And the boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay

So- to continue. I want to write this all down, as someday it will be of interested to someone. Most likely me. Anyway.
Sunday morning I got up at, again, 7 15. Twice in a row now. I dragged my tired ass onto a subway train (so, side note- I was really sore when I got home saturday night. My lower back and knees were killing me, I don't know from what, the driving, the being slightly tense, carting heavy stuff around, who knows. I took a bunch of ibuprofen when I got home (which, disturbingly enough I can't take less than 600 milligrams of anymore, it just doesn't work) and got to sleep in my aunt's bed, she was away for the night. Being in a real bed, especially a big comfortable one with lots of memory foam pillows made getting up in the morning particularly terrible. Oh well. I lived). I was the first one to Mitchell's apartment. Here's where it gets kind of complicated and tangely. Mitchell is my moms cousin. So my cousin once removed. The other people who came were Michelle (who is Richie's daughter, Richie is Mitchell and my moms cousin, so Michelle is my second cousin) her daughter Emma (my second cousin once removed) her friend, her mother Gail (who is no longer married to Richie, so no official relation) and Mitchell's boyfriend, Brian. 7 people total, none of whom I know. Except Mitchell. Maybe I should have passed on going, I don't know. But, Emma was cute. She's 4, and mildly precocious. But- there was something wierd going on. That's putting it to strongly maybe. I dunno. Emma would say stuff that she clearly knew was kind of grandiose and cutesy, but it was interesting, certainly more interesting than having her talk about what they had seen the other day 4 or 5 times. But she would get shut down by her mom, kind of. Like- Michelle said, hey, tell everyone what you're going to be when you grow up, what you told me the other day, and Emma said 'a doctor' everyone says oohhhh, and Michelle said 'no, what else, you said something else' and Emma kind of mumbles and whatever for a minute and then comes up with 'I'm going to see everything there is to see' which I thought was kind of fantastic, even though she said it in a way that showed that she knew this was an impressive thing to say, and Michelle said "oh, stop, now you're just being silly" in a dismissive sort f way. Later, Emma said something that I don't remember, and Michelle said "Emma, you're talking nonsense. If you're not going to talk sense, then don't talk at all". What? The kid is 4! Maybe I'm no expert, but who cares? Also, she was not talking nonsense, she was talking fantastical, which is totally different; and the real point is- 'or don't talk at all'? what? I think she is too young to be really crushed by hearing this, but I was kind of offended for her. Who knows. Anyway. I liked seeing Mitchell, and it was a really good breakfast, the bagels are truly somehow better here, and I left on time, and made great time back to New London. Where I spent more time with relatives. Good god. I am so unused to having family around. I went for a walk with my uncle, which was pretty cool. From where we were, you could see the edge of Long Island. There were Canada geese around, and I'm a big fan of them. We talked about a bunch of random, inconsequential things. When we got back, he took off for his date, I worked a little, and then my cousin came home. Elena is a lot more tolerable now that she's 17. She and Nick used to be so fucking bratty and annoying, but now she's grown up some. She wants to be a music journalist. I think she and Nick were really screwed up by their parents getting divorced. Well. I think they were screwed up by their parents staying together as long as they did, and the divorce happened just after they moved twice in about 3 years, and then my uncle moved to where he lives now about two years after that, and my aunt moved straight back to Maine when they split up. So a lot of shifting and upheaval, which I'm sure was lots of fun during middle school and high school. But the upshot is that she really hates her dad, and wants to get out of Connecticut. Nick is apparently getting into all sorts of trouble. Who knows.
I didn't really want to stay the night, but I felt like it would be impolite to refuse, so I fought with the crappy wireless connection for a bit, and then went to sleep. And woke up at, again, 7 15. Three in a row. Dang. I took the train back in, and this time worked the whole time. I felt very official. I probably should have done more work on it on sunday, but I was very tired, and had to be sociable with family, and so work got kind of pushed to the back burner. So it goes. It has taken me longer than I thought it would. I spent most of yesterday on it, sent it in, got feedback, and then did another 5 hours on it today. 5 fairly frustrating hours. There are a few things that there really isn't an efficient way to do them in this program, which makes for all sorts of repetitive and time-consuming. I'll get the next round of feedback early tomorrow, and hopefully I'll make a few adjustments and that will be the end of that. I've already put in nearly 18 hours on it, which is great for me, I'm getting paid fairly well, but I feel bad because Matt's my friend, and he's paying me out of pocket, and I'm worried that I'm spending too much time on it, and it's going to cost him too much. But it really is a fair rate. I just can't tell if I'm taking too long to finish it. Who knows.
This evening, though, was great. I had an interview, with an awesome job what is fairly clearly meant for me. I hope they agree. It's for a job as a master electrician/lighting director. It's basically what I did during my internship, designing rentals, running focus and crew calls, keeping the theatre organized, etc. It's pretty perfect, and there's benefits. Fabulous. The interview went very well, I think they liked me. They're going to have me come in sometime in the next couple weeks on a crew call and see how I do.
Then my cousin Sarah (the one I'm staying with) called me and said hey, my friend is playing with a band, it's going to be all sorts of wierd and interesting, and 10 pm tonight, want to have dinner and then go? Why yes, sure, sez I. So I kick around the apartment for about an hour, and head out. As I walked out, it started snowing. I am realizing more and more that I really love snow. Sadly, when I got out of the subway on the lower east side, it was not snowing. I was dissapointed.
We went to an Indian restaurant, Madras Cafe, that was fantastic. We each got a different thali dinner, so an assortment of all kind of stuff. Everything was good. I wish I had held onto a menu, so I could have figured out what was what, but oh well. We talked about our grandparents, and parents. Again with the oddness of having family around. But it was good, she understands them better than I do, and also knows more of the stories of wierdness and non-communication that surround our family, and it's nice to learn about it. My had has disconnected himself from it all as much as possible, and so I've been very cut off from everything. Which considering is not a bad place to be, but I like knowing, you know? The base of the story (and there really isn't a particular story) is that my grandparents are totally wierd, each in their own way, and can be fun people, but were probably pretty bad parents. My aunt and uncle both went to Israel for at least part of college, to escape them, and so of course my grandparents moved there, dragging my dad with them, which is why he went to high school there. One example of the strangeness. Each of their kids has dealt with them according to their personality. My uncle is very there for them, and commited, but very angry and tense about it. My aunt it semi-involved, and helps out, but lives on the other side of the country. My dad stays away from them as much as possible, and doesn't want to have anything to do with them. So anyway. Dinner was good.
There was barely anyone at the show, but it was still pretty awesome. It was kind of freeform jazz, and while I don't really appreciate this sort of thing, it was good. It's the first time I've actually heard kind of a dialogue between instruments in an improvved thing. there was a clarinet, a trumpet, a banjo, an upright bass, a drum set, and one guy playing a few little casio keyboards. Half the fun was walching them play. The banjo player had the best ever awkward stance, and he would occasionally rock out, but without really moving his feet, and they were tight next to each other. The bass player sang along to himself a bit. The clarinet had a lot of barely surpressed amusement. The trumpet guy was just nuts. He was a bit like a bullfrog, and when he blew into the trumpet, his nek would dissapear. Like, he had a normally thick guy neck, but when he played, his neck flared out, and so there was no neck, just a straight line down from head to shoulder. He was the oddest, I was reminded of the anglo-saxon attitudes from Alice in Wonderland (actually, Through the Looking-glass. Check out the annotated version). The drummer had all sorts of great hand motions and heartfelt dramatic flair. The keyboardist was kind of off to the side, nodding along, adding his bit, smiling quietly. I was very tired, though, from working all day, eating a big meal, and Sarah had bought me a drink when we got there. So while I liked it, and was greatly amused, it still wasn't entirely 'my thing' and I was ready to go when it was over. Fortunately, so was she, and it was pretty late. And- it was snowing! Lots of pretty snow! We walked for a bit, then caught a cab and rode up third, then across Central Park on 97th. It was beautiful. We got out at Columbia and walked the rest of the way. There was a lot more snow there, and everything was hushed a bit (it's true! I had read about that, and heard about it in movies, but it really does muffle everything) and we were thoroughly covered by the time be got home. We're up on he 19th floor, so you can't really tell it's snowing up here, which is kind of sad. But I got to be out in it, and for the last bit of walk were we on a path that no one else had walked on yet. It was deeply satisfying.
But now it's crazy late, and I have to do work in the morning, and then go over to my new apartment and reassemble my futon.