Tina's Journal - June 2001

June 4th

6/1/01 I managed to sleep in until 10:30 or 11:00 and greet the day finally feeling rested and healthy. In fact the first thing Will said when he saw me as I peeked my head over his cubicle wall was, "wow. you look tan and rested" I said, "yup" taking in his several day old scruff and tousled hair. He didn't. I suppressed a smug grin. There's something to be said for 12 hours of sleep.

I spent the day zipping around and visiting people and revisiting my favorite restaurants, such as The Best Thai Food place in the US (Thai Cuisine). The only thing it lacks on its voluminous menu is black sticky rice. They made up for it, however, by offering four other "authentic" Thai desserts (not counting the requisite mango ice or Lechee fruits that are common at most Thai restaurants). Sadly we were so caught up in taking home the cute little dishes our desserts came in (yes, we were supposed to take them) that we forgot our leftovers. I was distressed for hours. Not, however, sad enough to call up the restaurant and ask them to put them in the fridge for me, as was suggested. But close.

6/2/01 Saturday was spent visiting and walking around the Ithaca Festival. I even managed to buy a few things in between bouts of talking on the phone (picture forthcoming). 6/3/01 On Sunday I got no end of ribbing from the gang at the festival about being a techno-geek for talking on the phone all the time. Then they asked if they could use it. Hah!

Mark and Andrea met up with us during the latter half of the evening, looking rather worse for wear after having driven about 98% of I-90 during the past six days. They perked up after doing a little shopping at the crafts booth and eating a smidgen of the yummy international food available at the Festival (one of the booths had purple sticky rice. Similar and decent, but not quite the same as the black sticky rice we had in Seattle). We rounded up a good crowd to go to Coyote Loco, the Ithaca Equivalent of La Pinata (but nicer) for dinner, during which Brielle, Michelle and I had a fabulous time recounting climbing epics to each other while the men in the group (at least at our end of the table) looked on rather quietly (in awe of our prowess, I'm sure ;)

6/4/01 After meeting with my old graduate school advisor and being reminded of what an interesting and exciting life is possible in the sciences, I caught up with all the news of my fellow grad students and took off for MA. My head spinning with endless possibilities and... thoughts of rush hour traffic in Worcester (thanks Mom). I came up with grand plans for aiding third world research labs and travelling the world over. Coffee certainly makes me ambitious. Somewhere in Massachusetts the coffee wore off and my brain turned to grand plans of deciding which CD to listen to and wondering which country would have the best Latin dancing and if becoming an exceptionally talented Salsa dancer would constitute a good use of my college education. I'm thinking Cuba. Anyone else know?

Noe and Pete's Wedding, Vermont
(okay, so it's not exactly, shall we say, poetry, but we needed a little variety in this epistle.

Thursday is the day I left
Wednesday seemed of time bereft
Burlington was sunny and bright
Full of stores that did delight
Especially the one they called Old Gold
In which vinyl pants of pink I did behold
Sadly, 'though they fit me fine
I looked at the price and drew the line
But something later made people stare -
A black cowboy hat of Noe's to wear!

We shopped for wedding stuff galore
Thrift shop, pharmacy and grocery store
We packed and packed - two cars and a pickup
I brought Bruce - what good luck!
We had linens, dishes and a cousin
Pounds of cheese, strawberries by the dozen
We arrived in Gaysville - 3 girls in good cheer
But began to wonder - did Pete run off with the beer?
For late he came, four kegs in tow
Not to worry he said, my errands were slow.

The relatives began arriving later that night
Bringing cars stuffed with boxes - oh what a sight!
The house was chock full - not a countertop free
The floor, it was somewhere, we just couldn't see
Saturday we started, Noe calm as could be
To set up the tables - enough for fifty
Pete's mom was in charge of dinner that eve
All were stuffed full before they did leave
I went to bed early, my neck was hurting
But woke to the idea of fresh coffee perking

On Sunday the skies were still clear as could be
Planning the day were Pete, his parents and Noe
Notecards they had for anyone willing
There was stuff to be done, even cakes that need filling!
Everything went without a single hitch
It seemed we might escape without a glitch
We walked to the field - eighty in all
When the skies opened up and rain started to fall!
Back to the tent, we trudged rather wet
To look at the cakes and umbrellas did get
But the storm was so brief - it was but relief from the heat
So we trooped back to the spot with Noe and Pete

The ceremony was under blue skies
Everyone, I believe, had tears in their eyes
Christy and I gave our best reading
While the siblings performed a musical greeting
The newlyweds made a mad dash, through showers of birdseed
And led us all back to the buffet with speed
During a break they showed us their prowess
By tackling the pinata in swede vest and dress
After the gigantic dinner was tackled
And the bride and groom had been appropriately heckled
We made a dent in the dessert table
And tore up the dance floor - as many as were able

They were sent off in good style
With decorated truck, sparklers and smiles
To have a night to themselves in quiet and peace
For the next day was clean up and this time...the rain did not cease!

My most favorite generalization phrase is sadly appropriate when I claim that everyone and their mother is sick. The whole house is practically an infirmary, with everyone except my sister-in-law suffering from colds or flu bugs. My brother started it all (so claims my mother, who's the worst off), but seems to have recovered well. I vacillate between wanting to leave as soon as possible to perhaps stave off the inevitable contraction of germs, and wanting to stay and help. Luckily, I just have a little cold at this time, but I am desperate not to get what my mom has, which has left her pitifully curled up on the couch. All those years working with bacteria has caused me to wash my hands everytime I touch anything.

We are, however, doing our part to support the herbal medicine industry, consuming a multitude of herbal teas, lozenges and various vitamin complexes. Although who knows what good they're doing to anything but the "Herborific Drug Company's" bottom line.

All this illness has dampened my enthusiasm for visiting so I have terribly neglected all my Massachusetts friends (I don't think they've noticed, 'though - I'm in The Most Overlooked Town in New England (even in high school no-one had ever heard of this town)). This has left me ample time to see my cat, who has been nice enough to hang out with me again. When I arrived here a couple weeks ago, my family was all excited to see how she would greet me. Of course, she was the epitome of a cat, and promptly hid under the bed. When I reached my hand under to let her smell it, she retreated even farther back, practically disappearing into the wall. Thanks cat. Now, although she's willing to sit in the same room as I, she mostly keeps her back turned.

Tomorrow I have my first bridal shower to attend (luckily she's an ultimate player so can find good use for cheezy lingerie...). Then my sister-in-law and I are off to NYC to get cultured. I'd better start packing (or, shall we say, unpacking and repacking?). But let me wash my hands first ;)

Later that evening... Since the most exciting thing happening to me these days is arguing with my family about how much Bush sucks, you can catch up on news of my friends. My last housemate in Bellingham, Dylan Taylor, is a guide for The American Alpine Institute, and yes, he was one of the rescuers on Mt. Baker last Tuesday. Here is the story, with not a single mention of his name (although he played a very important role, which involved, but was not limited to: using his cell phone and persuading his clients to share their tents with the hapless (and smelly) previously-lost climbers - the latter probably being more difficult than the former). Anyways, he should be praised and sent small gifts of gratitude: (especially by the folks he rescued)

[12/11/01] Sorry links no longer available
The King5 web article
The Bellingham Herald article

Also in the news, my friend (and Bellingham resident (since, after all, I'm neglecting my Massachusetts friends)), Annie, has been making waves these days by her decision to follow a rather common practice of holding students accountable for cheating. Apparently some members of the Western community thought it rather harsh to actually punish a student who erases the incorrect answers on an exam, replaces them with the correct answers and then asks for a re-grade (wish my school had had a policy like that!).

I'm glad to see that at least a few people are doing something worthwhile with their time, since it seems that the most useful thing I can do these days is keep my hands clean (to prevent the spread of disease, you know!).

After the final hours of packing, my sister-in-law, Andrea, and I headed off to NYC for a few days. She was immediately drafted into carrying my day pack, since I was struggling with my backpack and a surprisingly heavy duffel bag. I still have no idea why it was so heavy. We stayed with my high school friend in Manhattan and cruised the town for a few days, visiting the Rockefeller Center, Central Park and a whole lot of street corners (since, I believe, we walked at least 60 blocks). We checked out 7 of the 8 floors of Sacks Fifth Avenue where I proceeded to embarrass my companions by asking a pompous-looking man in a suit what, exactly, "Advanced Sportswear" was (made by "advanced designers", if you're wondering - nothing whatsoever to do with advanced sports). I'm still curious as to which sports one is supposed to pursue in these clothes, most likely golf, or horse-race spectating. But I must say that Old Gold (the vintage store in Burlington) has NOTHING on Sax Fifth Ave! Retro is back with a vengence, although I think most of the clothes will end up with their brethren on the racks of Goodwill stores across America.

Andrea and I also spent some time in The Met looking at tons of pictures of Christ in various stages of crucifixion and lots of nude people. The women of the Christian times are portrayed much more like real women than those you see on magazine covers these days. I guess they weren't much into crunches back then...

We tested the quality of NYC food by taking Andrea to a fancy Korean restaurant on the edge of Chinatown. She was very helpful in translating the menu and our specific needs to the waitstaff. We had quite the international group at our table - I got together my old high school and college friends - we had representatives from Africa, Korea, Bangladesh, Germany and America!

I then managed to drag my self and all my excessive gear to JFK, stabbing only a few people on the bus with my ski poles ("excuse me, but you're jabbing me, those things have points on them you know!" "sorry but the other 30 people standing up aren't exactly leaving me gobs of space"). And yes, Jamie, I agree - East Coasters can be especially rude. Particularly when you interrupt them from slacking off on the job to ask them a question. Ah yes, and I always thought I appreciated that aspect of New Yorkers. Navigation in a public building, whether looking for the bathroom or 20th century art, is quite the epic adventure, Outward Bound doesn't need to take inner city students all the way to the mountains to experience personal and group challenges, just set them loose in NY and see if they can find their way home, by only asking New Yorkers directions. Now there's an epic.

All photos

Eight days of paddling in the San Juans was actually significantly easier than I had anticipated (after having been assailed by so many warnings of the dangerous currents and all the deaths that had occurred). Luckily, we had pretty good weather (and, of course, extremely good planning and preparation (barring Thursday's late night departure from Bellingham, but that's only a story for close personal, non-blood-related folk)). We paddled beautiful wooden kayaks that Andy made by hand. They didn't have rudders but handled wonderfully (except in a lot of wind), they're light, fast and track well. I'm sold! If only I had the patience to make one...

I continued my trend of leaving a bit of myself everywhere, including my sleeping bag and driver's license. Neither proved to be much more than a passing annoyance. But definitely a source of frustration as I wonder when I'm going to lose something really important, like my head.

The area is as gorgeous as everyone claims (and you can get cell phone reception almost everywhere! What more could one ask for? Granted Andy hadn't installed the portable generators in the kayaks yet so I couldn't charge the phone, but still, it's the principle that counts). I can't say much more than it was a lovely trip, which doesn't make much of a story since there were no major epics. But also, I'm paying by the minute again so I'll embellish later.

Currently I'm on Orcas island, hangin' with the gang from Bellingham - getting ready for the Greatest Ultimate Tourney Ever this weekend. We're playing in the sun, swimming, eating, went for a little hike. It's the perfect Island Life. Sunday I leave for Colorado.

Kayaking Pictures