Hello beautiful thing, maybe you could save my life

listening: Bruce Springsteen, "Girls In Their Summer Clothes"


I've been back in Mississippi for nearly two weeks now, making hard decisions about the next eight months and desperately refraining from making plans any further than June. I leave at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning to drive the ten hours to Austin. Thank goodness I replaced my ipod before I ever left Oregon as I'll be making this drive by myself.

Once upon a time I was a 21 year old kiddo with some time to burn and a break from school, so I hopped in the car (the same one I have now) armed with cds (although I think my music taste then was still a bit questionable) and the little money I'd made from working at the coffee bar. I gladly drove those ten hours by myself just to spend a couple of days in a city that felt so warm and right to me. I wonder what happened to me that now I cringe at the thought of spending that time in the car rather than relishing the freedom to do so.

So the big news is that I'll be in Austin for the month of October (hearing a load of lovely music at ACL this weekend and Weezer on the 20th) and then returning to Jackson til my departure again in June. I went to to my grandparents' house today to have lunch and visit and my goodness, my grandfather has aged in the past 3 weeks since I saw him last. Maybe if you wonder why I'm coming back to Jackson rather than sticking up for myself in Austin, that might be a clue.

I'm still composing the entries for my two weeks on the East coast, but here's a preview of what I did with all that time:

yesterday don't matter if it's gone

listening: franco battiato's cover of "ruby tuesday"

I am about to leave for two weeks on various couches and in guest rooms on the East Coast. First I fly to Atlanta to see Ben & Amanda (and hopefully catch up with C's friends J&S). After spending Labor Day weekend with them, I will board a train to Charlotte, NC, where I will finally get to see my two loves Jolene and Mister A for longer than a meal. I will stay to harass them for about a week before taking another train to Washington, D.C. where I will commune with various friends from college and the museum and another, more recent friend. I'll also be saying hello to Mister Jefferson and keeping my ears open for response from the public school system. There is fantastic article in the DNC edition of Newsweek about the new chancellor taking on the teachers' unions. The nerd in me is stoked to see what happens.

To leave all three of my readers with a pleasant image, this is the pecan tree under which I spent naps when I was a little girl, sitting in a hammock until the ropes pressed into my skin. Unfortunately, after being struck by lightning many times and showing signs of dying, it either has to be cut down or it will fall on the house. House wins. House always wins.