twenty-something

Allison Carey and I are going to be roommates come September 2005. We are moving into her family's place in Charlestown. There is a two bedroom in the basement with a spiral staircase, and a three bedroom upstairs. Either the two of us will live alone downstairs, or bring in a third party for the upstairs -- perhaps one of our boyfriends.

Sounds pretty set in stone, huh? I am quite excited by the possibility, I must say, but I can't figure out if this was just a "let's play house" plan that the two of us came up with in the heat of the moment, if this is a set-in-stone gonna-happen plan that I can't get out of, or if it's something in the middle -- a very real possibility that will bring us both back to the greater Boston area if the sun, moon, and stars align just right to make us into roommates. I cross my fingers than it can and will happen, because the more I think about it, the more excited I get.

So I went to Malden this past weekend, and it was just what I needed. It was the first time I'd left Burlington since the Pub Crawl back in August, and the first time I'd really done anything but work on a weekend since the semester started. I needed a vacation. I also needed to celebrate Halloween and, in my gay way, the Sox's World Series sweep. I just needed to get out and get some North Shore lovin'. And I got it, big time.

Bus ride down sucked. Packed. Sat with a small kid from Montreal who read from a "Math for Engineers" book the whole way. Listened to my iPod and read from Augusten's new book. This sorta-cute St. Mike's kid in the seat across from me made an instant connection with this young Tina Fey lookin' Canadian beauty and (I think) dumped his girlfriend for her over the course of the trip. Not sure. I am sure that there was little eye candy for me to take in on the trip. I had nary a fantasy about any of the other passengers, and simply stuck to my book and music.

Upon arriving, I met my new "nephew," Gavin, technically Yelli's nephew, who was a lot smaller and infant-y than I expected. I guess I really haven't been around babies since my brother and sister were born, because I honestly was kind of expecting the one-month-old to be walking and talking. He was cute nonetheless and actually ended up smiling at me once during the weekend.

Went out to my new favorite place, the Texas Roadhouse, and Yelli and I drank such a steady stream of Miller Lite that we put the kibosh on our early morning Sox parade plans. So we drank it up, Halloween-style, and ended up at Hugh's, grinding like a couple of heteros in heat. At the carwash, baby!

Saturday would bring the big roommate plan from an also-visiting Allison, who was home from DC to celebrate the Sox victory. After ditching a crankier-than-usual Sean, Yelli, Allison, Jess, and I went into Boston for Halloween/Sox crazniess, eventually ending up on the patio of the Quincy Market Cheers, chatting it up under some heat lamps, low-key and fabulous. It was one of the Top Five out-in-Boston experiences, and was just so awesome and drama-free.

So the next day I went back on the bus, this time next to a hot outdoorsy St. Mike's kid, and sadly left my once and future home.

The trip was very short, but quite possibly perfect. A great break from my status quo. And perhaps more importantly, it gave me very real hope for the future. I potentially have another "in" down there, one closer to the city, and a "out" from my easy-to-feel-locked-into life here in Vermont. I'm sure pretty soon, I'll start freaking about it all, but for now, I list it as a maybe... something that was just what I needed.