Rolling out of the comfort of my sheets around 8:15am, I gathered my thoughts, cleaned up, slightly, and made it to LLK. After the usual 5 minute BS session I quickly jumped into my work and was making slow, yet diligent progress. The wording of the documents are all done in such a way to create as much confusion as possible and restrict the understanding capacity to only those truly dedicated to completing the Training. Ok, I might be exaggerating a bit, but it was a pain in the arss.
At around 11:30, in walks my professor, who I'm supposed to be meeting on campus in 30 minutes. It's good to know that we both run on the same schedule: late. Anyway, seeing that I was well into the Training and I had enough papers spread across the table that cleaning it up and heading to the South Fork for a meeting that I'm not yet ready for didn't make sense, we talked briefly about what I needed to do. It seems that I have a good understanding of what needs to be done, it's just a matter of doing it... good to know. We decided on meeting up next week to cover a preliminary proposal that hopefully satisfies the Research Committee's requests. She walked out, continued on her journey South to teach her class and I returned my focus to the Training...slightly.
Soon after the impromptu meeting I realized that I was no longer confined to the area. My chains had been broken. All of the possibilities began swarming in. I had made plans to go down to the school with a recently developed good friend, Allison, to visit with our mutual friends. Maria called and invited me to go to Lobster Fest this evening, a wonderful gathering of folks listening to live music and cracking the fresh, crisp shells of local lobsters; all while hanging out along the beach of the Long Island Sound.
It then occurred that a trip home, to upstate NY was still a possibility. I had originally intended on making my way north to drop off an order of wine to a local restaurant, the Aroma Thyme Bistro. Last week I did a tasting/drinking/meal combination event at the gathering spot. The results were a group excessively jolly individuals with saturated palates and swelling stomachs and a new reach for Long Island wines. Paumanok wines were well accepted by the owners, a fabulous pair who established this petite piece of heaven with a focus on healthy, local foods. We made plans to deliver the wines at my convenience, but of course I'd rather get them there sooner rather than later.
In addition to the vitis vinifera that will be experienced by a new crowd, my grandparents are visiting from Florida. This past weekend was my cousin's graduation from university and they made the trek to his school, further upstate from my home, and they are staying at my uncle's lakeside cabin nearby to my home. It's always a good idea to see family when the opportunity arises, even if we might not share all that much in common...
...So I meant to continue writing and finish up a bit more as it was helping me to decide whether or not the trip would be worthwhile. However, I'm not writing from the front porch of my home upstate, drinking a Spaten premium brew from Munich. I just returned from a mosquito drenched hike to the tender little spot that I've been hanging my hammock. Since I returned home during the light of day, I thought it a grand idea to spend the time getting my hammock set up properly, as opposed to fuddling around by the light of a headlamp later on.
This somewhat relates back to my previous post, but it's an issue I believe should be continued. While hiking along the seldom traveled road towards the path, down into the stream bed and through the ferns along the creekside, I couldn't help but conjure up a small degree of paranoia. I can't be certain if it's because of the encounter I had during my last hammock session above that creek in which a neighbor stopped Brian and I on our hike out, questioning our presence. Or it might be because I'm not terribly comfortable with any of my neighbors. I'm not sure who's property I'll be sleeping on and I'm hoping not to wake up to some angry hillbilly with a shotgun pointed into the tightly knit bug net that serves as my only protection. While I was hanging my bed and swatting at a small portion of the mosquitoes that were constantly penetrating my skin, I kept and eye and ear out for anyone passing through the woodlands. My hike out, lightened with the excretion of my hammock, bug net, tree hugger straps and sleeping bag, was done with the utmost effort in stealthy progression so as not to tip off my whereabouts from my sure-to-be-listening neighbors... Who am I kidding, these folks are most likely inside watching the latest reality television shows, getting ready to eat their pre-cooked roasted chicken from the local grocers - at least I'm hoping.
Again, I'm hoping that my paranoia is not well founded and that there really isn't a problem to worry about. My own philosophy can't justify the need for others to be concerned that I'm sleeping over a creek, even if it happens to be in their backyard. I might understand the shock if an individual happened upon my cocoon during their morning walk, or if I was easily visible from their back steps, however neither of these are likely to occur. The former has a greater chance of happening and I might even encourage the event if the individual was walking with a light step from jolly emotions. Hopefully then they wouldn't be terribly shocked and upset when they happened upon my place. I imagine a pleasant conversation with the "owner" of the land in which we discuss the hammock's comfort, the simple pleasures of sleeping directly above the lightly flowing creek and the extreme benefit that a good bug net brings. The conversation would come to a close with the discussion of hammocking on the individual's land. We would decide that it's not an issue, just make sure not to hike out into other people's backyards, 'cause you never know who's awaitin' behind the door.
I'm looking back at the title I gave this post, "Serendipitous Confusion," feeling that I didn't get the chance to address the title. Once my professor left the Love Lane Kitchen I wasn't sure of what to do. I now had to world open to me. Although I had some informal plans set on the Forks, I knew that there was a reason I wanted to make the trip upstate. Along my travels I stopped by Brenda's in Astoria. While it was a brief stop, it was enough to put a smile on her face, the only goal I had. An added bonus was a scrumptious sandwich and a comfortable couch to cuddle on...wow, I hope that's not misinterpreted as me trudging in, demanding her to make me a sam'ich while I put my feet up for a few. I assure you that was not the way it happened, I don't have the wherewithal to act in such a way, at least in a serious manner - I'm far too childish.
And now I must return to the human subject training, making sure that this damn thing gets done soon. Gladly, there are plenty more Spaten in the fridge and my stomach is once again full.
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