My brother just left this afternoon. I�m tired, but I don�t feel like sleeping, yet. I�ve only had a couple of minutes of time to myself all week. I had a lot of fun, though.

We spent the day in DC on Saturday, then Sunday, my brother wasn�t feeling so well, so we didn�t get out of the house until the afternoon. We ended up going to a movie so he wouldn�t have to expend a lot of energy. We saw the Conan O�Brian movie, which I found unexpectedly funny.

Monday, we went all over Philadelphia. We even went to the 4th of July concert and fireworks (it was terribly disappointing, even with the Boyz II Men surprise appearance). Philly must be really, really poor, right now.

Tuesday, we were off to NYC. We stopped by the place where they�re building the WTC replacement tower, then Battery park, then we went up to see the public library (my brother LOVED Ghostbusters as a kid), walked through Times Square, and up to the building that they claim is the apartment building in Ghostbusters, but the roof looked all wrong.

Awhile back, Adam pointed a building out to me in Philadelphia, and told me that they used the roof of that building for Ghostbusters and super-imposed it onto a NYC building. I never believed him. I was sure it was just an urban legend that was started by some hopeful Philadelphian. Although, the roof of the building that he showed me did look exactly like the roof of the building in the movie, with the same gargoyles and everything. At the time, we were standing on the roof of his apartment building, and we could clearly see the roof of that building. Unfortunately, that very building in Philadelphia has scaffolding all around it, and that�s all that�s currently visible.

After that, it was Strawberry Fields, the Obelisk, and then a trip to Greenwich (I think). We were going to have Mexican food because, as my brother mentioned a few times, the worst thing about being an American living on a non-American continent is the lack of Mexican food. Apparently, no one else understands this loss, not even the Canadians, who, instead, miss poutine.

We weren�t ready to eat, so we ended up in a bar/caf� that had an attached comedy club. We decided to go to the late show in the club, and because of the lack of time, just ate in the caf�. I promised my brother that we�d make Mexican food a priority for the next day.

We stayed over at my friends condo, who was very gracious about us showing up at 3AM. I am so relieved that he had been up working until 2AM, anyway. Chilling for an hour after work, before we showed, wasn�t a big deal (I don�t think).

Of course, it was unintentional. The show had started at 11PM-I never expected them to end at 2AM. They kept the show fast moving and with no breaks. I lost track of time until it ended.

The next day, we were all over Manhattan again. I won�t bore you with those details because I�m getting bored recounting it, myself.

I will say that the Harbor Cruise from Battery Park is surprisingly really nice, and I think it�s a shame that so many people waste their time standing in line for hours to go to Liberty Island, where you�re so close to the statue that all you can do is see up her nose, anyway (which I happen to know because I did that about ten years ago). The Harbor Cruise is the same cost as a trip to Liberty Island (without any perks), but you get a pleasant pre-recorded audio tour of the harbor and it takes you up to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Also, I have to mention that we ended up not getting Mexican, again. Mainly because my brother said that he wasn�t ready for a big meal, and we wanted to get out of the city at a reasonable hour. So, we had pizza instead. It wasn�t exactly the quintessential New York pizza, but it was plenty good. Actually, I had a slice of veggie and a slice of plain, and the plain totally rocked my taste buds. I don�t know about my brother�s pizza, he ate weird meaty things.

We took the train home because Adam took the car home yesterday morning. Yesterday afternoon was the first class of the summer session that he�s teaching.

On our way out, my brother picked up a newspaper to read on the train. I hardly ever buy things made of paper anymore, and I�ve never purchased a newspaper. The presence of a newspaper almost weirded me out. As long as I�ve been an adult, I�ve been getting my news from NPR or the internet.

On the train, a woman sat next to me, and spent the entirety of her trip simultaneously talking on the phone, texting on her blackberry and writing emails on her ipad. I don�t know what she was texting or typing, but I will say that her phone conversations seemed unnecessary. I edged as far away from her as I could, but that doesn�t do much for sound. If only one could turn or shut ones ears. Thankfully, she got off before us. I was getting to the point where I was about to say something to her. I�m normally not one to get into other people�s business, but lately, my brain to mouth interface has been malfunctioning, and I�ve been going all Philly on people�s asses. I was trying to keep myself out of trouble.

When I was at my reiki teacher�s house a week or so ago, she used a pendulum to take a gander at my chakras, and my 3rd chakra (solar plexus, yellow) was over-active. My heart and sacral chakra�s were also moving a lot. My throat and root are blocked. Because the energy has to go somewhere, it�s coming out of my middle. The 3rd chakra is all about ego and personal empowerment. So, given that, it�s not surprising that I�ve been finding myself over-reacting to people who annoy me. I think that after I over-react, I feel guilty about it. I deal with the guilt in unhealthy ways, but let's leave that for a different entry.

Maybe it would be more accurate to say that I�ve been going �East Coast� on people�s asses. As a rule, Midwesterner�s stay out of each other�s business. A guy could be planting a bomb on a train, and a proper Midwesterner would ask him if he could light that wick for him. In the afterlife, when asked why he did such a thing, he�d say that he was just trying to be helpful, and he didn�t think it was any of his business what someone else was doing or why he was doing it.

Speaking of pendulum�s, I picked one up a few days ago when we were cavorting around Philadelphia. It�s a really pretty indigo colored crystal. I have no idea what kind of stone it is. It also has a lovely pentacle design on a blue and white ceramic handle.

Pentacles are not part of my usual scene, but it seems like there�s a lot of cross-over and meshing of ideas, these days. Perhaps pendulum�s are used in a practice that does associate itself with pentacles, and reiki just borrowed the idea. Regardless, it seems to work.

Anyway, on the last leg of our train trip, from Trenton to my local stop in Philadelphia, my brother asked to borrow a pen, and he started doing the crossword. I never did crossword puzzles because I somehow got the idea that I was incapable of it. I thought that my brain just didn�t work in the right way, and I was bitter about it when the news had reported that doing crosswords might help slow the decline of thinking skills.

My brother asked me if I wanted to help him with it, and I was shocked to discover that I could do the crossword. In the span of about twenty minutes, we got about halfway through it.

Today, I saw that he had left it on the table. I picked it up and finished it off, mostly myself, I did get a little help from Adam and my brother.

Then, I went online and printed out a second crossword puzzle and finished that one off. Then, I went online again, and printed a third crossword puzzle. It was harder than the previous two, and I only got about halfway through before I gave up. I only gave up because my stomach was growling, and I could feel myself slowly going insane with frustration. Obsess much? That�s what I call my ASD, Attention Surplus Disorder.

That hasn�t been an issue for me in a long time. Well, unless you count my diary entries that go on forever, or that I can�t watch a TV series without watching every single episode in order, and unless I keep myself in check, will only stop for meals and work until I get through them, or that I usually finish reading books within a day or two, for the same reason.

On that note, I think it�s time I stopped writing this and went to bed.

0 comments so far