10/13/05
Sometimes I read the comments on the blogs and think, shit, I should write less. You guys are way more fun than I have been lately. All that changes now, as Salem has joined me in Houston, and I'm here in his hotel room stealing his internet connection. He's had an airplane-bottled-sized Dewar's and I'm waiting for the good stuff for tomorrow.
It's late October and all, but getting off the plane in Houston still feels like you're walking into a soiled gym sock. Humid, hot and sultry. Yet I still quite like this town, the bastion of our current administration, because it has a kick-ass mall with an ice-skating rink, and an Oshman's where you can get Vans and other skating shoes for, like, twenty bucks.
This is also where we came exactly a week after September 11, to attend Tessa's father's funeral, so this place - along with New Orleans - will always have therapeutic, palliative properties despite being a bit incongruous. It's like a baby's transitional item: it was there when we needed it.
Lucy has yet to have a transitional item, by the way, but she is VERY partial to the tiny cardboard box that used to contain my bottle of Excedrin. She's at the age when we can no longer stick her in some weird crib in a foreign hotel room two time zones away from reality and expect her to say, "cool, y'all. Why don't you just go hang out at the pool?" She's very happy to be awake in Houston, but she's not terribly psyched about sleeping there.
Displaced Katrina victims are everywhere. We got the last crib in the hotel. Opulence combined with destitution equals a basic honesty. Wish you all were here, and yes, I'll invite everyone to a party one day. As long as nobody's creepy.
Uh. . . um. . . hmmm. . . er. . . how do you define "creepy"?
I promise!
a little crazy, and, especially after this week's constant soaking, mildly depressed, but creepy? No.
I spent one night in Houston a couple years ago, and funny thing: I didn't sleep much, either...
I thought you were done with hosting parties.
have a good weekend.
Glad you don't have to stay in Houston for very long, but too bad also - I'll be there to get hitched week after next.
i'll be thinking of you all, chillin' in the sweaty gym sock, while i'm apple picking in julian this weekend...nothing beats apple pie in october, even if the damned santa anas make it feel like mid-summer!
Did I ever tell you?---I had a DREAM this summer in which Jen and I had been invited to one of your parties. In the dream, you lived in what had once been a barn but had been refurbished into something half rustic, half comfortably modern, and there were crowds of people in every room and trays of appetizers on every available surface that wasn't covered with books.
I remember meeting you, Tessa and Sean there, none of whom I've actually met in real life yet. Our respective infants were not in the dream. No jarts, either. But in one room, the football game was on and people were screaming at Duke.
Just thought you'd like to know, even in my dreams, you throw a decent party.
Everyone?
Hey, Ian, I'm back, and strangely commenting on your blog rather than writing a personal email, but I'm writing to say that there are fellow Red Cross volunteers all over Houston and Austin; indeed, if my life were as I wanted it at this moment, I'd be in the process of redeploying to Texas or Louisiana, since there is plenty of work to do down there. Anyway, if you see any Red Crossers (they will be bleary-eyed and in packs, all of them paying for their food with little red debit cards) tell 'em hello and that they are doing a great job. Us Red Crossers aren't so popular now that we are starting to pull out of some of the affected areas... Red Cross is meant to be a bridge between a disaster and the social service agencies that can take over for long-term support, and so shelters are closing down and funds are being restricted, so those of us still in the field have the difficult job of transitioning folks from handouts to helping them help themselves. Actually, the whole process is such a mess that I don't know where to begin. But more on that on my own blog over the next couple of days. Anyway, if you see Red Crossers, just take a moment to say hello. And, obviously, same with the displaced victims of the storms- they are being let down right and left, still, and so having someone just say hello and ask them how they are doing means the world.
.....soul sister, go sister, yo sister, ho sister....you know you oughta know sister.....
"Planet Houston?", which Kryptonian said that?
Nice blog, Ian.
Can it please stop raining in the Northeast?
Nice question, Matt. . .
Ian, et al--
I wish I were there, enjoying my goddaughter, you & Tessa, Salem, and everyone else--I wish Michelle and I were both there--I am here. My dear friend Kimowan had brain surgery (2nd time) yesterday, so I'm hangin with him in the hospital throughout a good part of the weekend. Please send him good vibes, o blogfellows! He's a mensch, a hell of an artist, and a friend for life--as Ian, his family & friends are too.
love from
Annie