hallo world. wow, i can't remember the last time i took a hiatus that long and thought about it so little. only once, yesterday on nantucket where ben's father took the brood of us for a daytrip, did the internet leap up and confront me. i didn't even mention it to ben, though i know he noticed too. bravely putting temptation behind us, instead we took a langorous loopy walk, book-shopped where i bought a confederacy of dunces cuz i hadn't realized it was a novel and my chagrin forced me to the register, and music-shopped where ben spent nearly-exactly twice what i did but we each left with a respectable load. mine consisted of catie curtis truth from lies, good ol' kiss me kate, and lucinda williams car wheels on a gravel road, all used. i debated over til we outnumber 'em and k.d. lang's ingenue -- and ben, in the throes of a reckless abandon brought on only by record stores, encouraged me not to hold back -- but i figgered three sufficed.

when we weren't glutting ourselves commercially the past few days, we hung out with ben's dad, his little sister and a blonde toothpick with an eating disorder who spoke in a priceless combination of a russian and brooklyn accent in the rented house in cape cod. as i'm obligated, i should admit that yes i was wrong about cape cod. it isn't yuppie. it's old. it's even-tempered, comfortable, in places charming, and generally geriatric.
as ben and i had spent the previous few days in new york running around the change of pace was much appreciated. his birthday especially, from which i needed to recover half of the following day: just thinking about recounting all our stops makes me tired. as becca and lana would say, LSS, we visited harlem (twice), the upper west side (twice), soho, and both sides of the village; we lunched in midtown; and eventually we camped in an apartment of ben's "financially independent" highskool friend on the upper east side, 21 floors up and with a delicious panoramic view of the city. in between we saw kurosawa's the hidden fortress, from which mr. lucas apparently ripped off star wars, went to condomania (twice), had ben's first official drink, met up w/ and parted from a swattie-grad i fell instantly in charm with and will most likely never see again, were barred from harlem song and the new museum (both closed), and ate impressively-good ethiopean food.

virtually the first thing we did when i arrived in new york was exchange presents. i gave him the box i designed for his 21st birthday (theme: CALM) and he gave me a vinnie's giant period chart and tampon case. adorable. we toasted the fact that we've managed to stick together for a year and a half, and despite a few squabbles over the week and a lot of travelling and family, kissing goodbye in the providence airport this afternoon, it seemed it's been a good choice.