Old News, New News

Ok, well, at some point in Seattle, I think near the last day there, I went to a concert festival to see, or rather hear and see a collaboration that Ellen did with some dancers. It was very groovy. Ususally, I feel clueless about dance, but I totally "got" that one. And the sounds were cool. the next piece, I didn't get as much. It had toys in it.

then there was an installation/performance art thing before the second part of the show. It was groos. It was supossed to be "deep." something about economics and war, but it looked like a gross parody and mocking of homeless people.

then came the second part of everything, which I could try to give a review of, but it was several days ago and I don't feel qualified. anyway, also at this event, Ellen's missing teeth video was shown as a lobby installation. I have now seen pictures of many of my friends and acquaintances (and even perfect strangers) without all of their teeth. Ellen is a master of photoshop. She should work for dentistry jounrals and ads.

after all of this, we went to a piano bar, but neither Christi or Ellen (or me) could be persuaded to sing.

I left Seattle on sunday night, but not before having dinner with Ellen at an Ethiopian restuarant. fun was had by all. then Christi took me to the airport to fly overnight to Hartford Connecticut. Everytime I travel overnight, I swear that I'll never do it again. anyway, I had to run through the airport. I was in the second to last row in the plane and didn't want to recline my shair too much, because the row behind me couldn't recline at all.

for some reason, despite the late hour of takeoff, they decided to show movies for hours and hours and hours. and since the folks behind me couldn't recline to sleep, they yelled advice at the people in the movies. after a while of this, I decided that it would probably be ok for me to recline my chair back as far as it would go.

after one plane change and a long nap in Newark, I got to Hartford and rented a car. I drove one half hour to Middletown. folks tell me that it is imparative to have a car there cuz you can't get anywhere without one. the transit situation must really suck if there's no bus to take the half hour ride in. Of course, I've now seen middletown and I beleive the people who say there's no transit.

People in Connecticut are very friendly. The airport people wanted to tell me how to get where I was going and the students wanted to tell me where I was going and it was all very nice. but where are the outdoor drinking fountains? I saw two drinking fountains in the whole state and both were indoors. also, the gas stations are not immediately visable. How do they find gas?

One of the first people I saw on campus was Judy's friend Anne. She very helpfully suggested that I stay in some grad student housing and the grad boys there very thoughtfully put me up in their house. It was really very kind and hospitable of them and I'm very grateful. It must be exciting living in such houses, since I was living in a stranger's room without his knowledge or consent. In fact, he came home the last night I was there, at 2:30 AM, to find his room occupied. And so he slept on the couch. He's a visitting artist at the university and he didn't seem to be at all angry that I had been in his room.

So I met some teachers and walked around. The buildings are interesting and mostly underground and all connected underground, which I hope isn't because of the weather, but I think it might be. apparently, it snowed less than a week before my arrival.

so I signed the paperwork and that's where I'm going in the fall. And I decided to go home, rather than New York, cuz I couldn't find a place to stay from any of my meager east coast contacts. Not that they're individually meager, just that there aren't many of them. So I fly from Hartforn to Columbus and from Columbus to Vegas, over Texas cuz of weather problems. the couple next to me lived in Columbus and tried to get to Vegas whenever they could. As we were getting to the airport, they started pointing out casinos to me, surprised that I didn't know of them. "See that red and purple one, that's the [whatever]." I didn't have much to contribute, so I said, "did you know that Vegas uses five times as much water per capita than any other place that gets it's water from the Colorado River?" they sat in silence for a minute and then said, "see that? that's the replica of the Eifel Tower."

The vegas airport is loud like a video arcade, but, of course, the games are for adults only. were the gamblers just passing through? Were they anxious to get started or wanted just one last chance before leaving? What makes people want to feed coins into a machine? I mean, I play arcade games sometimes and they eat my quarters. I think maybe it's like trying to save the princess, but no particular skill is involved, so it's relaxing and exciting at the same time. but what would I know?

there's two different competing groups of men who take off their clothes. One is the chippendales. I think the attraction and fantasy of the Chippendales (this is gleamed by looking at the poster in the airport) must be that there could be men in leather pants and bowties who aren't gay. Straight women hold out hope for men who care about their appearance, like musicals, wear leather pants and are stright. good luck. there's also an austrailian groupd. they all have long hair like Fabio. Is Fabio straight? With his name and appearance, he should be in a pulp novel dating a guy named Rod.

By the time I got to Oakland, I was convinced that I had taken the wrong flight to the wrong airport. None of it looked familiar. Where was I? but the Christi lead me gently home. And I slept all day yesterday, except for waking up at 9:00 PM to see a movie with Jenya called Chaos. It's French. It may be a comedy. All ends well. there were some problematic aspects to it. Clearly, French culture is having some problems dealing with immigrants. But it's not a bad movie. The Sf international film festival apparently likes it. I went back to sleep after seeing it.

and now, my gosh the house is messy. There's boxes full of drums and a beat up sousaphone and luggage all over the place. the end.