Sunday, July 30, 2006

Here's Squinting at You, Sweetheart

So, the day before I left for the family vacation to Virginia Beach, I broke my glasses. My titanium glasses; you know, the stuff the Batmobile is made of. You'd think the simple act of cleaning one's lenses wouldn't scratch, let alone break, titanium glasses, but it did.

Fortunately, I have a prescription pair of sunglasses that I've kept around for seven years in case of just such an emergency, so I spent the week eating family dinners with the reflective cop-shades on at the dinner table.

I went to America's Best with Jess upon my return and got some contacts, which is something that I've wanted to do for a long time because I liked contacts when I had them. The unfortunate thing is, either I'm defective as a person or the people at America's Best are incompetent, because I have to go back now a second time and tell them just how wrong the contact-lens prescription is. I am sitting on a twin bed in my mother's house, three feet away from the 14" computer screen, and I have to squint to see the words that I am typing. This is maddening. And it's not like I can crack out the sunglasses at 9:30 PM.

So, I'm going back tomorrow with an ultimatum. Either they fix my vision, or I'm going to accidentally drive into their store having mistaken it for a Sunoco.

In other news, Jess, Tooch, Scott and Mat were all a big help on Saturday with the whole moving out thing. Luke kindly agreed to let me keep my stuff at his place over the summer, not realizing that the room the stuff was in was wet and damp and therefore moldy. Eep. Jess and I still smell like Lysol wipes, having murdered countless mold colonies on my speakers, my TV stand, my coffee table, etc...

The place feels a lot more homey with my stuff in it. I have nice things, which I've enjoyed procuring, and they make it feel a little more mine. I'm going to force myself to start sleeping over there on Wednesday. I say 'force' because there's no internet there, yet - that's not until Monday - and also Jessie is on this side of town, so those are two pretty compelling reasons to stay put.

Jess is leaving for three days to go visit her Gran in Erie, so I'm going to use the spare time to finish moving and also to work on my movie. I've been putting it off, and there are a lot of things left to be done. For starters, I'm going to capture and edit the fight-scenes, so one can watch the whole film, from beginning to end, and evaluate it accordingly. Wish me luck!

Yours,
Martin

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Riddle Me This, Riddle Me That

So, everything has worked out with the new apartment. All of the worrying, all of the frantic phone calls and awkward conversations, and now it has finally come to this, and it is good.

As of this Sunday, I'm moving out of Mum's house and into an apartment in Squirrel Hill, a little urban suburb of the City of Pittsburgh. It's a three-bedroom, five houses up from the main drag, and it feels like it's in the center of the world. One block to the bowling alley. .5 blocks to the Starbucks. Two blocks to the art house movie theater. Lots of little restaurants, the best pizza in the city, etc.. Talk about a new adventure! My entire living away from home experience has been spent in what were technically fortresses of solitude, replete with fireplaces and cathedral ceilings, and now I will have roomates to whom I'm not related in a part of the city I've never lived in a bedroom the size of my one at Mom's.

Bring it.

I'm sorry I haven't been writing to you as often. I had a week or so there where I was overcome by the urge, nay, the need to write to you, and of course the first date is always the one where you trip over your own words and talk too much. I'd like to think we're mellowing out, getting to know one another, finding each other's comfy places and easing back into something sustainable and good.

I learned how to make an awesome rum drink on vacation, the recipe of which I will share because, frankly, my only job in life is to spread happiness:

In a blender, combine:

1 can of limeade
1 limeade-sized can of rum
Ice

Blend. Pour into cups about 3/4 full, and then fill the rest with club soda. Add a lime wedge. Holy yum.

You love it. Admit it.