TALK: The Green Mountain College Blog

Nothing like spending an evening with the sister and the boyfriend indulging in overly pretentious conversation and poetry as they indulge in sparkling wine and freshly cut cheese...

Ok. So there was no poetry. Or pretentiousness. Just a lot of awesome conversation and some snapped photos making fun of Evan's hat and the way he holds a wine glass. My goodness. It was great.

The next day was spent watching the lil sister kick some butt at a soccer game. She played goalie toward the end of it and got sooo incredibly muddy in the process, it was unbelievable. By the end of it, she had one black/brown/cruddy sock and one white one. I'm sure that strangers from afar merely concluded that she had been sleep-walking that morning while preparing for the game. :)

After that, I spent a few hours hanging out with the older sis and my nephew, as well as the Toby, Katie, and my godson over at Brent's house. I'm sure there are pictures floating around of said event, but I haven't received any yet. Fear not. Our combined cuteness will be shared with the world! Eventually.

And then... to a musical? Wow. Life was packed. I saw West Side Story with my mother at the Palace Theatre that evening. It was PHENOMENAL. I mean, the black and white rendition I saw in chorus class when both teachers were missing in that huge room with tons of talkative friends... couldn't be compared at all. Hahaha. As I used to be a total theatre geekwad, I enjoyed every second of it, and found myself analyzing costume, set, casting, lighting, and blocking decisions during the entire event. The set was pretty super (though there were some technical difficulties, as usually happens in live theatre), but the costuming was amazing. You could seriously tell which characters were with who based on costuming. LOVE THAT. Also, the female lead (the one who played Maria) was... I'm at a loss for words, honestly. Not only was she a spectacular singer and dancer, but she could act TOO! (I've found that in a lot of musicals this is usally the characteristic that is lacking. People seem to think that the fun show tunes and neat dance moves can distract the audience for long enough to realize that those aren't real tears in her eyes during the more somber moments). Seriously, though. She was great. I really hope she makes it to Broadway one day.

And then that evening? I caught up with the old gang at Payton's house. Phew. Busy.

The next morning began with a great big breakfast at home and then some pacing and anticipation. Evan had this big surprise for me that he had been talking about for weeks. Though he revealed that there was a big event he was going to bring me to, he had (amazingly) revealed absolutely no other clues. Hmmm, you say. What could it be???

A trip to a museum exhibit! How nerdtastic!

But this wasn't just any museum exhibit. Oh no. In fact, it was one entirely devoted to Jack Kerouac, the bodaciously bold beatnik. Sweet. They not only had crazy pictures of him throughout his life (he was amazingly handsome in his prime, by the by), but also had some biographical information, an area where you could actually LISTEN to Kerouac's own recordings of his pieces (he had some GREAT haikus!), and an old fashioned typewriter upon which one could write one's own poem or a tribute to the man. Totally cool. Oh, and did I forget to mention that they also had his ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT of his novel On the Road? OMG. Basically, Kerouac hyped himself up on caffeine and other stimulants for 21 days during which he wrote in a single block paragraph the entire manuscript. He then taped each of the pieces of paper together to create a 120 foot scroll and passed it into the publisher as so. YIKES! And they had it at the museum! SO COOL!!! What's even crazier is the fact that I later discovered it was worth over 2.4 MILLION DOLLARS at an auction in 2001 by the owner of the NFL Colts. WOW.

So. I was pretty flabbergasted when I discovered that someone had planned a day trip to Lowell for me based on my likes. I don't even think Evan really likes Kerouac, though I just gave him The Dharma Bums, which I think will be a bit easier for him to read. (Partially because it wasn't written in a 21 day sleep-deprived stupor). Anywho. Just when I thought the day couldn't get any COOLER, we decided to visit his grave and write some poetry of our own (and, of course, take some pictures).

Here I am trying to look contemplative and artsy, just as Kerouac would have liked it.

And here's a fabulous picture by Evan that just captures the simplicity of Kerouac's final resting spot.

Kerouac also inspired me to take a picture about impermanence. Go Jack!

And that was that. Once the sun started heading down we headed to Boston for a quick look through its Garmet District--only the coolest used clothing store around. They literally have a PILE of clothing that you can walk on and over and about looking for clothes that are $1.50 a pound. Good deal. I'm actually wearing a shirt I got there right now. And then we went out for dinner and a nice night walk through a starry state park. Enjoyable evening, indeed.

And of course, then there was Monday. Spent the day doing laundry, packing, procrastinating, etc. I didn't get any of my homework done (woops!) but I did catch up on some much needed sleep and then hang out with my sister a bit. Gotta love leaf jumping.

And then it was Tuesday. Time to travel back to GMC and do homework for ten hours to catch up for the week (and because of midterms). Woohoo!

And that was Fall Break. Yikes.