Kim’s Domain

Okay, little overdue for this post so I hope I can get everything in!

My last day in Providence with Jesse, we had breakfast with my aunt at this Italian place a couple blocks from Jesse’s apartment, located in this little Italian square with a fountain. It was very tasty but the coffee was lacking. So after breakfast we went for a walk to explore the square. We went into a poultry store and gaped at the live chickens in cages in the back room. Then we checked out Pastiche, an amazing bakery that smelled heavenly of coffee. It smelled so good I bought a cappuccino to offset the crappy coffee from Vita Dolce: totally worth it. Delicious!

Jesse then got a call from his roommate and we headed back to his place. I said goodbye to my aunt and accompanied Jesse and his roommates to a second hand store where they picked up all sorts of neat furniture for their apartment, including a small Amish shelf (complete with an Amish couple with a heart between them) that was promptly hung on the wall once we got back. After a lovely lunch feast of egg salad, tuna salad, orzo salad, bean salad, artichokes, zucchini and cucumber, and a couple other salads I’ve forgotten, Jesse drove me to the airport.

The trip home was far from boring. My first flight, to Philadelphia, was late leaving because the flight coming in was late, and there was some stormy weather causing the airport to space take-offs farther apart. By the time we landed in Philly, there were 10 minutes left before my next plane to Chicago was scheduled to take off. So I ran like an idiot through the airport (all the way down one concourse and all the way up the next, of course) and arrived breathless at the gate. The plane was still there, and one of the stewards gave me a bottle of water as I entered the plane.

And then we sat for forty-five minutes.

I think that delay was weather-related as well – all I know is I felt silly for running like a madwoman when the plane wasn’t going anywhere. Finally we take off and land in Chicago without a hitch, just half an hour late. David generously agrees to pick me up when I call him after landing. I go to the baggage claim for my bag – and I wait, and wait, and wait. My bag didn’t make the connection. So I file a claim for my bag and we go home.

The next day I sit home all day waiting for my bag to show up. My impression had been that my bag could show up any time between 11:30 – 4, so I gave myself a project to keep busy: I rearranged the office. It was a big project, but it was done around 1pm. So I futzed around doing who knows what, and at 3 I got a call from the guy delivering the baggage saying he’d be in my neighborhood between 4 and 6. Okay, fine. He finally showed up at 6:30pm after I spent a half hour wrestling with our internet connection trying to get onto the USAir website.

And then Tuesday, just a couple short days after getting home from Providence, I was on the road again with my parents. We’re currently in a hotel in Columbus, GA. Tomorrow I’ll see my brother graduate from his basic training. My parents will pin his stripes on him, and he’ll officially be soldier of the US Army. More on my thoughts on this later.

I know what you’re thinking: what happened to days 2-4?  Well, the open wireless connections around Jesse’ apt in Providence are spotty, so it’s been hard to have extended periods of time online.

So the quick run-down:

Wednesday Jesse, his brother Adam and I drove to Providence from Westchester.  We just barely beat the traffic (although we did hit a little on 95) but sadly didn’t make it in time for the local guy who answered Jesse’s Craigslist ad who was going to help us unload the truck.  He had to go to work.  But amazingly, because we rock, we got the truck unloaded in maybe 2 hours.  My aunt showed up to help out about an hour into unloading and actually was the reason the futon got safely into the house - she suggested lifting it over the banister of the front porch so it could go straight through the front door instead of trying to get it in on an angle from the steps.  Way to think out of the box (it’s because she’s a designer - go RISD)!  We were actually able to RETURN the truck on Wednesday instead of waiting until Thursday.  That was a big load off our minds, because driving a 15 foot truck on city streets get old really fast.  Jesse drove it all the way from Chicago to New York (can’t imagine) and I took the New York to Providence shift.  It’s not bad once you get used to it, but I can only imagine what it must have looked like: me this tiny girl behind the wheel of a fairly large moving truck.  People probably wondered what poor schmo got paid off to work the pedals for me.

Anyway, that was Wednesday.  Thursday was about unpacking and cleaning the kitchen stuff.  Thursday night was about going out to dinner with my family.  We met up with my aunt and cousins and their significant others at this bar (I want to say it was called J. G. something) on the ocean.  Wow.  It’s been easily a decade since I last saw the ocean.  It was beautiful and we watched the sea gulls dive for fish as they went into a feeding frenzy that caused the water to churn white in spots.  We also enjoyed reading the funny personal anecdotes on the menu (e.g. the house salad was called The Large House, and the description said it was called the Large House to remind the owner that like a large lawn, large car, large dog, etc. he used to have one of those, but doesn’t anymore thanks to his ex-wife.  Nothing in the description about what was actually IN the salad.)

Today we didn’t really do much unpacking.  We cleared a path for his roommates to be able to move in and then headed in to campus.  Jesse took care of some business, like getting his e-mail set up and getting his Brown ID and Providence library card, and then we went to a read-through at Trinity Rep of The Cherry Orchard.  It’s being directed by Curt Columbus (formerly of Steppenwolf, now AD of Trinity) and is a new translation by him.  It was fantastic.  The actors were all wonderful and very expressive for a read-through.  (Side note- it’s being stage managed by Alden from The Goodman).  Afterwards we headed back to the apartment for some iced-tea and chill time, then headed over to my aunt’s for a cook-out.  I got meet a group of my cousin Christine’s friends who were pretty nice and fun.  I stuck around about an hour after the kids all left (they’re all I think 4 years younger than me) to chat with my aunt and then came home, stuffed with Sam’s Club potato salad (it’s really good for store-bought potato salad, I was shocked).

Tomorrow I go back to Chicago.  I’ll be happy to be home, but I’m going to miss Jesse a lot.

It was so great to spend time with my cousins and meet their other halves. 

I’m posting from Jesse’s parents’ house in New York.  Yesterday, Jesse and I drove from Chicago all the way out here in one loooong day.  It took us over 15 hours because of a couple longish pit stops.  The construction along the way didn’t help much either, but I think it was the pit stops that really slowed us down (especially the last one where I got to talk to a friend I haven’t talked to all summer - but that one was worth it!)

It’s okay though, because once we got here we found the bread, cheese, artichokes, cherries and brownies that his mom has laid out for us.  Yum. 

The travel day was rather uneventful.  Once Jesse got the truck out of his parking space (with the help of a trucker who guided Jesse through the narrow turn onto the street) and we fueled ourselves and the car up at the dunkin’s donuts, we were on the road and met little traffic.  We just barely got out of Chicago ahead of the traffic, but we made it.  We hit a patch of rain at one point, but for the most part the weather was perfect.  Cloudy so there was no sun in our eyes, and dry (well, except for Jesse getting rained on INSIDE the truck, but I’ll let him tell that story.)

And just a side note for those I haven’t spoken to recently - my show at Steppenwolf closed this past weekend.  It was a smooth closing show and I’ve received good feedback from the company, so hopefully it will not be my last show there, for those of you who missed it.