Saturday

This is what the laundry list looks like:

Woke at nine, when a friend called to ask the schedule. She said "Oh, I am so sorry I woke you up again." Apparently she had called last night to inquire after our plans, and I said "We leave tomorrow at eleven, who is this?" I had no memory of this. Apparently if you catch me late enough, I'll tell you all of our plans.

I fell asleep for another half hour, in my low and warm bed. I dashed off a half-angry, half-confused note, and left the room. After a brief shower I scuried to dress myself.

We took the train into the city, and laughed and talked all the way down. We briskly walked to Logan Square (actually a circle), where there is a fountain full of frogs, catfish, and langorous youths. One of our party was late meeting us, so we had heated arguments about where the new Phillies stadium should be, and whether the city should be financing it. I am very much pro-new-stadium (though not the way the city is going about it), and we nearly came to blows. I should learn to lay off some things, but I just feel very deeply that I am so right sometimes.

The day was cool and fair. It was beautiful city weather. The Parkway was littered with trash and debris, but when we turned onto the quieter city streets, we were treated to one of the most lovely sections of Philly. We climbed the hill to the Eastern State Penitentiary, past ornate brownstone buildings and leafy side alleys.

Since we missed a tour, we browsed Book Haven, which I kept calling Book Barn by accident. Nearly as good, I could have easily spent a small fortune there.

ESP was tremendously moving. You come up on it suddenly - out of nowhere is a thirty foot wall like a medieval fortress. It's a ruin, it's derelict and the cells are filled with several feet of an ashen substance. We moved in and out of the bright sunlight and the cool cell blocks. I peered into each of the cells, trying to make out the outlines of the left-over furniture through the darkness. It strikes me as so strange and somehow wrong that people can experiment on others that way.

We played in the garden outside, swinging our feet and trying to decide what to do about lunch (McDonalds it was) and what to do about dinner (delicious Indian food). We wandered through the brief Chinatown and the Farmers Market (Mm, homemade sausages, honey, local fruits and vegetables, Mennonites). We dipped our feet in fountains. There was a beautiful girl in one of the fountains, and I still remember how she looked - loose and pretty and a little off balance.

We returned home, footsore and dry in the mouth. I changed into my pajamas and we watched The Terminator.

2002-09-09, Saturday

before / after

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