with this?

There are times in your life when even though the simplest thing is possible, a friend will extend their hand and say “Hey, stay here and make it a little easier.” And that means the most in the world.

9:54 Up, and yawning quite a bit.

10:15 Franklin is queueing up the SNL with Justin Timberlake on it, I think this is from a couple of weeks ago.

11:11 Breakfast? No. Instead, leftover Chinese from last night.

11:36 Now we’re going to watch Role Models. I’m still in Franklin’s fold-out sofabed and he is lounging in his big chair. After yesterday’s running around all day it’s nice to lounge around and chill a little bit.

1:28 Time to shower and get packed up.

2:04 Packed and ready to go to the train station, leaving in ten minutes or so.

2:30 At the train station. Train 145 leaves at 2:37 on Track 3.

2:44 Goodbye Wilmington! Thanks to Franklin and Johann for a great weekend!

8:28 Horror: waking up in a strange room. Relief: remembering you’ve left town and are staying at a friend’s.

8:45 I hope Franklin stays asleep for a while, as I’m not ready to get out of this cozy bed yet.

8:49 Twittered and Facebooked. Now it’s back to dozing.

9:01 A distant church bell has just rung 28 times on a Saturday morning. What is this, the 1300s?

Q: How do you ruin Star Trek? A: Lots of white wine on an empty stomach. Oof.

9:06 Franklin has the perfect covers for throwing them over your head; no suffocation here. #zzzzzzz

9:39 Franklin is up and that means it’s time for breakfast! Going to the Post House? Chop House? I’m ready to chow the eff down.

10:06 At the Chop House for breffus. Special: 2 large eggs, home fries, toast & coffee, choice of ham, sausage, scrapple, or bacon. $4.50.

11:11 Body wash dilemma: mint ice, walnut shell or olive leaf?

11:20 I love an iron with a retractable cord.

11:30 Digging the chill Pandora station that’s playing.

11:31 These ibuprofen are biohazard orange.

11:51 Bday card and h2o secured. That took a lot of energy out of the both of us. Now we’re thinking bloody marys are in order once we pick Johann up and get to New Hope.

11:54 Tattooed hippie poseur boy getting out of a Prius. What a dolt.

11:56 Franklin says “Pennsylvania drivers never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” We are in Delaware.

12:00 New for 2009: Appliques!

12:57 We have picked up the birthday boy, had a cocktail and are headed to New Hope.

1:03 There is a lot of giggling happening in this car right now.

1:10 Johann: “Tweet it, Ivan, tweet it!”

1:27 Johann is giving us a history lesson on Trenton, NJ.

1:35 Heavy discussion about Twitter and tweeting to the choir.

1:37 Johann: “I don’t like to talk business unless I’m spending money so I can write it off.”

1:45 NJ needs more signage. That governor is definitely not going to win the out-of-state absentee vote come November.

2:15 A casual lunch at Hamilton’s Grill Room. Outdoor courtyard seating. How fabulous.

2:28 No liquor license for restaurants? Mercy. Cocktails will have to wait. And I’ve never waited for a cocktail in my life.

3:12 Desert: grilled pineapple & seasonal fruits with brown sugar and rum. Meanwhile, Franklin pitches his pyramid scheme.

3:51 If you don’t get it you don’t deserve to get it.

4:05 It’s cocktail time. New Hope is a cute resort town.

4:12 Apparently, it’s Gay Pride weekend here in New Hope!

4:15 Sketchy is catchy.

4:34 Looking up caipirinha recipes.

5:29 After walking around the quaint little town for a bit it’s time for another cocktail. Now we’re at Mother’s Restaurant & Wibe Bar.

5:44 In the Navy, makin’ gravy love to do it love to do it.

6:20 Twisted Arm Syndrome? Sure, if you say so.

6:23 Now we’re at The Landing, on the Delaware River, where George Washington (allegedly) crossed.

6:34 Drama in New Hope is the middle bun of the Big Mac.

7:18 I am my own Shazam app.

7:24 We are leaving town without a police escort. Thanks for a great day, New Hope!

7:33 Created a Depeche Mode station in Franklin’s iPhone. First up on the decks: a-ha. A-nice.

7:45 Crisp!

8:20 Just bought tickets to Star Trek in the car on by iPhone. Fucking sweet. Technology rocks. Let’s hope during this viewing of ST I don’t hit a wall.

8:51 Dropped the birthday boy off at his house. Such a great day with Johann, he cracks me up. The three of us have laughed so much today. Now we’re headed back to Delaware to chill for a bit and then Star Trek.

9:52 Had a quick dinner of Chinese takeout. Rushing to the theater now. Afterwards I think we’re to chill and watch SNL, and giggle about all the giggling done today with Johann. Who knew someone so smart could be so funny? He’s probably imagining Sandy Duncan in a wheatfield right now and loving it, loving it.

12:34 Star Trek was pretty cool. The incessant lens flares started to annoy mr after a while but that’s minor. The set design and cast is *gorgeous* though.

1:06 At Franklin’s, gonna have a one o’clocktail and watch some SNL.

1:50 Franklin is showing me his Sims 2 characters and house. He has a massive monitor to play it on. #jealous

3:07 Zzzz

Apparently, trying to add a picture over a moving train over AT&T’s suckyass whatever network will hijack Wordpress’s ability to retrieve the post, so here we go.

7:55 In Balmer, hon.

8:00 I’m thinking of the friends I’m going to see and how them and others have reached out to me and I love them for all their efforts.

8:08 Maybe time to watch a SATC ep? These rail lines in Maryland aren’t smooth.

8:16 Wow. The woman who is now sitting in front of me is traveling to Wilmington too and talking g about her sister’s medical history and how she is coughing up blood. She’s not using her inside voice either and all of us around are looking around aimlessly.

8:38 Wilmington is coming up close. After Franklin picks me up the posts might get scarce! We’re planning ok seeing Star Trek and them cocktails. You know how *that* rolls.

8:46 Here in Wilmington a minute early!

9:17 First glass of wine spilled/broken: my fault.

9:21 Franklin cannot two thumb his iPhone.

9:31 Having wine with Franklin.

9:51 We are going to see Star Trek!

11/25 Star Trek is very violent.

12:27 Apparently, I am not a good movie patron right now.

11:35 There may be a photo shoot happening soon.

12:51 Photo shoot in full affect.

1:11 Now we’re working on our depth of field as Franklin plays with the flash.

1:30 Photo on!

1:38 whew!

To sum everything up for this evening, I feel really bad to have walked out on ST but Franklin was a total trooper even though he is a big ST fan. Yet another incident of how my friends take me on regardless of how low my life can be.

1:52 Goodnite y’all. It’s time to slumber now.

1:59 Franklin’s guest sheets smell like lavender. #bliss

6:07 I always hate being rushed for a trip, especially if I haven’t packed everything beforehand. So what do I do? I wait until 5:00 or so to pack before the 6:01 bus picks me up for the 7:10 train. And I’ve got laundry to do and everything. Luckily the laundry started earlier this afternoon but I still had to middle thru and see what I wanted to take with me. A little bit of a hectic rush but I’ve made it out to the bus stop with 70 seconds to spare. It will be some waiting at Union Station but at least I don’t have to walk in the mild facing-the-sunset heat.

6:24 I’ve made to The train station which is holding some kind of “event” in the front hall. Thish forces all the stoopid “lookatthat!” tourists back into the functioning part of Union Station, that which is an actual functioning train station. Get the fuck out of my way. Did I mention that it’s like 88 degrees in here?

The woman sitting next to me at Gate E is on her third phone call saying she has missed the 6:00 train and is catching the 7:10. Hello, Twitter that shit. Done in one swoop. Reminder: do not sit next to her annoyingly loud phone voice on the train. She looks the type that will talk on the phone the entire trip.

6:34 People are already starting to line up for a train that doesn’t leave for another 30 minutes. Fools.

6:37 She’s called six people now.

6:43 I hope there are electrical sockets on this train, I’m getting low on juice. The spell check just put in “electrical soviets” and I kind of like that.

So far, the train is scheduled to leave on time. That’s always nice and somewhat of a rarity on Friday evenings when commuter trains battle with destination trains. It’s a battle with those trying to get out of town instead of merely commuting to Olney.

6:53 On the train, and it has outlets. Yay! The loudtalker is at the other end of the car, which hopefully will be okay. I hope she doesn’t have to call all those people again to tell them she made this train. And I got a seat on the east side of the train car which means I’ll be away from the heat of the sun.

6:57 Currently the seat next to me is empty which is always nice. There is a woman behind me on the phone and let’s face it, women talk more on the phone than men. Especially on trains. Trust I know. She’s going off on her professors and, apparently, the mom of a friend of her. And she’s talking 90 miles an hour. #gossipgirl And this is over the noise of my headphones, currently PSB “Love, etc” remix.

7:09 The train is pulling out a minute early! Now I can relax and feel the excitement of the trip. The last time I saw Franklin (Wilmington) was during his birthday last Fall and the last time I saw Johann (New Jersey) was about three years ago. It’s Johann’s birthday tomorrow.

7:17 Good thing I brought these cocktails on the train. #unemployment Next up on the dex: Chromeo. The woman behind me has finished her phone conversation and not started another. Thank you.

7:19 Alongside the New Carrolton Metro.

7:29 Train travel is always so relaxing. Even if there is someone in the seat next to you, which I have open right now. Maybe it’s the leg room, maybe it’s the fact that you know you’re not going to plummet five miles out of the sky.

7:38 The cuties across the aisle from me.

Today, because there was nothing better to do, I went for a walk. The weather was nice too and I needed to get outside. I didn’t have a destination nor time frame in mind, but I headed west.

I got to Stanton Park and admired the cherry trees sans tourists as I walked through. When I made it to Union Station I decided to continue by going downtown, but definitely stayed clear of anywhere near The Mall. I decided upon K St, whose length I had never fully walked, east of Mt. Vernon Square. I made it through downtown, past all the parks and GW students, and I thought I’d go onto Georgetown.

After walking the Georgetown towpath (where I witnessed two horses still faithfully pulling a barge of camera-toting tourists) I surfaced at Key Bridge, where I long ago enjoyed the small park there. I passed where Poseurs used to be and also The Exorcist stairs. I kept going.

I walked along the parkway that leads the entrance to Georgetown U, and wondered if the three kids danging their legs from the stone sign would be throwing rocks at me as I walked by. They were yelling something, not necessarily to me directly, but I guess I’m at that age where at times I distrust privileged teenage boys.

At this time I figured I may as well trek on up to Sibley Hospital, the west origin/termination of the D6 line that goes right by where I live, and I could take the bus back for practically its entire route. It was only three more miles to go so I figured it was worth the effort.

As I traveled further the city moved from urbanity to reservoir to monied homes. I passed by Listrani’s, the pizza joint I as introduced to by James S many years ago, and I really wanted to stop in there and grab a pie, but this wasn’t the reason for my journey. I continued on and, almost reaching the Maryland border, I finally reached Sibley.

Luckily the bus was scheduled to arrive in ten minutes for its return voyage back down into the city I had just journeyed through.

Overall I tagged my walking experience and it ended being almost 10 miles. Not bad for a Saturday walk, right? My Internet is down here at the 1526 so I can’t give any maps. The locals will realize this distance. For those of you in Space City, NYC and LA I’ll post a relatable Point A to Point B reference once the tubes are back online.

seven five seven
is not the rule here, you know
that’s not how it goes.

it’s the other way
five seven five is perfect
two examples here: 

friday means nothing
i sit here and type away
it’s something to do.

kindness from strangers
is not as kind as from friends,
i’m discovering.

now it is your turn
go ahead, it’s kind of fun
and makes you think, too.