A couple of hours ago, I got back into town, coming from Flo’s house in Pittsford. I was there for about two days, and I can’t lie, I was desperate to come back home. Basically, I feel like I’m on an emotional roller coaster, and the endpoint is probably something frightening, like a cave or thorns or something. When I got there, I was instantly optimistic, as Flo’s pick-up timing was supreme, and we had a great hug hello. We drove on the Main St. for a little, and I discovered how big Rochester really is. I had no idea that it was as big of a city as Syracuse. We stopped at Brugger’s for some bagels, which we brought home for lunch. We spent most of the next few hours playing Bannanagrams with Rachel and Flo’s mom Ann, and then got things cooking… ratatouille, mashed potatoes, ham, rolls, stuffing and more. I think that this was the big New Year’s Dinner for the Williams, and Harvey and Rachel were also there to celebrate.
However, dinner was an awkward affair. We exploded Christmas crackers and that was about the end of the joyfulness. Paradoxically, I was actually the first to start a conversation, about the wine, which tasted awesome. There seemed to be a certain amount of tension at the table, and chatter was hard to come by. after dinner, i gave Flo her jersey, which she loved. Miraculously, it was a PERFECT fit on her. She went downstairs to show her dad, and he was impressed too. Looks like I did a good job on the present! Flo didn’t get me a present though, so once again, the feeling was bittersweet. She forgot my birthday last year, so this seems to be a trend. I don’t understand- how could we talk so much, and say we love each other so much, and she not remember these gift-giving holidays? I mean, we went Christmas shopping together, and talked about what to get her dad… I dunno, it just seems like another glancing blow.
The rest of the night was also rough. We watched Harry Potter, which was actually pretty good. Then her parents went upstairs, and I thought we could cuddle for a little. We hadn’t for so long, I thought we’d be dying to get into each other’s arms. Not the case. It was shit. It was like she didn’t want to touch me. That left me feeling extremely unwanted and sad. I can’t say enough about how much that hurt my feelings, and I have no doubt that it’ll be on my mind for days to come.
The next day started off well– I got along nicely with Ann. We decided to go to Color Me Mine, where Ann painted a tile and an outlet cover, Flo painted a pencil holder, and I painted a bowl. Ann painted the outlet cover in the same colors as a couch at their place in the Outer Banks. Flo did a lace pattern. I did a frayed rope technique. The one redhead worker was kind of sharp in giving advice, which I found kinda spunky. The other workers were kind, and replaced our water and gave us advice. After Color Me Mine, we went to Wegmans and got these incredible pizza bagels– if I were to live in one store, it would be the Flagship Wegmans.
We traveled to Dinosaur BBQ for dinner but there was a 1.5 hour wait, so we got some take-out and jetted to HArvey and Rachel’s place. The wings and ribs were plenty good, but also very fatty, and when I’m not exercising I can’t eat too much. the night was pretty absurd. There was a wealth of alcohol there, and a bunch of Harvey and Rachel’s friends came over to play Catchphrase, watch shows including pumpkin launchers, in the womb: extreme animals, and shoot the shit. HArvey was definitely the star of the show, with money phrases like ‘fuck me in the gortas’ and ‘twitter me yo bitch = modern communication.’ story of the night went to Justin, who said that he once held Harvey’s hand as Harvey threw up off the dock, with Justin pulling the trigger. everyone was really funny and it was a good time– i was also proud of my justice at catchphrase, and eventually i started telling a few jokes. Derrick is studying abroad his last semester, in south africa, with an emphasis on safari-traveling.
The last major thing we did in Pittsford was to go see Up in the Air. At first, I was actually physically sickened by the movie. I thought it was horrible, and it reminded me of my inadequacies, so I had to leave for a while. Then we moved back to the last row, and things got a little better. A romance emerged and people stopped being so abrasive, and most importantly my senses weren’t being overwhelmed. In the end, I guess it worked out.
highlights: seeing flo’s face as she opened her present
bannanagrams
salmon and cream cheese on a toasted bagel
christmas crackers, talking with Ann about Princess Diana
