A Beautiful Sunday

Whatups?

Been a full couple of days.  My last post says it was written on Saturday, but it really only dealt with what went down up until Friday.  Today is Sunday and I got a bit of time before I fall asleep, so here's an update.

In all honesty, I can't remember the difference between Friday and Saturday's errands, but I do know that Saturday was the Freedom Trail.  So I'll just write like I did all this saturday, which may actually be true.  Buckle up.

Saturday morning I finally decided that sleeping on a towel laid across a wood floor doesn't count as furniture (crazy, I know) so I spent a bit of time deciding on some furniture.  I also learned that furniture is bloody expensive,even at IKEA, so a $400 budget was not optimal.  But Mommy pointed me to a website for a store called Basic Carpet and Furniture.  Turns out they deliver for free on all online orders, and they also bring the stuff up to your apartment, which is rare.  So I ordered online.  I got a mattress (actual beds are overrated) a table with two chairs, a small desk, and a two-drawer nightstand.  I figured they'd be closed tomorrow (Labor Day) but they told me they can deliver.  So tomorrow I may have a bit more of a home-like setting.

Boo ya.

After that I went to the bank.  Took a while to find a bank that gives you free checking and free savings.  And by a while I mean there's only one or two in the whole city.  Bank of America wants $9/month for my money to sit there.  I'm like 'yeah right retards' so I get online and eventually run across Brookline Bank.  I live in Brookline, MA so I figured that it's a good idear to try banking close to home (aka a block and a half away).  I had to sit for a few minutes because they were swamped, but after a bit the branch manager, Lisa Clark, came out and took me into her office to get me all set up.  She's a small, talkative Asian woman, born and bred here in Boston.  We shot the breeze for a while and she (like everybody else) was kinda blown away when I told her I'm from Idaho (best place on Earth).  I told her what I needed in a bank and she told me I was in the right place (which I knew).  It took quite some time with the whole deal, but we spent most of the time talking about food.  She asked me what all I like to do in a city.  I told her history, anything literary, and food.  Lisa is also a foodie.  She proceeded to tell me all about the good, hole-in-the-wall places.  It was funny because I had already found and tried a few of them (like Lucky Wah and Anna's taqueria.  Not Diego's, but nothing will ever be Diego's).  She asked if there was anything I didn't eat.  I told her about pig eyes (not my favorite) and chicken hearts (SO GOOD) in Brazil so she made me a list.  No, seriously, she got out one of her branch manager greeting cards and made me a list.  I told her to throw pizza and burgers on there (gotta have my staples) and then told her to go nuts.  She couldn't remember some names, but she gave me directions and areas.  But she did mention that one Russian place has ox tail soup once a week.  I'm totally there.  Now if only I can find a place to eat my beloved Kangaroo burgers.  Needless to say, I have a new friend.  I told her I was gonna go through her list and then email her for a new list.  She said she'll be ready for me.

After that I jumped on the T and headed to the Park Street T stop.  Once outside I knew I was at the Boston Common, which is where the Freedom Trail starts.  I will do another post on the Freedom Trail in its entirety.  Basically, it's a three-mile path that takes you to a good number of the famous American history sites here in Boston.  But I have nobody to wait for or keep up with, so I kinda went nuts and walked all over the place.  All in all I probably did about twelve miles of the stuff (equivalent to a slow day in Brazil) but it was a ton of fun.  I'll write a novel about it tomorrow while I wait for my furniture.

Today (Sunday) was pretty sweet.  First thing I did was sleep in as long as possible before getting ready for church.  Took the T to Lechmere and then walked down 2nd street till I found the chapel.  The original chapel (called the Longfellow Chapel, I believe) was burned down by an arsonist a year ago.  So the new place is pretty legit--multiple floors, more than one chapel, etc.  I didn't have time to look for a basketball court, but I'll pray and pray and pray that there is one.  Two of the three singles wards meet at the same time.  I went to where I could hear organ music and walked in.  Bingo.  Boston splits up their singles by age.  So the babies/undergrads are in the Longfellow 2nd ward.  Normal aged (25-30) awesome people (like me) attend the Longfellow 1st ward.  And the post-institute refuse of which I very well may be a part of eventually all meet in the Cambridge singles ward.

Sacrament meeting was really good.  Lots of good testimonies.  Lots of different backgrounds.  Same wonderful spirit.  After it was finished they had the new people come up and fill out forms/take pictures as is the norm in every singles ward.  My bishop's name is bishop Walker.  He seems pretty cool.  Off I went to Sunday School.  I sat next to this girl named April.  She was super funny and we had a good time making fun of Nat (the dude that sat next to the girl that she told me that I should ask out even though she knew nothing about her).  Turns out April was just visiting, so the first friend I made at church I will probably never see again.  But in Elders quorum they had everybody stand up and introduce themselves.  I stood up and said I was from Boise.  I had to fight off the urge to announce that I need (not want, need) a place to watch the BSU/VT football game tomorrow night (Go Broncos!).  However once I sat down the dude next to me asked me about the game.  I told him I'm stoked to say the least (on the verge of peeing my pants for anticipation) and told him if he had a tv and a way to watch it that I would buy him all the pizza he could eat, give him one of my kidneys, and name my first three children after him regardless of gender.  So Casey (that was his name) talked to Doug (which was what I think his friend's name was) and they decided we'd just make a BBQ out of it.  If we weren't at church I may have kissed Casey.  And it turns out that Casey is moving to Germany in a month to study.  So the second friend I made today will be gone before I know him.  But I got football so I'll cope.

After church I went back to my place to change into some less-churchlike clothes:  my 'girlfriend-getting jeans' as Katie Bruce calls them, my sweet David Beckham kicks, and a sweater over my church shirt.  Needless to say I looked smokin' hot.  Which was good because I was on my way to the picnic for the creative writing program.  It was at Robert Pinsky's house in Cambridge.  Nice place (understatement).  There was food, my poetry people, the fiction writers, the playwrights, faculty, staff, alumni, family, and lots and lots of alcohol.  I couldn't even find water, so I just ate a lot.  I finally got to meet the rest of my unfamiliar poetry mates--Langston, Dan, Elizabeth, and Nick.  Everybody seems really down to earth and we all get along really well.  Langston is a cool dude and I like him the most I think, Dan seems kinda nuts but genuinely nice, Elizabeth seems sweet but didn't say much, and Nick is one of those awesome almost-nerd cool people that you can't help but love.  I also got to know Ashley, Sophie, and Binh a little better.  Spoke with Robert a bit; met our other professor, David Ferry; talked with Leslie Epstein and one of the Deans for a few moments; and otherwise just pretended like I like socializing.  Sophie still seems like she'd be wicked cool to hang out with.  Ashley is a Baptist, and now knows I'm a Mormon, so I hope she's not one of those crazy Baptists (because I'm not one of those crazy Mormons.  well...) but I'm sure she's not.  Binh and I spoke the longest as people were starting to head out.  She's super nice and I love her accent.  She's Korean but spent a lot of the last few years in Seattle.  She's thinking about the Ph.D. route like I am and was in London over the summer so we've got lots in common.

Finally found some ginger ale (non-alcoholic) on my way out the door so I guzzled some and then headed back to the T.  Tomorrow morning we start class with Robert Pinsky.  I am more than excited.

Party's over.  It's crunch time.