Back in RI

Posted by james on Jul 5, 1:21 AM

The past 3 weeks have been interesting, but good ones at that. I'm back in Rhode Island, where I went to college, and back with my friends (including my significant other). My first impression is how strange it is to be gone from somewhere for so long, and yet the minute I land at the now very-familiar T.F. Greene airport... it's all so normal. I feel like Hawaii and Rhode Island are alternating dreams, and when I wake up from one I'm back in the other, thinking to myself "Ah, *this* is real." And then I wake up into the first, and think the same thing.

So right now this is real; I'm in RI, seeing old friends for the first time in 3 months/1 year/2.5 years, jobless, avoiding errands, and loving my time off. I know I'll need the big three soon; a new job, a new car, and a place to live. But for now I've got my time full doing errands for Lauren and others, I've got a place to stay in my second home in Jamestown, and I've got the rat-car to drive.

The rat-car is a purple 2002 Saturn SC2 2-door automatic coupe. It's sat a while and so needed a new battery. After tightening that down and removing the blanket of pine cones and leaves that had accumulated, I've got a fully functional car to use, which is great. Except that after a few days, I got in the car to find a small, baby mouse sitting on the dash, waiting. It wasn't watching me, as it was so young its eyes hadn't opened yet. For some reason it's so strange to see it just waiting there, not moving or doing anything. So I put it in a bag of combos and drove around with it for a day. Then I let it out in the yard, sure to die certain death at the harsh hand of Nature. Se la vie. The only problem is that the car stinks, and I removed a huge rat's nest from the car's vents. I'm not completely sure that the whole family is gone (I found a second mouse soon after, also removed). I can't wait to get a vehicle that is manual transmission, fast, and hopefully more or less rat-free. A more man-friendly color would help too.

I'm doing well. I'm surprisingly busy for a bum. I love being here, being able to do things for other people, and speculating on how my future will shape up. We'll see.