salience

It's been awhile, ya'll, I know. But, it would be an understatement to say I've been distracted from Salience: for the second year in a row, it's done. 51,107 words later, I've officially been named a 2004 NaNoWriMo Winner!! :)

I wish my camera had been in reach to capture the routine. We're close here, we don't have to talk, but we do. It's two of us to a bed just because of spacial parameters. Our Christmas lights stay up, outlining our ceiling. Our winamps trade off and there's always a sharpie nearby to doodle on one's self. When you run out of clean skin, there's someone close by who can accomodate. 'Cause that's what we are here, calm. We end up laying on top of one another, inevitably. And I'm always short two stuffed animals afterwards because a certain roommate of mine was apparently stuffed animal deprived as a child, and what better form of retribution than to collect my animals?? When we run out, they'll return to my bed and we'll start over. We laugh, we share. We watch life happen outside our window when the new england darkness turns too cold. See, this is home.

The snow's melting, finally. Living in an actual house this year means a lot of things are different: our temperature control (or lack thereof); going and coming through our sliding glass door; having a yard, the list goes on and on. But the coolest thing, by far, has been watching all of the snow melt from shell and mine's window. The first snow is fun, but man is it cold. :)

Thanks to all of you who turned out to play for the team's return last night. (And by team, I mean our footballers who beat west virgina yesterday.) It was short notice, and having not been here when it was done after the Notre Dame game, kinda crazy. (Can we say watching tv, playing twister and clue while waiting for the team to get in from the airport in the band room??) But the team was much appreciative, and we even got to see Dave's familia, who drove up from the cape with his amazing wife and four beautiful babies. Who knows, maybe we'll do it again for el fin de semana que viene.

I hope ya'll have all had a chance to get the Manson compilation, Lest We Forget, as well as APC's eMOTIVe. Both are excellent--whether you're looking for music to reinstate your catholic guilt or music that will break your heart, although be advised, only one is mtv friendly. :)

He’s charismatic and beautiful to me, still.

But he should stand alone on that pedestal.

He wants to hang out tomorrow. And that doesn’t mean us talking, or focusing on one another. No, I can come with him while he runs errands, if I so choose.

That hasn’t changed. His life doesn’t stop.

If you don’t jump, you’ll never catch the train.

And I’m thinking, as much as I miss the ride sometimes, do I want that dizziness again?

For your reading, a recipe a la shell and maria for holiday decorum...

Take a Sunday night in late fall, after a particularly band-intense (friday, shell's chorale concert; saturday, game day, bcmb talent show afterwards; sunday, maria's concert band concert): an overall busy weekend. Your timeline should be similar to that which follows:

9pm: promise one other you'll actually do school work (cause although we live for our extracurriculars here, classes do need to be passed) for a solid hour, after which, we can begin putting up our treasured christmas lights, for the third year of living together, and for the last time. Roommates confine themselves to their respective beds and set to work.

9:30pm: Carmina Burana (our soundtrack of determination) has reached a pinnacle of musical excitement. Orff has only added to our navidad anticipation.

9:57pm: time check. 3 minutes til fun...

10:07pm: oops, had to finish a conclusion to a spanish paper, temporarily forgot lights, but now the fun shall commence!!

10:09pm: begin untangling lights that have been in our storage since january.

10:10pm: icicle lights work?? check... still tangled, but so beautiful.

10:11pm: roomies joke about this being the third time of decorating our room for la navidad, both decide to wear lights, and simultaneously self-drape icicles around necks...

10:13pm: lights are mostly untangled, hanging begins at our room's door.

10:47pm: 3 series of lights are hung around our room, duck taped and push pinned to our mobile home's walls

10:50pm: all non holiday and ergo uncool regular lamps are switched off now!! so we can bask in our extension cord efficiency

11pm: mortal kombat is chosen as theme music on winamp

a few hours of homework, procrastination, roomie time and sleep later...

7am: first drop is heard while roomies are unconscious, yet we expected it and are aware... back to sleep...

8-9:30am: alarms and the process of getting up and starting the day, ugh

9:31am: realize the lights have fallen in a key corner and it was maria's turn this year to sleep draped under the close supervision of icicles...

10am+: Go about the day, come home, repeat from step 10:13pm.

A few things:

1. Please ya'll, don't censor yourself for your "friends." Are these gente really friends if they ask you to alter who you are for who they have to be?? Think about it.

2. Yay for beating Rutgers el sabado pasado. Only two weeks of marching rehearsal left, I can't believe it. The season is going to be over before we all know it. Craziness.

3. Life is good right now, yes.