boston and NYC. I went out in Cambridge with Laura last week -- we had Indian food and drinks outside at a pub, and then went to her apartment to chat with her roommates a bit. We talked about... a lot of things. It was very good, plus I got a Pride and Prejudice spin-off book out of it. I also saw Emily again in Brookline for lunch and more bookstore browsing. You guys make moving to Boston look very tempting.
Over the weekend, I took the bus down to New York to visit with Niko. We did all the good things: day drinking, watching movies, and eating food from an awesome vegan restaurant. After a full year in Fargo (btw, oh my God), New York has gone back to being overwhelming, rather than the exciting urban paradise it felt like back at New Years. Still, Niko showed me a great time, and it was good to meet some new people and catch up with some others I hadn't seen in a while. I'd also like to say that Niko's boyfriend Bryan, who she moved in with recently, is awesome and I will take him if they ever, God forbid, decide they want to break up (Bryan was not particularly enthused about this idea when I brought it up on Saturday night). Being the irresponsible diabetic I am, my pump battery died at around 11 PM, and, having none with me, Bryan insisted on going out to the drug store and getting a pack for me. They both treated me so well that they are lucky I didn't decide to just move in with them.
I was really looking forward to relaxing on the bus, listening to music while looking out the window, or possibly doing some reading. These hopes were dashed when an older man sat down next to me and said, "Hi, I'm Paul, we're going to be spending quite a lot of time together." For the first few minutes of the bus ride he made some jokes that I didn't understand about Minnesota, asked me to tell him a joke (ugh), and only stopped talking to me when I put my headphones on and pointedly looked out the window. Problem solved, right? No. Problem not solved. Paul slept for maybe an hour, got up to use the bus's facilities, and when he came back started talking again, in spite of the fact that I still had my headphones in. "Have you used the restroom on one of these buses? You should try it, it's like a carnival ride." He then said, "You know, I'm an interesting guy, you should ask me some questions... Or I could ask you some questions?" Taking the hint, I asked him what he did. He proceeded to talk for the rest of the bus ride about the many, many personal growth seminars he has taken, his journey of personal growth, his belief that his work as a handyman is beneath his intelligence (he graduated top of his class in high school and went to Harvard for a few years), and his plans for a business he plans to call "Conversations that Change Lives." I learned about the theoretical foundations of a lot of new age philosophy, the distinctions between different types of seminars, and, of course, all about Paul. His experience in personal seminars includes five "levels" of a program called HI (or HIGH? HIE? I can't find it online, which is troubling), during which, on the second day, participants are informed that clothing is optional. He did that one five times. Five times. But apparently it's really helped him with his feelings of shame about his sexuality, so that's good, I guess. At one point, he said something that should have been a red flag, even to him, about how one of the ways in which he's grown is from someone who had no sense of personal boundaries whatsoever, to someone with some sense of personal boundaries. At the end of the bus ride he gave me a flyer for his handyman business. I swear I don't know how these people find me.
I think that's about all the most eventful stuff from the trip. I spent some more time at doctors offices, saw A Most Wanted Man with my family, cooked a bit and did quite a bit of reading and relaxing (I'm coming up on my 52nd book of the year, get excited for a new set of recommendations!). It was a really nice little vacation, and I'm feeling ready to finish up my summer work and get the new school year started.
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