a few things: nothing profound.

so as i'm sitting here in bed, listening to my mother warble away to a pbs special on leonard cohen, i've been able to reflect on a few things.

first of all, after spending the day wandering the streets of salem, i realized i can't be that surprised when a man on the streets will go out of his way to tell me to, uh, move your cahh forward a bit (six inches) so mah people can pahk, please. except he didn't say please, just extended a patronizing tap on the hood of my car. he's a descendant of a Puritan, and well, they're all assholes. while eating lunch today at the nathaniel hawthorne inn (my food was served cold, and it was overpriced...how fitting), some bostonian was escorted out of the restaurant for threatening to "have a go" with a fellow diner for looking at his wife the "wrong way." i couldn't help but stare. but when his eyes met mine i quickly turned back to my mesclun. salads don't beat you up when you stare at them, anyway.

second of all, i realized why my parents got divorced. driving from the hotel to salem was quite a cumbersome task, apparently. but, story of their relationship short: they always have a map but can't follow their own directions. my mom does this thing where when she's upset, her hands turn into the paddles of an oar, and she flicks them back and forth. from the amount of flailing, one might think she was paddling upstream in class 5 whitewater rapids. i don't know what dad did, at this point i had drowned both of them out with trumpets and violins.

i had my "aura" photographed today. it was a bona fide polaroid with bad exposure. anyway, my aura was yellow-orange. aka, disease+least favorite color. great...apparently it means i'm creative and overflowing with ideas, but all i could concentrate on were the bags under my eyes. the orange means, according the the self-proclaimed clairvoyant, i've been overworked recently. well, right. i'm surprised when i checked my bag at the airport the other day they didn't charge me for three.

went on a ghost tour--fascinating stuff. i think it's the best way to learn about a city. i've done it in st. augustine, charleston, savannah, and now salem.

tomorrow we're heading to walden pond (side note: thoreau didn't do his own laundry, too busy reflecting i guess), and i'm trying to look forward to it. but right now all i can think of is the fact that i didn't work out today and hinduist contributions to global responsibility. theology test on thursday. i didn't have any cardio today. satyagraha. muscles are softening. reincarnation? fuck it.

i have some ideas for short stories, but am afraid to write in front of my parents. they write, and i dislike answering questions.

potpourri of conclusions:

1) if i get a dog that's not a mutt, i want a bulldog. its name will be anton (get it? i'll be the lady with the pet dog, even though she had a white spitz. but who would really want a dog called a spitz?)
2) a honeybun from walgreens contains 97% of your daily saturated fat intake, and remarkably, over 100% of your daily guilt intake. i didn't have one, but could feel my arteries constrict as i even glanced at it.
3) jeff buckley's "hallelujah" is way better than cohen's.
4) gothic townies piss me off. somehow, i'm pretty sure that if the devil existed, he'd wear a finely tailored italian suit, not some black parachute pants riddled with chains. or eyeliner. nix that.