escape from New York

chui sees all

ESCAPE.

ESCAPE

i'm slightly amazed that we actually made it out of nyc for xmas--well, i am amazed I made it out of new york. up to the moment i got behind the wheel headed to pick up my passengers, i wasn't sure that it would actually happen. course if i had an awesome machine gun and some ripped up clothes and tattoos, maybe i could have made things happen. sadly i don't think 'Trina's tattoos are going to scare anyone.

on the cusp of freedom i pulled out of the Flat Iron parking garage only to notice i was headed the wrong way down a one way street. i would not have recognized this if not for the very helpful woman that i didn't come anywhere close to running over, thank you very much.

forced to begin a 9 hour drive at 8pm means you skip all rush hour traffic jams!
it also means the CrAZiEs sets in a bit earlier in the trip than usual--including devil cat.

and when the adult in the car and the cat in the car start fighting, i'm not sure who is more pathetic. at least they both got a few swats in. and it was very humorous.

BEACH CATS! what?!

beauty even in the excess 

beach cat watches seagull

squeezed in a run before the mayhem begins again. apparently few people get up before lunch, let alone before 9am. but was my one chance to see the beach all week.

and what did i discover?? feral beach cats!! a whole colony on the rocky point!

seriously. i am not making this up.

beach cat colony hiding in the rocks

kittys know

they only come out at night

i admit to be a little exhausted right now. i'm relatively good at fighting the exhaustion caused by running between part time jobs and rehearsals and auditions and attempting to have a teeny bit of social life. however, i feel slightly justified as for the last week and a half my apartment has been a total disaster zone. living in a disaster zone is not conducive to restful happiness.

then again, it is really just your typical manhattan story. a few weeks back i get a call from the super announcing "they have the right" to break into my apartment. which they will be doing. through my window. this doesn't leave me feeling particularly secure in my little inwood abode. i mean who's cousin has been hired to so easily walk through my window into my apartment?? as fierce a hunter of large creepy, crawly, and flying invaders as Chui is, the only human she seems intent on taking down is me. my calves are particularly attractive targets when she is hungry.

though she has been known to leap onto my back when trying to make a point, she clearly put no such fight up to the invading hordes, who proceeded to demolish the wall of my bathroom. when the leak they claimed to be fixing could not be found, they haphazardly covered said wall in what appears to be black trash bags.

one does not want to be able to see inside the wall of one's new york apartment. one does not want the creatures that live in one's walls to be able to gallivant about ones bathtub as if on holiday. even when one has hungry feline friend.

the unknown plumbing bandits are still parading through my apartment while i toil at my "survivor" jobs, leaving bits of crumbling cement and tile strewn about.

little do they know, i've lived in africa. i have plenty of experience finding alternative means of brushing my teeth.

boone

how sad that the weekend is already over! i love the mountains. but even more than that i love going to Brooks' Mountain in boone, nc. i've been going for as long as i can remember, literally. first to the Register's cabin and then to our own cabin. slowly, all the cabins on Brooks' Mountain have been taken over by mother's friends.

it's a good plan. see in order to spend as much time as possible up there, first mother and john built a cabin, then stocked the liquor cabinet to smooth the edges, then they got a satellite to watch the basketball games, then wifi to do work, then put friends next door to drink with.


my younger siblings all got to have their 16th birthday parties at our cabin, with gasp a co-ed sleep over! my 16th birthday was spent in Saudi Arabia, so i suppose i can't complain. besides, i have many wonderful memories with friends at the cabin, including a couple of new years with all those people i would've invited to a sweet 16, but instead we were older and legal, though obviously not wiser.

that porch has seen many a debauchery, i'm sure. though, this was my first time to smoke a cigar on the porch!


this was also my first time at the cabin as an old auntie. but that's alright too. though it might not make me the best aunt when i bite off lyriella's little fingers and toes. (they were very delicious-- who could possibly resist?)

michelle and i with our babies.

sweat tea and lemonade

...as my sister would sing.

i am counting down the hours before i hit the road with my baby (yes, the cat) and embark on a 10.5 hour drive to boone, cakilacky! woo hoo!

i need to revamp and recharge for a summer in the city. it has been a difficult couple of weeks, but i'm determined to enjoy every aspect of this trip, especially meeting my new niece!!! woo!!

more exclamation points!! woo!!

alright, maybe i have not had enough sleep the last couple of days. there might be a slight possibility that i am unprepared for the ridiculousness i have completely thrust upon myself. 10 hours?? ten and a half hours?? yes. i'm an idiot.


but i did want to drive instead of fly. i admit to having a momentary tinge of jealousy upon learning katrina is already in town after a very early morning flight. however, i am reaffirmed after reading of the latest "bird strike" on a flight at la guardia--the plane landed safely this morning and no one was hurt, though paramedics were called. this was what befell flight 1549 that landed in the hudson - it was attacked by the hordes of geese that live in manhattan.

now am i afraid of a hitchcokian geese attack? perhaps when i have to run through a stubborn flock of them, refusing to move from the path in the park, but i'm not particularly concerned that one might take my plane down. unfortunately for the geese, the city does not share my faith. new york will be culling 2,000!! of our geese in the next couple months. it's pretty sad, especially as the humane society is crying foul -hardy har- and saying the geese that took down the hudson river flight weren't New York residents at all, but migratory geese.

i'm not sure how i would expect them to get the job done, but i am sure i wouldn't have imagined that they would be trapped and gassed!! we might as well write the disney movie right now-- or maybe it would be more appropriate as Hayao Miyazaki film... dark and subtitled.

this started so happy and now it is saddies.

no! happy times! with a little bluegrass, featuring my uncle Jim and one of his bands to lead the way

no habla espanol

I find it rather sad that my very next post is yet again the trials and tribulations of walking my cat. my only excuse is that this past week has been rather overwhelming. the show that i'm in is about to open so rehearsals have ramped up, but that's not really a problem- i live for that type of business. no, between the rent-paying jobs and certain maddening individuals, i've been wishing for some kind of prescription that will allow me to turn off and on my ability to care, think, and feel. or at least something to reduce the anxiety and allow me to get a little sleep at night.

so with that in mind, i decided to spend the sunset at the park with my cat. phbbbbt. :p

it began well enough. hard to say whether she enjoys the outings or not, but i prefer to think that it gives her something to dream about outside of my four walls. the park is quite full these days. families with their lawn chairs and cabanas, kites and barbecues. i chose a spot rather far from the water this time, as Chui can't resist the water and it has a few too many bitey bugs if you sit for long. we did do our requisit creep to the water's edge to investigate, but then i hauled her back so we could bask in the sun. unfortunately it was enough to alert a couple of nearby toddlers to our presence.


they were delighted at a cat oudoors and Chui was remarkably behaved, though she did climb back to my arms after a bit too many exhuberant little hands. it was really baby Miguel that put her over the top. he would wander away, then wander back babbling as a two year old is want to do, then insisting in spanish things i couldn't begin to answer. he poked and grabbed, till Chui retreated to the bookbag, shaking. eventually she made her way back to my lap, but that left her little carrier free and the next time baby Miguel showed up he decided he was a cat. or at least that's what i got from the only word i could understand "meow! meeeeoooow!"


where was this child's parents?? how did i end up with a baby instead of a cat? a baby who proceded to throw grass on me, pick through my belongings, try to take my camera, my earphones. another child, a bit older and with some english, came over to drag the baby out of the carrier, but minutes later he was back, trying to squeeze into the holder, while Chui cowered in my lap.

ridiculous. we survived Miguel, and i huddled Chui against the cold wind, hoping to calm her before we gave up on the park. but we are still away from leasurely walks. and hopefully Chui will be dreaming sunshine and flying things and not of scary children.

officially crazy cat lady

yes that is Chui. on a leash. in the park.

well, we all knew it was coming eventually--my fall into the crazy pile of new york. but in my defense, it was a beautiful day and i had just come from quite a long run so my blood sugar surely was to blame. also, while lazing in the park, my intrepid leopard at my side, i counted no less than 4 children on leashes, not to mention a host of peculiar little and big dogs. so there. it is perfectly reasonable to enjoy the afternoon walking your cat.

hey, my mother walks chickens. so i'm not that far gone, yet.

here there and everywhere

durham is a funny place. actually, i guess anyone's home town is funny. how is it that year after year a place can stay inextricably the same? the scenery changes, like dunes shifting this way and that, and things disappear or leave only an echo in the path of the new. but certain roads still produce the same ache and ghosts lurk in every corner, prompting "what ifs" and long remembrances. a tree marks a perfect kiss, a street sign and a night of tears, a restaurant safekeeps an uncontrollable laugh.

sometimes the roads we've taken and the roads we've yet to choose are so palpable they lay out invitingly, written on the Bandits' stolen map. at such junctions, is it easier to change the path we're on or do the ghostly layers muddle the mind too much? perhaps true wisdom comes in seeing all those choices clearly, detached, seeing both where you've come from and where you are going.

kitty knew i was leaving. maybe b/c we had packed all morning. after dad and kate had taken the last of the things to the car and waited for me, i looked for where she was hiding for a last hug. after sharing my bed with her for the last 6 nights, i thought i deserved one. she was diffident as i picked her up, but with a goodbye i set her at the top of my stairs. she eyed me unimpressed. then, when i reach my hand to pet her head, she hissed at me! hissed! startled, i laid my hand at her feet. she looked at me a full beat, then slowly, without blinking or looking way, she smacked my hand.

i apologized for leaving and asked her not to be mad. but some people just don't pretend.