Ciao!

Say goodbye in the rain

09.02.2003

You should always say goodbyes in the rain. It fits the mood so well. But this was a great last weekend in Kalamazoo, despite the cold, damp rain.

Thursday. Drove to The Game Shop, picked up my comics, and said my goodbyes there. Then my last poker night. I didn't win any of the money I'd lost over the months (about $15-20), but I didn't do so bad, either. Afterwards, I spent the last night in my old apartment, sleeping in my old bed.

Friday. I spent the afternoon cleaning up what remained of my Kalamazoo apartment. Dave & Emily took most of the last remaining possessions, Jaakan took the bed. I swept up all the cat fur and dustbunnies, locked the door, and walked away from The Parkmont.

I got my last haircut at Jim's Barber Shop. Then I drove down to 1977 Mopeds and ate Martini's w/ Dan (I had the penne pasta, he had the eggplant Parmesan). Later, I went to see The Italian Job w/ J. Edmund and Brett. The movie was just as good the second time; well-made caper movies are just great fun.

Afterwards, we met up w/ Bill at his new fun-house apartment upstairs from his soon-to-open coffee shop. We drove to Brian Frain's warehouse apartment for a small party, drinking Jack & Coke and listening to terrible Wesley Snipes jokes.

Saturday. Bay returned from Brazil, and we tried to meet up w/ J. Edmund and Bill for dinner and then the movie Open Range. But Olive Garden was full, and then four people in three cars were stretched to the limits of cell phone coordination. We ended up at Ruby Tuesdays' (which Bill loves and J. Edmund hates) where we ate, missed the movie, and then walked through Crossroads Mall. Bay regaled us w/ stories of Brazil, the land of infinitely beautiful people, where her mom turned into a party-crazed teenager.

Then we went back to the Upson & Wagner estate for the Moped Army party. I came as a wino, w/ a cheap bottle of Wild Vines Strawberry Zinfandel.

Sunday. I went to my last mass at St. Tom's, where I got to say goodbye to Marian, Rosemary, and Timba. I'll miss St. Tom's when I'm gone. After mass, I met Emily Hauptmann, my dissertation advisor, for lunch at Food Dance. We had a great lunch conversation, as always, and planned for a possible dissertation committee meeting on Friday.

At 3pm, I met everyone at 1977 Mopeds to ride out to Riverview Park for the Moped Army BBQ. Dan lent me his Carabela for the ride out there. It was drizzling and wet, but we made the best of it. Jake (aka The Grill Master) did his magic w/ the burgers and such. Beth Spicer made unbelievably declicios vegan oatmeal cookies. My team won the kickball game, which was fun (especially to see Evil Bill flip out more than once).

We rode back to the shop for a movie surprise. Jaakan & co. had acquired a large projection copy of Raiders of the Lost Ark, a keg of root beer (which led to root beer kick stands), and a nearly endless suppy of popcorn. After the movie there was talk of going dancing. But, in the end, most people opted for board games. I played settlers until 5am at Jordan's house, before crawling onto his couch to sleep.

Monday. Met everyone for breakfast at The Crow's Nest, which swamped the single waitress. Then we met up at the shop again to drive out to Megan's for a pool party (despite, or perhaps to spite, the rain).

Then I rushed over to Kevin & Katia's apartment for my last goodbye w/ the last of my grad school cohort. Katia and Aparna are the last two students at Western from my grads school cohort (the others having graduated or left the program). The two of them were about a year ahead of me (cohorts tend to span about two years or so) so they've been gone for much of the last two years doing their own dissertation research in Russia and Poland (Katia) and India (Aparna). It was great to get together one last time w/ Katia & Apu and their husbands (Kevin & Sabi). They'd just returned from the APSA (American Political Science Association) conference in Philadelphia and are looking for jobs. By the time I return from Bolivia, they'll have defended their dissertations and (I trust) landed tenure track positions.

Then I drove home in a dark rain, slightly sick w/ the flu from a long, damp, cold weekend. I found my cats relieved to see me (they'd hid from my parents for days). My cats and I crawled into bed together and slept.

Posted by Miguel at 03:05 PM

Comments

Posted by: sam at September 3, 2003 08:49 AM