Saturday, October 4, 2008

Autumn non-lonliness


I seem to only post on here when I'm feeling sad or lonely. As I look back through old postings, I seem like quite a pathetic mess. But there are long stretches of time when I don't post because I'm too busy out in the world, being inspired by my students, laughing with friends, feeling all warm and fuzzy from the people who love me. So I thought I'd simply share with you how my lovely, Fall, non-lonely week has been.

On Wednesday, I went to an open mic at a cool little hipster club in Arlington with my band and my boyfriend. We kicked ass and garnered more applause than any other act. I stayed out waaay past my bed time, but I felt like such a rock star!

On Thursday, I went to a wonderful yoga class with my friend and roommate. Then we came home, made some delicious green curry with couscous, and headed over to another friend's house to laugh at Sarah Palin's over-plucked eyebrows and embarrassing mispronunciation of the word "nuclear" during the debates. There were about twenty of us - 20 & 30 somethings with microbrews and homemade hummus, crowded into a little Adams Morgan living room, draped over thrift store couches and lying on hard wood floors, participating with angsty fervor in our "democracy." I stayed out late - again - but it was worth it.

Friday, my lack of sleep started to catch up with me and I needed a low-key night. So the boyfriend and I walked into town, ate some empanadas and Rita's, and rented a low-budget Japanese horror flick from the redbox at Giant. We fell into a blissful, early sleep to creepy images of zombies and bleak, grey post-apocalyptic worlds.

That brings me to today, Saturday. I rolled out of bed around 11, just in time to greet my bandmates, Josh and Julian for band practice at my house. We have a big gig coming up on the 18th, and had a lot of work to do. We sat out back in the brisk fall air and played through the entire set. We each also shared a new song that we wrote this week, which was exciting because we're starting to really grow and create some pretty unique stuff. Then we ordered pizza, and made our new myspace page. (www.myspace.com/nativesonsmusic) Josh had to go to work then, but Julian and I sat out on the front porch for a little longer, listening to music and just enjoying the beautiful day.

Now I am writing this entry on my front porch. Runners jog by, women push strollers, and all kinds of loud Columbia Heights folk color the street with their ever-widening vocabulary of urban vernacular. Every now and then I get "hey baby" from a passerby, to which I scowl, but secretly blush. The noise is low and steady, mostly intermittent cars, various birds, and some Latino music fading in and out from a neighbor down the street. The combination of the sunshine and breeze feels like Halloween. It makes me want to eat soup and jump into piles of leaves.

Tomorrow I will work on some schoolwork in the morning, in my pjs, in my bed, with lots of coffee. That will be followed by a fun girls day: thrift-shopping for fall clothes, the Takoma Park folk festival, and finally, what we call our "urban posse." This is a weekly, Sunday night dinner at our friend's house. He makes the most amazing Pakistani food, and we all sit around at eat it while drinking wine, jamming (there's a keyboardist, a drummer, a few guitarists, a banjo player, and me - the singer, in addition to a few listeners), and talking about politics and love.

No, this week I am not lonely. I am not lonely at all.

2 comments:

Sarah Mae said...

That does sound like a wonderful, non-lonely, lovely week! I thought Sarah Palin rocked in the debates, goofy accent and all! Biden did well too, of course, but do I sense some botox? :) I'm glad all is well with you - I'm hoping to make it to your gig on the 18th, but in the meantime, I'm off to check out your new website!

"Uncle" Travelling Mel said...

Are you really thinking of coming to my gig?? I didn't know that! That would be awesome!