strange radiation: the pool of radiance archive
Adventures with an unreliable narrator.
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Nov 22 06: field report: minneapolis
There was a moment yesterday when I worried I’d miss my plane. I wandered entirely too close to the devouring vortex of an obsessive episode. Suddenly I really, really needed to know where the little bag that my new Addi Turbo #8 needle came in had gotten to. I had the needle; I’d just misplaced the bag. I didn’t need the bag. The needle was in use, and was likely to remain so for the duration of my trip. But where was the bag? Where? Where where wherewherewhereAIEEEEEE.
But no. I leapt back from the edge, at the last possible moment, and got my sorry ass to the airport. And now here I am.
I got here 24 hours ago, and I can say that thus far suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota is characterized by laughing children and the smell of wood-smoke. My sister moved here at the beginning of August, and this is the first I’ve seen her and her family since. I recognize that in many families a gap of just over three months between visits isn’t so unusual, and may even be considered frequent. That used to be the case with my sister and me, but then she moved to Long Island for a while, and I got used to having her around. It had been far too long.
My niece is now three and a half. Today we made a pear-and-chocolate tart for tomorrow’s dinner. Then we went to the gigantic family fitness center and went swimming in a big pool with slides and fountains. Now it is naptime. This evening we’ll go into the city for dinner. My nephew is just over a year old, and is smiley and delightful. There has been much rolling around on the floor and tickling and suchlike. My niece has gotten into the imaginative stage that brings on speeches like “We’re going to play house now, Uncle Andy. Come sit here. It’s a restaurant. What do you want to eat? You can have a pizza. What kind of pizza do you want? Now you look after the baby. No, now you sit here.” Sooner or later my sister and I will have a chance to sit around and gab, and that will be good too.
Not yet sure how much I’m allowed to say about the job in so public a forum as this. But I start first thing Tuesday morning. Huzzah!