Morning. It came early today. I awoke at 6:00am and could not return to sleep. I have a little cold I’m fighting. It’s been pissing me off all week. Who the hell wants a runny nose when they’re home for a vacation? We had planned on a 9:00am breakfast at Penny Cluse (169 Cherry Street), and I slept very little after that initial awakening.
Met the family at cafe and enjoyed a breakfast of 2 eggs over served with homefries and mini corn muffins. Afterwards, I wandered around Church Street, hitting up the three (there’s a new one) record stores in the area. Nothing spectacular was found, just one cheap A Silver Mt. Zion record. Then it was off to the UVM campus to see how it’s changed in the six or seven years since I was a student there. In short, much has changed. There is an enormous, new student center right in the middle of the campus. It is so close to my freshman-year dormitory, I remarked that maybe if it had been there when I was matriculating I wouldn’t have lost 20 pounds that year.
Next up was a visit to the Cheese Traders to buy some fresh Vermont cheese to bring home. The hot hot habanero cheddar blew my mind. Winner. My last order of business before leaving Burlington was to get a sandwich at Kountry Kart (155 Main Street), the deli where I ate every week when I was living up there. I ordered the exact same sandwich I always got: turkey, bacon, and cheese on sourdough bread. Because I’m seven years older and wiser, I added tomato to the sandwich. Take that, my past! Don’t you see how much I’ve grown!?
And then, poof, the mini-vacation inside this bigger vacation was over. Today’s drive home was somewhat painstaking, as I was growing increasingly tired throughout the trip. The best part was finally being able to capture a half-decent photograph of some of the little cow cages at one of the numerous veal farms that line the side of the highway. There are many weird sights on the various roads one takes from Vermont back to New Jersey. Also, I had to piss really bad somewhere along Route-7 and required a stop at some shithole in the middle of nowhere. No bathroom, only port-a-potty. Too bad their portable toilet hadn’t been sanitized since April 28th. It was one of the most foul places I’ve ever found myself.
Arrived home shortly after 6pm. Jack, Ken and Katie showed up to hang out and welcome me back to town, again. Katie wanted to take photos of me for a project she’s working on, which included a shot of me running, a shot of a spinning record, and a photo of my record shelves. Then she shrunk me down and made it look like I’m running on a spinning disc. It’s pretty amazing. She even created a shadow for me by copying a “fake” version of me and warping it and playing with it. There’s a photo of Jack playing with a really large pencil and calculator, too. Later, Evan and Mike showed up with some beers. Ken went and got us sushi. We watched Black Snake Moan in high-definition and wondered why none of us ever thought of making a movie with a hot young actress chained and naked for the duration of the film. Afterwards…Well, that would be right now.
Katie is editing her photos (to see more of her work, check out her website), Ken is drunk on wine, and we’re watching a shitty movie. Who the hell knows where the rest of the night will go. Oh, wait, I just popped two “night time” cold pills, so the night will probably go away very, very soon.
Click to Enlarge:
City Center – Killer Whale
Cliff Gober – A Poor Wayfaring Stranger
The End – Cardboard Watch
T.I.M.E. – Tripping Into Sunshine
