5.29.2002
i have been
completely absorbed by two sites today...The New England Society for Psychic Research and the Paranormal and Demonic Research Society of New England. This all came to me because I became interested in a story from a British organization, Ghost Club, which is urging Claudia Schiffer and Matthew Vaughn to be aware that the new home they purchased is haunted. I've frittered my whole afternoon away reading about ghosts and demons and exorcisms. It's fascinating stuff, and I find that for the most part I do believe that such things are true.
I haven't had much direct experience with the paranormal. One of my old school friends used to swear that the house she took care of in the summer was haunted...she used to make me come over with her while she watered the plants and checked the furnace (not sure why but she had to do it in the summer too...). She swore that cupboards would open and close while she would move from room to room, doors would shut behind her, etc. I didn't see any of it but she was plainly deathly afraid of the place. I remember once, when I was in the 7th grade or so, at a slumber party we held a seance. There were about 15 of us so we split into different circles and a popular girl by the name of B.J. led the seance, making it up as we went. We tried to bring back Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, etc., but to no avail. Then, we decided to call back the spirit of a young boy from our school who had died two weeks prior. He was 7, and lived near a busy highway (we lived in a very rural area). He apparently was crossing the street to look at the horses in a nearby field when he was struck by a car. During the seance, I felt my head become very very heavy--so heavy that I couldn't lift it. Yet I could see my friend Kassie, or at least knew she was looking at me and she was staring straight at me, tears streaming down her face. I knew this even though my head was literally on my ankles at this point, my eyes closed. Finally, someone shook me out of it and helped me lift up. I looked across the room and Kassie was staring at me, her blue eyes awash in tears. It turns out that she had had a vision of her younger brother riding across a field on horseback and she knew something was terribly wrong with him. We stopped the seance and moved on to other, less creepy things--probably painted our toenails or something. Two days later Kassie comes to school and tells us that her brother was in the hospital with the flu, but apparently he had leukemia or something and so it was very devastating that it had happened. I remember that night very very clearly.
I remember other stories too...about a guy that I had the serious hots for in high school, a kid named Brent. Apparently he had a ouija board that he and some buddies were playing with and they had a session that really freaked them out. So they took it out to the Boise river and tossed it over a bridge. Brent apparently came home and found the board back in the closet. Not so sure on that story, but I remember my friend Jennifer from college telling me about a trip she made to New Orleans with her then boyfriend...they stayed at his brother's house. Apparently the grandfather had died there and the house was believed to be haunted by him. Jen told me about having to go to the bottom of a long creepy stair to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. When she was finished, she opened the door to go back up the stairs. As she was ascending, the bathroom door below shut suddenly, with a loud bang. She turned but no one was there. She started to go back up the stairs and suddenly the light in the hall went out. She hurried to the top but could hear footsteps slowly following after her. She ran back to bed and climbed in next to her boyfriend and she could feel someone standing next to the bed staring down at them. She will swear this on her deathbed.
We humans are always fascinated with that which we do not understand or that which defies all means of ordinary logic.
3:38 PM | link | up| archives |
5.28.2002
a small recap
in the life of Crystal. Travelling with a cat is noisy. He was pretty good, just cried the whole way there and back. But when he got there...ohhhh he was happy. Screened in deck that he could loll about on and watch the birds and bugs and neighboring cats and dogs, new cozy chairs and couches to sleep on, and best of all, Joe's mom loved Romeo. He had more belly rubs this weekend than he knew what to do with.
Went to Naumkeg and MASS MoCA as described in my post below. Was gorgeous on Saturday, a perfect day for exploring the gardens of that beautiful old house. The museum was great for Sunday's rain. It had a bunch of Viennese artists on exhibit there and both Joe and I were unimpressed. The 14 Stations exhibition by Robert Wilson was compelling, however. Jarvis Rockwell's action figure pyramid, Maya was wonderful as well. My favorite was the diorama of the ewok punch party that he did. Had wonderful food, wonderful company, and we watched Memento finally. Glad I went to the Web site afterward actually...gave me more insight into the movie and now I'm even less sure what I believe about it.
10:04 AM | link | up| archives |
5.24.2002
so we're bringing the cat
yep, you read that right. Bringing dear ol' Romeo with us to the Berkshires for the weekend. Joe's idea and somehow he convinced his mom (who is SO wonderful and incredible) to let us bring him. Romeo hasn't been in a car for six years--since I drugged him up, shoved him under the seat of a plane then hauled him to the Cape and locked him in Michael's bathroom for 4 days (stayed with him before I could move into my apartment...his daughter had cystic fibrosis and was allergic so we couldn't let him roam the house), then put him in a car and drove to Boston. I don't think his last travelling experience is one he wants to re-live.
But Joe's parents have this GREAT enclosed screened deck so Romeo can pretty much be outside without any fear of him getting away to chase the birds. He will love it. Now my fingers are crossed that he won't eat Rosie's plants or scratch up the furniture. I always tend to think the worst, I know, I know. He'll probably be an angel as he is most of the time anyway.
Hoping to go to Naumkeg possibly MASS MoCA and the Berkshire Botanical Garden. Sadly, there aren't any Shakespeare plays going on with Shakespeare & Co--instead an Edith Wharton novel made into a play (the Theatre uses her home, The Mount, as their summer stage), which sounds excellent, but where is my beloved Shakespeare? Tanglewood would be amazing but the season doesn't start till the end of June--same with Jacob's Pillow and other summer festivals and concerts. Then again, there is the fact that we are short on funds...
Still, should be a relaxing adventure. I love visiting his parents. The food is good, the company is good and it's such a wonderful getaway...and very much needed right now!
9:09 AM | link | up| archives |
5.22.2002
getting old
is happening, whether I like it or not. Yeah, yeah 31 isn't that old some of you may say (it's in two weeks for me, sigh), but I am feeling it these days. My skin is different, drier than it used to be for one. I'm starting to see lines in my face, most notably when I'm tired...lines that no one else probably notices but I do. I know where the wrinkles will eventually start to show up. Hormonally things are moving around a bit for me too, I think. In the last six months or so I've noticed a definite shift in moods the week before Aunt Flo comes to visit. I've never been that prone to PMS sorts of symptoms but I am lately. I've always been a little extra sensitive during that week, very likely to burst into tears over Hallmark commercials and equally dopey things, but lately it's more than that. Significant depression sets in...for no reason and very suddenly.
I don't even know how to explain it. It's such an irrational sort of thing. It is clearly hormonally linked because I experience it acutely during the week before. This never used to happen to me but it has been more and more often lately. It makes me feel half crazy--I rationally know there is no reason to feel so sad and hopeless, but my body and that place between my heart and head that feels those empty things doesn't agree with the logic. I experience regular emotions on a hypersensitive level and that is very frustrating. I was on the phone with my sister last night and she was telling me all about my nephews and I became so intensely homesick. I got off the phone with her and was bawling like a little child, feeling so lost. My neighbors screaming and yelling upstairs (and BBQing on the roof again) leaves me feeling sad and depressed--my sanctuary of the last six years invaded and there is little we can do except move and that will be something I have to wait for. Rationally I know that it will be changing but in the midst of those actions occurring, my body literally becomes overwhelmed with how it makes me feel. I become listless, lethargic, inconsolable. Joe is such a saint during all this, but I know I must drive him nuts. Thankfully this only lasts a few days then I am fine again.
I can't imagine being one of those women whose lives are completely wrecked each month by PMS. And their families...not knowing what to do or how to help. It's amazing, because after all the medical advances we have made, doctors still don't understand what causes PMS and why it has so many different sorts of symptoms. Exercise and nutrition are the best medicine apparently, something that I'm working on a great deal, so hopefully over time my PMS symptoms will lesson. I just hate feeling so dark and grey about the world. I'm not that kind of person and I don't like feeling the shadow over me.
But the next few days are sunny ones and we have a weekend in the Berkshires planned. Those things will help immensely.
10:16 AM | link | up| archives |
5.20.2002
again, thank you
to those of you who anted up some hard-earned cash to help me on a very worthy cause. I walked the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Great Strides walk yesterday in memory of my friend Michael's daughter, Jenny, who died this last February. Thanks to those of you who donated, I was able to give $325 to the CF Foundation to help them find a cure for the fatal disease.
I managed a sunburn on the walk, which was supposed to be 6.2 miles but I'm unsure if it was more than 5 miles. It wound its way along the banks of the Charles, in Cambridge and Boston near Watertown. Was a gorgeous day. There weren't many people walking--I'd say maybe 150-200 people total. Nothing compared to the people who were doing the Avon 3-day walk for breast cancer whose path ran parallel to ours for a little bit. CF is such a little known disease in comparison, and it affects children--most of whom don't live past 25 years of age. My mother had a good friend who died this spring of CF as well. My mom said she didn't realize that she had CF until she had died...she knew she was in the hospital a lot but didn't know what for. She learned at the funeral that she was the oldest known CF survivor...she was 53! There were many people on the walk who wore t-shirts with the names of friends and relatives who had died recently. It's a hard thing to see that. Mostly teams of people were walking--I think I was one of the only individuals.
While we were waiting for the walk to start (we got there really early), Joe (who graciously hung out with me) and I went over to the nearby KMart and farted around. While we were there we passed by the underwear and found a middle aged man with a huge round potbelly, clutching a bag of tighty-whiteys and staring at the other bags of underwear. The funniest part about this was that he was carefully folding his floppy ears over and into themselves so they would stay bent for a few seconds then *pop* back out. He did this repeatedly with both ears, switching the package of undies from one arm to the other so he could use the opposite hand to flip out the other ear. Joe was highly amused and I was dumbfounded. It was amazing.
On the walk we found ten dollars, saw 8 baby goslings, two night herons, walked through the middle of a wedding (they had tried to reserve the Harvard walking bridge for gods sakes...a VERY public space...and in the middle of the walk!!) and contemplated all the paths into the tall grasses where the gay men of Boston go "tooling" as Joe puts it (I'm sorry...I have a gazillion gay friends but I don't think I'll ever really understand anonymous park sex). Came home all toasty red around my neck and ended the day with a glass of wine and shrimp pizza. Mmmm. Was a good day.
And thank you again for those of you who helped me out. I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate it.
11:32 AM | link | up| archives |
5.15.2002
never-ending
neighbor situation that is. I know I've been posting on it a lot lately but it tends to be such a focal point of our lives right now--which I hate.
1. Lately the mom hasn't been there...but now the sister and her boyfriend and the pitbull (no dogs allowed btw) have started spending their time there. He owns an ugly black Mustang that says MUSTANG on the top of the windshield, with a big white horse in the back window. Trashy. I did have glee when I saw the ticket on the car yesterday morning because they didn't get up in time to move it. The dog runs around all over up there and thankfully doesn't bark. The dog hates the stairs though so they always have to drag him up and down it. The boyfriend has a cell phone that sounds like a dispatchers radio when it goes off and it's SO loud that we can hear it ringing pretty much no matter where we are in the house.
2. Doorbell rings at least 15 times a day. They answer it about half the time. Sometimes if no one answers, the person will stand outside and start yelling up at the window for someone to let them in.
3. The two spanish (maybe portugese) speaking friends of the boyfriend are over there a lot. They drive a VERY nice, brand new black mercedes sedan with tinted windows. You figure it out. It's not unusual for 6-7 people to be hanging out up in that tiny place. At least 5 or 6 people have keys to the apartment.
4. The other day, someone was outside ringing the doorbell over and over...and began ringing our doorbell. I looked out the window and it was a girl in her 20s so I went down and opened it. She apologized and said she had the wrong doorbell. I said that if the neighbors were home they would have come down to let her in since she rang the doorbell so much. She said she had just talked to them and they were expecting her. It was clear she wanted me to let her into the building. She was by herself, so I said, fine, and did. She breezed past me up the stairs. I went into my apartment, locked the door and listened to her knocking on the door upstairs. Finally she went down and let another friend in and she was saying to them, I guess they aren't home. They waited upstairs on their landing for about ten minutes when the neighbor finally came back.
5. They vacuum at least 2-3 times a day (often late at night) and take the trash out that often as well. Right now the trash cans on the side of the house are overflowing with the white kitchen garbage bags that they take out a few times a day.
6. They have a BBQ on the back fire escape. Their back door leads to a tar roof with a wood walkway that goes across the roof of our extra room to the fire escape on the side of the house. They aren't supposed to use the roof for anything as it is unfinished. The walkway has iron railings all along it, so it would be difficult to really do a lot up there unless you are walking around on the tar. They put the BBQ on the walkway, but very very close to the house. We can watch them in the reflection off the next door neighbor's windows. Yesterday the fire was roaring high in the tiny BBQ (one of those tabletop version), on the walkway, on the tar roof (isn't tar pretty flammable?), in a spot that is highly illegal. What was more amazing is that they had it underneath their little overhang to the doorway and VERY close to the house. We watched for a bit, jaws open, my mind racing about the house being caught on fire. We resolved to get rental insurance this week.
An hour later, it had started pouring, thankfully, so their little BBQ was over. Fortunately for us all, the wind decided to blow over the BBQ after the rain started. We heard it clunk across the roof and wondered if that was what had happened. They left it until 11PM though and then went out there to VACUUM the ROOF.
Target date for move: July 1. I will go INSANE if I have to live there any longer.
But on another note, at least I'm not the only one with neighbor problems.
4:13 PM | link | up| archives |
5.13.2002
and yet another
cheesy test. But I liked this one...and loved this FF in particular.
You are beatrix
You are a very loyal and strong person. You are always down to earth, though you sometimes jump to conclusions too quickly.
take this quiz!
2:31 PM | link | up| archives |
5.8.2002
freak update
he IS trying to sublet the place. He has a realtor who has been showing it...he apparently told the realtor that he was the landlady's grandson...and that she lives on the first floor. I couldn't believe it!!! She has NO relation to him (literally she has no idea about his life, his family, etc) and she lives in Belmont. There is a sweet French couple that live on the first floor. Amazing.
Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that fraud?
Half of me wants to rat on him but the other half just wants him gone. I just feel so bad for the person that ends up renting the place and may have to end up without an apartment in the end.
6:05 PM | link | up| archives |
freaks i tell you!
my neighbors that is. Scott at Spoonfed apparently has a similiar neighbor that lives above him per one of his recent Forcefed updates. Every week it's something new with our neighbor. Not sure what to make of it.
1. The massively loud TV problem seems to have gone away--or maybe it's just that we moved our bedroom into the extra room because we were sick and tired of dealing with it. I had several conversations with the landlady--she would turn around and call him. He would say that he has a right to watch TV at night when he comes home from work (ummm when he turns it on he's been home for six hours usually). I tell my landlady I have a right to SLEEP at night. She says she can't do anything and hopes we work it out. Blech.
2. His mom is there 85% of the time. When she isn't there he has other people there--the random guy friend, sometimes his sister, sometimes the older Italian man. The other day it was some girl with a pit bull. She left then came back with a girl who had a baby. We can't keep track.
3. The "application" process I talked about in a previous post doesn't seem to have amounted to anything we can tell. Guess he's not subletting the place. Damn.
4. He and mom fight all the time. Last week she was having a shouting match with him--and I finally figured out that she was easily heard so loud and clear and he was muffled--because he was on the toilet during it all! She was telling him that all he ever wants is her money. If she gives him $30 today then he'll want $20 tomorrow and she is sick of his shit.
5. As he was leaving the apartment the other day, he called back up the stairs, "Stay out of my cabinet Mom!" Mom called down the stairs to him in her terrible horrid Boston accent, "You'll see, J, you'll see. I'll stay out!" He says back, "I just got it organized." She responds, "I'll stay out, you'll see, you'll be proud of me!" Ummm huh? We conjectured that he was telling her to stay out of his booze stash cos she's a recovering alkie, but that makes no sense when he mentions getting it organized. It's the joke between Joe and I now--his admonishing me to stay out of his cabinet and I swear to make him proud. hehe.
6. Joe saw him coming home in the middle of the day (possibly for lunch?) in scrubs. We figure he's actually an orderly cleaning bedpans. If he was a nurse he wouldn't be borrowing money from his mom. Now we know why they are such clean freaks...vacuuming all the time, taking trash out a couple times a day, spraying air freshener in the halls, mom commenting that they need to sweep the stairs again, etc.
7. She's 45 years old so she had him when he was 18. We know this because she was carrying groceries up the stairs muttering LOUDLY to herself about how she's not getting younger, and her 45 year old legs can't take it.
8. He took his name off the mailbox again.
9. Arguing yesterday as he was leaving the apartment. "You were born in a hurry and nothing has changed. I'm sick of your shit, J"
She apparently is sick of a lot of his shit, but she is there ALL the time. I mean really, if you were a 27 year old single guy, would you want your mom around all the time? I think she stays over too...and it's only a two room studio...
We have decided it's completely and utterly comical at this point. Annoying, but comical.
1:37 PM | link | up| archives |
5.3.2002
on my way
to work this morning I saw or noticed the following things:
1. the smell of mint from the nearby NECCO chocolates factory.
2. a pigeon feasting in the bird crap mess below the pigeon nests in an abandoned building doorway.
3. at least five different types of perfume wafting off women walking in front of me at various times.
4. several very handsome young men (couldn't tell if they were high school or college age) in tuxes walking from Faneuil Hall to the Government center T stop.
5. heard the banging of drums, clashing of metal, down near Faneuil Hall.
6. an unlikely couple kissing.
7. a woman on the T that looked like an extremely heavy Kelly Osbourne.
All of this observation was rather amazing because of the wind that for the most part, swept my hair into my face for the entire walk to work.
9:54 AM | link | up| archives |
5.1.2002
i got
into the Critical and Creative Thinking program at University of Massachusetts for my M.A. Funny enough, Joe is taking classes from the program now as part of his grad degree in education. I'm excited, finally, to be going back to school.
The Webby Award Nominations are out and you should definitely check out Donnie Darko. I'm sort of pissed that I somehow missed it in the theaters...going to have to rent it soon. Another must see is Cut off My Feet, which is, an actual site. I was really sickened by the fact that you could win a prize to go watch.
3:56 PM | link | up| archives |
kissing, film, strangers
first the Kissing. Jessica Stein, that is. HIGH recommend. Paulette and I went to see it this last weekend and I really loved it. Was funny, charming, and lacked all the cliches that a movie about straight people exploring homosexuality could have. Definitely go see. Then Paulette and I hung out over Mexican food and just had a good time. Can't wait for her next knitting party actually...I'm still all knotted up in my practice work.
I've always loved Indie films though and so it's rather wild that last night I found myself in the midst of a group of people putting together a Boston/Cambridge film festival. A good friend and ex-coworker had recommended me since they are in need of marketing help at this point. It looks like it will be a lot of fun, a lot of work, and the one thing that I'm leery about (seeing as it's all volunteer)--time. Still, I love a good challenge and it's good to get the creative wheels turning.
10:02 AM | link | up| archives |
