furniture and friends

Heidi's blog makes me want to knit. I also want to take a cold, cold, looonnng shower. It is incredibly hot and dry here today - my hands feel like caked dirt and my lips feel like dust and my nose hurts when I inhale and all I want to do is pour cold water in my dry dry eyes. I had to wear sunglasses to work at my computer this afternoon - the glare from the sun through the window in this corner makes it so I can't see the monitor.

I didn't get much sleep last night on account of the fact that I didn't get home til midnight-ish, and then the puppy dog went nutso around 4. I stayed up with her til Adam went to work so I could leave her in her crate and hear her yowls and it wouldn't keep him up. So I didn't sleep well....

The reason I didn't get home til midnightish was because... let's see. I got home from work around 6, started the bread machine (sourdough bread), did some cleaning, playing with the dogs, and then met up with Chrispy and Swasthi (and their friend Larry) at my aunt's house, where we valiantly strove to put a humongous entertainment center in the truck Adam had borrowed from his dad.

This is the same truck we drove to and from Alaska in. I sit behind the wheel and WHAM there are memories of driving down the highway on the way to Wasilla to go grocery shopping, a fierce and strange angry and free feeling from escaping into Alaska on my own for a little while, the huge steering wheel, the all-or-nothing gas pedal, learning how to jump quickly up the tire into the bed. Made me think of driving to Talkeetna, the rain, the sun, the fireweed. Made me think about how in Alaska, you don't drive for comfort or looks, you drive whatever is there, however rusty it is, to get from A to B and you learn how to use the tools you have, and how to fix them when they break, and you never call anyone else to fix something for you. There are no plumbers or electricians or mechanics - you learn.

I was angry a lot of the time I was in Alaska, and for the last few weeks I have been able to think and dream and pine for nothing else. I miss it terribly. I'd like to go back and do it again. I'd like to go knowing what I now know. I wouldn't be so scared of hiking alone, I'd send more long emails about my experiences, I'd bring more books, and I would get OUT when I felt cooped up by Devil's Club and wildlife. I would take the canoe or the truck and go on my own much, much more.

So I miss it. And I keep remembering how much.

We got the entertainment center in the truck with the help from Julie's across-the-street neighbor who loaned us all his bungie cords. It was the first taste of the great example of community I experienced last night. Chrispy drove his car behind mine with his e-lights flashing while I drove the truck at 25 miles per hour from Cypress to HB. It took us nearly an hour to get there. When we pulled into the driveway, they got out to help, Adam was home, Chris and David came out from the middle house and Aaron joined us from the front house. All 8 of us got the entertainment center inside - I loved that these new friends of mine were so willing to help me and go so far out of their way for it, and I loved that those neighbors of mine came out to help just because that's what good friends do. I love that it's a piece of furniture that my uncle refinished and instead of getting thrown out, it goes to me. I love that Adam doesn't really want any new furniture, but he is okay with it because of the fact that it will make me happy.

After getting it into the house, the original four of us went to Norm's for dinner...which had been the plan all along since about 6pm.

It is so nice now to get home and fall asleep in a bedroom with curtains and a bedspread with leaves and branches all over. It feels like a real living space. Adam didn't have much homework either, so we fell asleep watching Eastbound and Down... I am not so into it, but it's okay to fall asleep to.

Tonight's staff meeting just got cancelled, so I am going home to move furniture around! I would like to have a How I Met Your Mother Marathon Weekend Sat/Sun..and I am planning on seeing Ave. Q twice when it comes to OCPAC. YAY.