Woke up to the sound of a lawnmower outside. The sun was streaming in through the big bay window and cooking my legs inside my subzero sleeping bag. I wrote for a bit and then went to take a shower before all the hot water got used up. I couldn’t believe how late the majority of the others slept. Around 1 PM, we decided to rouse the troops and Max put on a children’s life preserver, took up a pot and pan and went to town.
In the morning cleanup, we found the house’s liquor stash. Some were happy that we had not dicovered it the night before and had had mostly good sober fun while others just thought of what might have been.
We left for Boston around 2. Drove to Alewife Station and took the T into Harvard Square. We walked around for a bit. I realized the group needed some non herd time so we defined a meeting place and time then splintered into two groups. My group headed for a non chain restaurant. Walked in a bit of a circle. Finally settled on the Greenhouse, where I got chowda and a reuben. Good fries too. Afterwards, we went into Harvard Yard. There is a high percentage of people around Harvard who look different. Like a driving charter of the school is to aggressively proclaim one’s individuality. Through dreadlocks and buttons.
We met up with the others and then the group broke again on new lines. I went off by myself to check out the many anime shops at the Garage for a bit, but instead Laurel called and then Joe to plan out the next day (Laurel’s birthday).
Drove to Arlington to Chris Britt’s house for dinner. Caravanning in the city, exponentially more difficult than the highway. There’s a really stupid intersection near Alewife station with some nasty merges, especially with 4 cars. We had to gun it through and cut off the others. Little did I know how much this city driving would affect my happy little place in my head. Dinner at the Britt’s was the healthiest meal many of us had had since the trip began. I loaded up on salad. Yeah, that’s right. Salad.
After dinner, I got direction to Max’s house while the others were doing impressions of each person’s individual playing quirks in the living room. I missed mine, but I got a quick reenactment when I came down. Then we had a huge discussion about the rest of the trip, including show planning for Thursday, which got some people vocal and shut other people off. I just wanted to get Big Texas to Max’s house (the incubators stayed at Chris’ that night) before it got too late, but we didn’t leave until 9:45.
And then we got lost. Horribly horribly lost. Driving around the city in the dark, I realized that streets in Boston change names, directions, and state of mind. I wasn’t in the best mood already from the drawn out painful discussion and getting lost really flushed my mood into the dark recesses. In the back, my team was trying to work on patterns, so I was trying to listen to them and give notes as well. We dubbed Mapquest “Crapquest” after it got us horribly lost around Harvard Square and Mass Ave. I hate Mass Ave around Harvard Square. Finally we called Max and he guided me in via Storrow Road and down Riverway to his house.
That night was the best night of the trip, so far for me. We situated ourselves in Max’s attic room and then went downstairs to talk with a couple of drinks. More than a couple of drinks and many jokes later, we were giddy and as Jessie puts it, “loving each other” which really fit, we were just loving being around one another. Got to bed around 1:30 AM, all of us crammed into the attic by choice.