Home Again

Back home again – everything seems vaguely 2 dimensional; slightly drained of color – a familiar song being played through a cement wall. I feel like i’ve been away for a year, but my roommate was surprised to see me and said it seemed like i was only gone for a week. The disparity of time and place combined with the jet lag is leaving me feeling distanced. All the gifts I’ve bought for people out of the context of the street vendors, hill tribe seamstresses, colorful market tents, acrid wafts, the shouting, blasting, blaring, lulling, snapping and tearing, seem to lack their original luster; how can i explain how hard won a particular bracelet was, that i haggled well, and that it took me hours to decide, because they were all so beautiful, and even so – the emotions i felt, when i thought, while on the other side of the planet, “they would just love this, i think.”

My place is a mess as i left it, though my plants are still alive they’re not in great shape, their’s alot of dust and for a second i thought it might have confirmed my sensation of being gone for longer than i was, but then i remembered i’ve never dusted anything here, and it’s been building up for months. Having Oldham back around is a treat; i really love the way he missed me.  Being missed is a great thing.

As per usual – i’m warn out, and as per usual, a good song can sum it up. This one courtesy of The Walkmen off their very under-rated latest album You & Me:

Seven Years of Holidays (for a stretch)

Eugene, I’m lost
The world as we know it is round
Well, I’ve traveled so far and I’m worn
And I’ve lived in a suitcase for too long

Eugene, I’m lost
The whole world around us is too small

Seven years of holidays
Cafes, bars and sunny days
We ran around, banged our heads
Never felt no pain

I hope we’ll find our peace someday
Until then these wild nights are no fun
My old friend
My old friend

Oh, someday when this darkness fades
We’ll wed our girls and move away
We’ll buy some land and build us homes
And no more will we stray

I’ve traveled so far
I’m done
Eugene, I’m lost

——-

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