Andy

The Boy Looked At Johnny
2003-01-04 04:59:02 (UTC)

January 3, 2003. Approaching late night.

Happy new year.

The Twyd & Tartyn show was as could be expected: sloppy,
ill-attended, loose and fun. We butchered some R&B
covers; "Tobacco Road," "Go Now" and "Bring it on Home,"
among others. Dave and Nate weren't really into it, but it
was, as I said, OK. If just for the fact that it was the
mighty Twyd & Tartyn!

The rest of the night was pretty mediocre. I didn't know
anyone at Jim's party, and there didn't appear to be much
in the way of prospects, so Nate, Dave and I left, with
Adam of all people in tow. We went to the Griz party, which
was so-so. The more the night went on, the better an idea
St. Louis seemed. I don't know where I belong here. Where?
With Grizboarders? Not really; they're nice people, but
something doesn't quite gel. Katie? Mmm. Nate and Dave? To
a certainb extent, but they're only two people. With who
then? I don't know. Nowhere, maybe. Or conversely, anywhere
else.

So when I woke up the next day about noon, I got in the
shower, and then threw some clothes on and hopped on the
road for "anywhere else." In this case, it was
Indianapolis: a large city, very close (2 or 3 hrs., I
thought?), plus I'd never been. A bit of an oversight: it
was much closer, only 1 1/2 hrs, and actually, not so big
at all. The art museum looked really nice, but it was
closed (of course). So I circled around town, looking for
an urban neighborhood that resembled the Highlands or
Crescent Hill, or Squirrel Hill or Bloomfield or Oakland.
No dice; Indianpolis, despite an easy to navigate grid
system, didn't reveal anything of the sort. So I read their
free weekly paper, bought a map, had a milkshake at Burger
King, looked at some public art, and left. I still had a
good chunk of the day left, and Bloomington was on the way,
so I stopped there. Bloomington was actually a little
closer to what I was looking for: a college town, which was
nothing if not a Highlands or Squirrel Hill in miniature,
with lots of college kids. I didn't talk to anyone, but it
was a nice to be there, anyway. Sometimes possibility is
enough, I guess. It felt good.

I bought a Tom Robbins book, "Skinny Legs and All." This
girl in my English classes I made friends with named
Whitney lent me one, "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas." It was
amazing. So was "Skinny Legs," which I read all 400 pages
of yesterday. It's all I did the entire day, really. I
haven't devoured a book so enthusiastically in some time.
It was just beauiful. It makes me want to do incredible
things with my life.




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