Broke into the old apartment...

I live in chaos. I always have. I am not a neat person. I'm not a slob, I just creat clutter. That's what makes home to me.

I've been thinking recently about the places I've lived since I moved to Philadelphia after college three years go. (July 3rd marked the three year anniversary.) I've been thinking about my four apartments and five roommates. I loved the apartment on Christian St. with it's minimal furniture, and transient roommates. It's proximity to everything, and it's multicolored living room. I loved the front porch on Spruce St., but mostly loved the company I kept on that front porch. I loved Hazel Ave. though everyone makes fun of my time at "50th and shoot you in the face". It was a small apartment that had a lot of character. I think I just loved living with Elena.

Now, though, I actually feel at home in this fourth apartment.. I have pictures on the walls, and furniture from Gaithersburg. Three years, three apartments, five roommates later... I am comfortable saying that have found a home in Philly.

"They all think I'm easy, well I'm easy, 'cause I let them win..."

A month ago, Jess chastised me with, "Would you update your blog? You're a writer for christsake!" Well, better late then never I guess, but there's not a whole lot to report.



I have almost completed my first summer off. I did not work at all this summer, with the exception of some curriculum work that I did from home. I got to travel a little bit, and read books for fun for the first time in a long while.



I went to visit my mother in Colorado. A beautiful place of mountains and small towns. She's happy there, which makes me happy, though it's not as convenient to visit as Gaithersburg. A few weeks later I ventured down to North Carolina with my Dad, Step-Mom and the gaggle of stepsiblings and other related types. It astounds me how much Duck, NC has changed since I was a little kid, and yet it astounds me how it has stayed the same. I read books that week, and window shopped at the same places I did throughout elementary school.



Since I last wrote, I started and ended a relationship which was very "when it was good it was very very good and when it was bad it was horrid." It's over though, and now I'm convinced that I'm going to wind up alone with cats. I'm getting more okay with that.



On August 27, I go back to school and my students arrive a week later. Year #2 will begin as will my attempt to make year 2 better than year 1. I want to learn from my mistakes. I want to have classroom management (or something that resembles classroom management). I want my kids to actually read a book. Who knows? I just want to get back to work.



Some reviews (in case you care...):

Book:

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen- I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would based on the reviews that I read of it. The characters are deep and complex, the family dynamics are very real, but the actually plot is... drawn out. It was a good read though. (Note: it makes



Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill- No it's not about Kurt Cobain. Really quick read, but a good ghost story. Aging rock star (ala Ozzy Osborne) has a fetish for the occult and buys a "ghost" off ebay. Thinks it's a joke, but then weird things start happening. Seems contrite, but actually it's done well.



What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman- It's been a while since I went out and bought everything an author has written, but this chick rocks. Two sisters go missing one afternoon at the mall in Baltimore county. Thirty years later, long after they are presumed dead, a woman claiming to be the younger sister is involved in a hit and run accident. Good characters, good plot twists, all and all a great story.



Okay...