Maya in Wonderland

It was really beautiful in the City

and seriously disenchanted. I woke up in a “let’s get physical and save the planet” sort of mood. This doesn’t happen very often and now I remember why.

So it was 7:30 AM and I packed up my bag and hopped on my bike - because why pay $3.35/gallon for gas when there’s a lovely bike trail - and rode through the streets and was all “what a lovely morning” and got to the Back Bay with the morning fog and was all “wow”

then, a mile and a half from my house, as I’m starting up a hill, there’s this weird thumping.

Huh.

and I realize pretty quickly that my chain, which had been wrapped around the seat stem, had dropped and was bouncing on the rear reflector, so I adjust that, but now I have to walk up the hill because I can’t get up enough speed to start over because I have the gears adjusted pretty stiffly. And it’s mildly embarrassing to be walking up the hill, but whatever, I’ll never see these people again and then I get to the top and start riding again

and my bike begins making a loud whimper, not unlike the noise that I imagine that a puppy that’s been run over would make. So now, I’m hurting the bike? And I try to ride through it, making adjustments, and finally realize that I’ll have to turn around because it’s really LOUD and I’m sort of wondering if it’s going to attract vultures and then I realize that the back tire, which had been full and firm when I began this little escapade, is flat.

And I’d be less annoyed except that the LAST time that I tried to ride this bike, it also got a flat. Maybe it’s cursed!!!

I can’t begin to describe how much I love being able to get off of the plane and head directly to the Metro. No fuss, no mess, no waiting for a ride.

And the weather is way better than I’d thought. I was braced for exploding heat and instead, got a balmy breeze. I’m not going to get used to this.

I had twenty-four hours. Andrea and I went to the Palace of the Legion of Honor to see the Art Deco exhibit

and to admire the views

then headed south to the Shoreline Ampitheater to see Blink 182 and No Doubt. Made it back to Sacramento around 2AM. I met Leshem at Denny’s at 3 and we drank coffee until 5:30, I drove to the airport, left the car for my parents to pick up when they get back and caught the plane for DC.

Make memories now, sleep later.

Ben very kindly braved two hours of NY Friday traffic and picked me up in Long Island. We had a lovely weekend where we alternated between being very social and being lethargic (finals were catching upwith me). We had a long list including the Biennial Celebration at the Whitney and a John Waters exhibit.

We ended up hanging at their neighborhood cafe, the Lucky Cat, wandering around the neighborhood and sleeping a lot. We did go to a party where I met Min, who is studying design in Pasadena and is on an internship in NY until next week, and Julia, who graduated two years behind me and grew up literally two miles from my parents house. Sometimes I wonder why I leave California.

Last night (Sunday) Ben and I went into Manhattan for dinner at a good organic vegetarian restaruant and so I could go to H&M. I really miss not having one on the West Coast. I was, however, a little disturbed because while their quality has improved, the prices have gone up. I found two items that I really liked, but they totalled out at $50 and I could not purchase them. $50 is not the point of H&M.

It’s spring break, which roughly translates into “God, I need some sleep”. It’s nice to be on vacation without homework guilt, but I remembered that I really don’t like taking finals, so I’m not sure why I went to a school where they occur 3 times a year instead of two. However, I’m travelling, so of course that makes me happy.

When I got to the airport, they said that my reservation had been cancelled because the person at the Southwest phone thing hadn’t entered the tax in right. The manager tried to say that I’d have to fly standby, but it was a pretty half hearted effort and I got my ticket with little difficulty.

The security line was amazingly long (remember, it was only 6AM at this point, and I’ve gotten about 5 hours sleep in the last 72). Bad things always come in three’s, but I felt like I was doing ok.

At bag check, mine got tagged to be searched after going through the scanner. ??? Whatever. The guard reaches into the front pocket and pulls out my long silver Clinique lipstick tube. Oh, ok. Then she pulls out my Exacto knife from design class with the inch long very sharp blade.

Whoops.

This was even funnier (to me; no one else was laughing) because I’d even taken the mechanical pencils out of my backpack to avoid such an occurence. Hadn’t checked my front pocket. Ten minutes, four airline guards, a sheriff and a police report later, I was allowed to go on, sans my exacto knife. It had been photographed and taken as evidence. They’re supposed to be contacting me.