5cense

447> unpacking red-flagged strip files in the ununited nonstate of Amerika

26 Aug 2015 > dear Inurnet — 1° morning in our new digs in The District – officially stateless now — yesturday woke up 4 am – in our emptied roost in Manhattanville – slept on yoga mat on the floor — elevatored (18 + 4) down to the parking garage – 1° x ever we used it — to our rented mini-van that the day before we loded w/ our better-½'s books that we proseeded to drop off in Baltimore – where she will work ½ the time – in a refurbished police stn — then continued on thru rush hour traffic to DC — dropped our better-½ @ «home» + returned the van @ union stn – walked back to our new casa – movers still not there – they showed up around 11 – pared down now to 1 Ethiopian + 1 Israeli + 1 Tibetan (in case any1 needs a moving company Oz kicks ass – indeed «the wizards of moving») — our better-½ having a panic attack over how much stuff we have — slacking in recient years cuz weve had moving paid for – so accumulating more than purging — farcry from when moved us to NYC 15 years ago w/ everything we owned in a driveaway car + w/ each inner-city move from 5th floor walkup to 5th floor walkup – kept us a purging – in check – but sints Rome weve kept a cumulating – per lo più libri + knick-knacks — ma more mobili than we need — even tho translocating to a bigger casa the rooms here smaller so a challenge to figure out wat goes where – specially daunting surrounded by boxes – grantid most boxes padded w/ copious amounts of crumpled paper – fun fun — — did sum unpacking yesturday 1° need to find the box w/ the scissors so we can open other boxes – then the dishes so have us sumthing to drink out uv – then sheets so have us sumthing to sleep on – etc – etc — then went + got Thai – every1 super friendly here – mailman + UPS ppl introduice themselfs + welcome u to the hood – stop @ Eastern Farmers Market + conversation ensues w/ each transaction — last nite sleeping so quiet cd hear crickets + our own ears ringing — nice to not have any1 above ± below – only hear ourselfs – wood floors old + creaky – the presents of 150 yrs of ghosts before us — slept sound – ¿why do we say sleep «sound»? – thor fat matter ¿why—say—Puget sound? — no hay banda — went running just now – past Library of Congress + Supreme Court down past the Capitol along the mall past the Monument + Lincoln Memorial looping down along the Potomac past the Jefferson Memorial + back past the Smithsonian etc – all the sites of DC in less than 10k

29 Aug > still unpacking — taking the opportunity to oregonize our books — not alphabetickly ± anything — went + saw Screaming Females last nite @ Rock n Roll Hotel – not too far from here on H street – janky gentrified bar scene — homeless blacks on the streets + white hipsters inside the bars — district version of «hipster» anyway – more conservative but refreshing normalization after the ridiculousness of Bklyn – tho the dichotomy of gentrification seems worse here (black = poor + white = rich) – hard to stomick + the restraunts on H more about drinking than eating – growing pains in the gut – adjusting to mediocre food + service – tho had peruvian not ½-bad – the opening band GIVE pretty good – amphetamine-fueled jockish white dudes in gym shorts channeling the ghosts of Black Flag — the 2° band Vacation sucked – young kids from Ohio sounded like Green Day — but Screaming Females rocked — she stood in front of us during opening bands – smiled + nodded @ us unassumingly — if u saw her on the street u never wd imagine her transformation once she gets ax in hand — little bundle of fury – screaming baboon mouth open wide enuff to swallow the mic – while little fingers fly all over the frets – solid + tight — + ppl here actually watch shows w/ live eyes sted of thru iPhones held up in the air blocking the vu

screamale Marissa Paternoster (left) + baboon that tried to steal our breakfast in Malawi (right)

> we befriended the bouncer Bop who not only let us stand backstage but told us where to get best mussels + crabs in DC + the best bive dars — tho he had such a thick southern drawl we cood knot understand ½ of wat he sed — the nite before had us bad Mexican not worth menshunning but the nite before had great sushi a few blocks from our place (Capitol sushi) so we set – ¿what more u need? — also sined up for WSC also only a few blocks away – havent had a gym for sum 5-6 yrs – nice break from just running + stationary bike — day before that we rented a van to purge all the cardboard + paper the movers left in their wake — plenty to fill the van (even after we broke down boxes + down-stomped paper) – took it to the recycling depot/dump – popular place had to wait in a long line of cars by the tracks — then dropped off a bunch of books @ our better-½'s office near Dupont – taking the opportunity along the way to stop off @ Walmart + Trader Joes etc – git that + this – stock up on all the heavy stuff (ie 2+ cases of wine) while we have wheels

1 Sept> back to sleeping on right side (so face down our right arms hangs off side of bed) – sew can log dreams in darkness as they come — last nite we = «clearing out of sum house when we noticed a hidden hatch leading into a basement — we opened it up + saw stacks of shoeboxes below us — we couldnt quite reach them so we got our Ethiopian shepherds cane + when we started to try to open the boxes w/ the cane we saw a large snake w/ alternating bands of red + white + black – we tried to remember wat combination the coral snake has – how the saying went (to differentiate it from the nonvenomous king ± milk snake) [now that we awake we member «red on yellow will kill a fellow»] — but ended up the this snake = ridiculous massive (like the girth of a horse + ~100 feet long – so obviously an anaconda — it got loose from the basement + every1 freaked out – but it seemed harmless – didnt bite when it had the chance» — — later in the nite we = «hanging out on some dock on a river — sum ppl left sum fishing poles out + 1 of them had a bite + we yelled to find the owner but no 1 claimed it so we grabbed it + started reeling it in — the fish put up a good fight + we had to let it run w/ sum line — looking thru the dark surface we noticed the river became chock full of red sockeye salmon so thick u couldnt see anything but them — eventually we pulled in the fish – an avg sized trout — eggs spilled out of its gills — evidently not fishing season (why no 1 had claimed the pole) so we waded in w/ the trout to let it go + it swam off»

surfice uv our subconscious dreampool last nite

> last nite ate @ Cava Mezze – nite before that bbqed chicken on the grill in our backyard — planted bunch of edible stuff – cool to have our own outdoor space but mosquitos = insane here – swarm u the minute u step outside — ¿what else? – spent a day ± 2 applying edits to The Gotham Grammarian – almost done — going to the gym everyday – nice break from running — otherwise continuing to unpack – here = where we writing from henceforth:

> our new ground floor digs – a workspace in progress — stepping back for the bigger pic of our living room where we now live:




 446 <( )> 448 > crabfest in the vanilla calamari HQ: re-quartered arkhives gitting lost in shocklit city


5cense

[  (ɔ)om.Posted 2015  derek white  |  calamari archive   ]