07.16.2002 - 2:04 p.m.

So. I went to College Park for two days. Then I went to New York for two days. Then I came most of the way back, to Columbia (MD). I'll be back tomorrow, I think, though not at work until next week.

I forgot to bring a camera, but that was okay because it doesn't often occur to me to take pictures. It was not okay, however, that I forgot a notebook. This meant that when I thought of cool things to write about, I had to use receipts and napkins and the tour map of Ellis Island.

I kept it all in a pile on the nightstand at the hotel, but then my little brother used one (A napkin note about a street musician that said, "Some people actually do bang on a drum all day.") for a gum wrapper, so I had to carry them around in my pockets after that.

I'll post what I can later, after I get a chance to finish processing.

New York kinda wiped most of my memory of College Park, but here's a sample of what I did:

I am sitting in the back of a Volvo made in the eighties on the way back from the rockclimbing gym. My hands are in my lap, face up, one resting on each thigh. I do not think they belong to me.

I decide to try moving them, as a sort of test. Move, I tell them. Nothing happens. Maybe I should try one at a time. I look at my right hand. Come on, move. I coax.

One chalky finger twitches, like a leg on a recently-swatted spider.

I decide I don't really care if my hands belong to me.

There should be a rock gym near where I live, too.

-stonebridge

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