Drunk Girls

This title (track 2 on LCD Soundsystem’s new totallyfreakingawesome album) is perhaps a little too descriptive for my now-exhausted body’s feeling on how Coachella 2010 went, but it was an absolutely amazing weekend:

1. My email didn’t work! THANK YOU, 70,000 hipsters a day tweeting, texting and updating your Facebook statuses (statii?)! I couldn’t try to work if I tried!!

2. I didn’t even want to try because I was having such a wonderful time. You know, I loved seeing the bands (LCD SOUNDSYSTEM IS SOOOOO AWESOME!!!!), but I had just as much fun in the RV, oh yes, THE RV, I drove down there, consuming an in ordinate amount of string cheese, samosas and wine/Trader Joe’s beer varietals. Oh, and having the kind of girl talk that is really magical in its banality and silliness because it changes you despite of, or maybe because of, its banality and silliness. I doubt there was a thought that Suganya, Penny and I shared that hasn’t been shared before, but there is such a comfort in sharing close quarters with two ladies who you know just want the best for you.

3. I laughed a lot. My sister and I took horrible photos together.

4. I taught Penny and Suganya how to play Wizard, the greatest card game ever. I sweated a lot. Sometimes we took naps.

5. I got some blisters. We broke a circuit in the RV but I could fix it because I watched an interminable video on how to operate it before we left. IT WAS AWESOME.

Needless to say, it’s hard to be back in the real world. Laurie and I were talking the other day about this New York Times article we’d read on vacation and its relationship to happiness, and how the biggest boost you get is in anticipation. Which means you need to take more frequent, shorter trips, rather than shooting your whole wad (meaning, your accrued vacation time) at once. I also think what was striking about the article was how it mentioned that those who felt “very relaxed” during their vacations felt the post-vacation happiness the most. This is my new philosophy on vacations. To build absolutely no expectations around them, to not even care what I see really. I had some bands highlighted on the Coachella stages list, but I didn’t see all of them, and I DIDN’T CARE! I really didn’t. I just went to go, to hang out with Penny and Suganya and drive an RV for the first time and see what the kids were up to these days.

And I had the best time.

Progress

Sometimes you just all of a sudden realize you might be OK again:

Your apartment is clean.

Your rent check is mailed.

You watered some plants.

You went to the gym (or in my case, pilates, and you started running again).

And you went to visit your sister Penny in the rain-sodden city of San Francisco.

Things aren’t perfect yet.

But you ate some octupus, one of your favorites.*

And you’ve been reading a lot of books from the library, which you’ve been returning on time.

And you’ve got Coachella to which to look forward.

Fingers crossed the pattern holds.

*Please do not post preachy/mean comments about octupus to me, ye who posted a preachy comment about foie gras. I only eat at restaurants that serve ethical foie gras, bitches, and to be frank, even if I didn’t, I do not post preachy/mean comments on anyone’s blog ever (that I can remember. If I have, I am very sorry and retract them and feel free to remonstrate me). So I don’t see why you need to pollute mine with one. I have never deleted a comment to date, but I can!