A Year Deferred: A Slightly Cloudy Saturday

After everybody thought the months of rain were finally, finally over, we're experiencing rain and clouds again. V has hit some roadblocks in his work, so we stayed in most of the day. I took the opportunity to finish a drawing I'd started last week (check out my new "Art and Photos" album) and obsessively check if anyone had left me comments on the piece I posted for my new online writing class yesterday. So far I've received three comments and they have all been positive. Given that there is a rule in this class that you can only say "nice" things about other people's work though, I can't be too proud of this ratio.

All in all, it's interesting seeing how this writing class is progressing. We've had two "sessions" now and I feel like everyone is in some weird kind of honeymoon phase - commenting on every little thing posted, completing assignments within hours of being assigned. I have never found myself in a more fiercely upbeat and positive community in my life. The instructor seems overwhelmingly kind and supportive as well, although I have noticed that her comments on students' work haven't been too lengthy or substantive as of yet. My theory is that in about two weeks about 30% of the class will get lazy and stop doing their assignments. I wonder if the zealous positivity will wean a little bit as the class goes on as well. I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, after the drawing and the writing class business, I started to get a little antsy. V had said he wouldn't mind taking a break and going on a walk, so I looked up some hiking trails in the area. While not a trail per say, I stumbled across a site for the Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden. (As it always seems to be the case in this area, I recently lived only two blocks away from this place, but never knew it existed.) It turned out that the garden wasn't really big enough to do any serious walking, but it was beautiful (in a kind of overly manicured sort of way) and I was able to take some pictures:

And finally (and I'm sure I'm flying in the face of blog etiquette by making this post so damn long), here is the writing assignment I completed for class yesterday:

Getting Better

Looking at Paris in the flickering light, she seems almost happy. I can’t see the sharp lines in her forehead or the bluish pillows under her eyes. The policeman on screen mouths off to his boss and she smiles. Its as if she’s glowing.

Her eyes dart in my direction.

“What?” she asks. She scowls at me and takes a handful of popcorn from the container between my legs.

“Nothing,” I say. I look back at the screen. Something is blowing up; the police car is chasing an impossibly fast 16-wheel truck. “Did you know that all the big trucks and buses in South America are Mercedes Benzes?”

“Yeah right,” she says.

“They are,” I say. I let it go. I grab a handful of popcorn then change my mind and drop it back in the container. A few pieces fall and as I brush them off my knees my hands leave greasy streaks on my new pants. I have a sudden urge to rub my greasy hands all over my face and in my hair. I look at Paris and she looks back at me and frowns.

“Want some coke?” she asks, tipping the cup in my direction.

“No thanks,” I say.

She turns back to the screen and sucks on the straw. I touch her shoulder with the tips of my fingers and am surprised to feel her warmth and her softness.

“What,” she says.

“Can you pass me a napkin?”

She twists in her seat and rummages through her purse.

“Here,” she says, and hands me a napkin. She looks at the screen then looks back at me. “I do love you, John,” she says. She half-smiles at me then looks at the screen.

My stomach flips over inside of me. I want to hug her and squeeze her and spin her around. I want to sing and yell and speed down the highway in a red convertible.

“I love you too, Paris,” I say. I squeeze her hand with my greasy hand and she squirms but keeps on holding on.