What with a very full first day and then all that dancing down the street singing about how I’ve gotten a new job, by the time I got to the train station, I’d completely missed rush hour. That means forty minutes between trains to Jersey and a transfer in Newark and other signs of commuter hell. Scep and Katie’s condo is awesome, but it’s at the edge of civilization. (Don’t even try to defend it, Scep, how long is your drive to work?!?) (And Andrea, your house is marked by Here be dragons on my map.)

I finally got back to Scep’s place and chatted with Scep and Katie for a bit before I picked up some clothes and left again to spend the night at my mom’s so I wouldn’t have to do that again tomorrow morning. My folks’ house is much closer to Manhattan-bound commuter rail, and therefore my awesome new job.

I took the Clove Road shortcut by Montclair State, thinking about how I’d spent quite a lot of high school weekends here at Six Brothers diner (Ooh, arcade Puzzle Bobble! That should definitely go on my 15 games list!), and not about the complete stupidity of driving a fifteen-year-old car through a college late at night. I’ve been pulled over probably six or seven times since I got my license, and five or six of those were for driving a battered old car on campus at night. It was worse when I was a new driver, going exactly the speed limit with an expression of mortal terror, but you’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now.

By the way, when the cop pulls you over in the middle of the night and asks where you’re coming from and where you’re headed, he doesn’t actually need to know about your new job, your move from North Carolina, and your old boyfriend.

I’m just saying.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Crash Course

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My dad and I drove back to Montclair from Middletown last night. This morning Scep and Katie came to get me and we went to the Bluestone Cafe in Watchung Plaza.

We walked past Watchung Deli as we waited for a table. When I talked about my love for Hunan House, my high school friend Roy, who now lives in Japan, mentioned missing Watchung Deli when he’s living abroad.  (Roy’s been in Japan for several years now, with occasional visits home,  and if you’re keeping score, our friends Garan’s moved to Korea. I asked Scep to move to Indonesia to round out the gang of our friends now in Asia, but he said no.) Oddly, the Watchung Deli is now next to a sushi joint, a salon offering Japanese hair straightening*, and a corner shop full of anime fashions, brightly colored mini-sushi erasers and more novelty Asian imports. Watchung is ready for your return, Roy.

Since it was a holiday, there were plenty of other late-morning brunchers at Bluestone Coffee. Menus were coffee-stained unlaminated paper, listing two flavors of chai, coffees, teas, and a variety of yummy entrees, featuring ingredients that could not be altered or substituted. But the food was good, and the company was even better! I missed those two!

Our waitress made sure we didn’t linger, though, she literally took my plate away as soon as I lifted the last bite towards my mouth. By this time, it wasn’t crowded anymore, but it was uncomfortable lingering where the staff clearly didn’t want us to be, so we went back to my parents’ house.

It was great to catch up with Scep and Katie. We talked about the time my granny grilled Katie to see if she was worthy to be dating her now-husband Scep, and about Katie’s possible new job in the fall, and summer plans, and general catch up. Also, Scep and Katie pretended not to notice my ridiculous hairline sunburn. Although I diligently sunscreened myself with SPF 6.2^8 at Bethie’s graduation, I guess I didn’t get quite up to my hair and I have now a half centimeter of crispy red around my face.

Maybe Bluestone has a No Weird Faces policy, and that’s why we got the bum’s rush.

*I’m not entirely sure what that is. Do you know?

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Bluestone, Red Face

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“Can you get on Facebook and give me Josh and Terri’s address?” I asked Stick a week before Christmas. We were sitting in the living room right before Christmas, with a gorgeous fire going, as I prepared our very first joint Christmas cards.  I got lovely seasonal ones, festive without excessive Santa greed, non-denominational without being cheerlessly politically correct.

“Sure,” Stick said, loading Facebook. Thank goodness for Facebook, because otherwise people like me who move a lot and are totally irresponsible would have trouble keeping up with everyone. “Look, there’s a Burger King perfume! Can you believe that?”

“Can I have Hugo and Diana‘s address too?” I wished some of our classics friends a good Saturnalia, and some pagan friends a good Solstice.

“Sorry, I got sidetracked. What did you need? Hey, look, movie scenes done in stick figures!”

I wrote a card to Isabelle.

“Whoa! Listen! Which 80′s movie are you?”

“Now I need Josh and Terri, Hugo and Diana, and I need the King-Learys’ address too.” (Note: I am often accused of exaggerating on this blog, so I’m letting you know that I did not make that up. I’ve been trying to convince them to hyphenate for years, since the King-Leary wedding.) “The Egglestons, and Steph and Jeff, my cousins, and both your brothers.”

“Ok, just as soon as I take this quiz to find out which Lord Of The Rings character I am.”

Maybe I ought to get an address book.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

The Wonders Of Technology

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Scep told me that our highschool friend Garan got engaged a few days ago! Garan’s living in Korea (it’s amazing how many of our old friends moved to Asia), so I immediately emailed him to get the details.

Meg to Garan: I heard a rumor about you. Is it true!?!?!?
Garan to Meg: Yeah, I’m getting married. And I’m playing WoW again… Snidsworth, Alliance NElf Druid, Bwahahaha!
Meg to Garan: Yay! No serious gamers ever play Alliance! SCORE ONE FOR THE GOOD GUYS! What are your profs? Level? I’m a dwarf/war on Malorne, and –
Wait, don’t think you can get me off topic that easily. How did you propose? When’s the wedding?

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

WarCraft and Weddings

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We got a package from Scep and Katie today…. guess what was in it?

YEAH!!!

(If you’re wondering what’s going on with my hair here, this picture presents firm evidence that when enough people say it’s yellow, my hair decides to play along.)

Related: My love for Cadbury Eggs,

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Cadbury Egg!

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Or, “I don’t know why Scep even talks to me”.

[11/15/2007 11:48:23 PM] Scep says: what, you don’t like calibri?
[11/15/2007 11:49:03 PM] Meg says: no, no one wants to read a paper in a zany font!
[11/15/2007 11:49:11 PM] Scep says: it’s not zany
[11/15/2007 11:49:43 PM] Meg says: it’s not standard
[11/15/2007 11:50:09 PM] Scep says: it will be
[11/15/2007 11:50:39 PM] Meg says: yeah, well I’ll have a flying car someday, but my house shouldn’t default to a roofside garage

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

In Defense Of Calibri

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On Saturday morning, I went bridesmaid dress re-shopping with Katie. Apparently the one we picked out last time came in a periwinkle that isn’t the same periwinkle the other bridesmaids have. But we found a new one that works, and it’ll be ready in plenty of time for Katie and Scep’s wedding!

Now, if they could just find me a groomsman I haven’t dated…

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Dress Shopping!

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Yesterday, we went with Scep and Katie, and their dog Midnight, to the dogpark. It’s a fenced-in area with doggie exercise equipment and doggie-sized water fountains. And a puppy time-out area.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Bad Dogs

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Scep, Katie, Stick and I stopped at a local grocery store, looking for snacks, soda and normal gaming food. It’s common to say that Americans are fat… but I don’t think I’d ever realized it so strongly. The grocery store was full of hugely fat people, pushing giant shopping carts full of food.

Katie had to drag me away from the neatly wrapped packages of recognizable meats. I stared at the uniform fruit from around the world, stacked in neat pyramids around the store. Every aisle had something fascinating, new products like squeeable tubes of ginger or new combination cookies. I was boring my friends senseless with my cries of “look, look!” and excitement over a pretty mundane package.

I kept thinking that when I got back to the US, I’d stop feeling lonely and I’d feel like I fit in properly, but even here, even right next to Stick and my friends, it seems that China has changed me. I still see through laowai eyes, and it keeps me apart.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Grocery Shopping

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Stick and I went to Scep and Katie’s house just after our lost-baggage adventure and just before our marathon Wii session. Scep’s mom, my “aunt”, came in, and after the obligatory China questions and hugs, I remembered that I have a plus-one.

“This is my boyfriend, Stick,” I said.

“I know that, I met him before you went to China,” Scep’s mom said.

“Right! You did! Check me out! I’ve had a boyfriend for so long!” There may also have been a happy dance.

“Yes, that’s very surprising.” Scep’s mom said. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Unpleasant Truths

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