I am at Berlin Airport . . . I fly to Amsterdam in an hour, and then onward to Washington, DC. I did not sleep last night on account of I figured I’d try to sleep while flying across the Atlantic. Doing this usually helps me completely skip over feeling jet-lagged. According to the seat map, the plane isn’t even half-full, which is great news because flying on a full international flight is true misery. So I got a window seat and a row all to myself . . . and my dumb little vegetarian meal. Wow!

This weekend I am taking a bus to New York City to see all the little angels I know there. As it happens, both my friends Cera and Molly will be there, which I had not anticipated. Gotta say: I love serendipity . . .

Next week I’ll rent a car and drive north through upstate New York into Vermont and across the border into Quebec, where I’ll see Laura and her sisters in Montreal. I was there last year and I’m real glad to go back. We’re all going to La Ronde amusement park and everything. Laura says it’s on an island they made using dirt from digging out the subway tunnels.

And then I have my cousin’s wedding to go to . . . and from there I will head south through New Orleans to Dallas and Austin and Albuquerque and LA and the Bay Area, where McCune and I will set off on a road trip all over the West, and ending up in Montana, which is one of five states I’ve never visited.

And then . . . !

I spent a lot of today crying, but now everything’s coming up Milhouse, baby!!

Nicole and Bex called me from a mariner pub in London . . . I actually went to that pub with Nicole when I was in London back in May. They told me they were carving stamps out of rubber and I asked for proof, which I promptly received doubly. To be honest, I desperately needed someone to call me on the phone, such is my loneliness, so it was a nice thing. And two for the price of one! I only wish I had been there with them . . . well, I reckon I was in some ghostly sense~

tis true (i was also baked lol)

i’ll say it again:

you do me wrong to take me out o’ th’ grave. thou art a soul in bliss, but i am bound upon a wheel of fire, that my own tears do scald like molten lead!!! lol

every time i stumble upon this in my phone again, it makes me really happy

Isabella and Sean came and got Gego yesterday . . . as soon as they came into my apartment, he meowed and then ran under my bed and hid. He didn’t want to leave! Isabella and Sean hung around and we all talked for an hour, by which point he had still not come out . . . so I had to lift up my mattress and grab him from beneath my bed. When I pulled him out, he clung to my chest. Sean took these pictures of young Gego and me before I sadly relinquished him to his mother’s open arms. Once inside his carrier, we unzipped the top and I pet him and gave him a kiss on the head. I said, “Goodbye, my sweet baby child. I love you.” The little family descended the stairs and were gone.

I have watched Gego four or five times now, and every time he leaves I feel empty as hell again. I like having the little dude around. It feels like hanging out with your little brother. This is also the first time in my entire life I haven’t had a cat of my own . . . a week of watching Gego always reminds me that having a cat in my house is essential to my not going completely insane. I have to be around them! I don’t know, it gives me purpose. It forces me to take care of myself so that I am in good enough shape to take care of them. Otherwise I just end up turning into the redundant subterranean thing I am now.

Last summer a ladybug landed on my laundry which was drying on a rack on my balcony. I had never seen a black ladybug with red spots before . . . an inverted ladybug! I managed to take a picture before she flew off.

And then yesterday, I saw Gego swatting at something on my floor. I turned on the light and found a little orange ladybug with white spots, which I had also never seen before. I scooped her onto an envelope and took her out to my balcony. I placed her on one of my flowers there. She was moving around pretty quickly so I couldn’t get her into focus for long, but I did my best:

Apparently these little beetles are native to Europe and Asia and over here they’re called orange ladybirds. They’re very beautiful. I’m glad I was able to save this one from Gego’s wrath.

i’ve never seen a cat just sit there and watch a movie like this before. gego is fully invested. we’ve watched entire movies together several times now