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Andersen Silva's Journal

11th November, 2006. 11:11 am. Witch way to Salem?

Yes, it's 11:11 AM on 11-11-2006, and I'm Salem-bound. I don't know, Boston Common and Salem Common are two stops I seem to have to make every time I'm up this way...

My flight to Logan on Thursday morning, while it departed 20-25 minutes later than scheduled, was blissfully uneventful. I paid for wireless access at the airport after landing, so I could look up a few things I'd neglected to before leaving, then got on the wrong shuttle bus and ended up in Chelsea. D'oh! By the time I got back to the airport, I'd gotten a frantic E-mail from one of my co-workers, so I went back inside and logged in remotely to help her out. From there, I took the right shuttle bus to the Airport T station and headed to the New England Aquarium. Just love the penguins there, especially the rockhoppers, and I spent a while watching them, and teasing the African penguins with a fish-shaped beam of light. It was kinda funny to watch them chase it in the water the same way a cat will chase a flashlight beam on the carpet...

I did see the other water creatures, of course, though I didn't get the hoped-for shot of Myrtle, the gigantic (600 pounds!) turtle, surfacing in the tank. I had a quick meal at the café, breezed through the gift shop, then went back to the penguin islands, where a young woman was in the water talking to the crowd about them. I considered sticking around for their feeding, but it was getting close to check-in time at the hotel, and I still needed to figure out how I was getting there, so I split. You're going to have to wait for the penguin pics, because I forgot my camera cable at home. Better than forgetting the camera again, at least.

The Red Line to Harvard Square got me to the 86 bus, which was crowded with high schoolers; guess I picked a bad time to go. Heh-heh... Anyway, I arrived without too much delay, checked in, and found the accommodations to be the most enjoyable of all my personal trips this year. The bathroom was perhaps a little too small, but the room was clean, I had a view of the park along the Charles, the location was convenient to decent public transportation, the staff was friendly and efficient, and there was even a Chinese restaurant downstairs. I rested up in the room for a while, then headed downstairs to Joyful Garden, where the Amazing Chicken was quite good, if not exactly amazing, and the Peking dumplings were also very tasty. No complaints over the alcoholic Zombie, either. A number of people from Curaçao were at the table next to me; it was the first time I'd ever heard anyone speaking Papiamento, but I was able to make out most of what they were saying, since much of it was based on either Portuguese or Spanish. I ate, perhaps too much, then prepared to head out to the Avalon to see Queensrÿche. The show was awesome, as expected, but I ended up leaving early, shortly after they'd begun the songs from "Operation: Mindcrime II," because the headache that'd been lingering in the front of my skull since mid-afternoon started making me feel sick. The volume and the crowd were probably only exacerbating it, and since four ibuprofen hadn't really put a dent in the ache, I figured it was best that I wend my way back to the hotel, where I actually passed out before even finishing undressing for bed. I woke up about an hour after that, got properly prepared for bed, and passed out again.

Friday morning, I got up early, feeling worlds better, and took the 86 to Cleveland Circle, where I hopped on a Green C train to Coolidge Corner and had an incredible breakfast at Zaftigs. The corned beef hash and scrambled eggs came with some delicious home fries, and the challah toast almost melted in my mouth. Really. Gooood stuff... I was stuffed after all that, as were the two college girls sitting at the next table over, whose eyes had apparently been larger than their stomachs. I walked around the Corner for a bit and did some window- (and other) shopping, and popped in the Coolidge Corner Arcade. Not quite as nice as the Arcade in Cleveland, but still pretty cool...

I grabbed the Green Line again and headed for downtown Boston, where I sat and digested at Boston Common, then wandered for a bit, said hello at the Burying Ground, and eventually ended up at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. I found myself back by the Aquarium, where a young woman gave me the eye and smiled. I think it was me and not the Dayglow T-shirt she was smling at, anyway. Another young woman was unwisely feeding the seagulls, and shrieking when they started coming too close.

I almost passed up Newbury Comics, then decided to go in after all. Glad I did, because I ended up picking up the new Who album as well as a UK punk compilation. I wasn't planning on buying anything for myself, but they were both great deals. From Government Center, I rode the Green Line to Kenmore, walked around Fenway Park, and then had an early dinner at Boston Beer Works. I tried the bluebeery ale, which was light and had actual blueberries in it; it wasn't bad at all, though it was a little disconcerting watching the berries floating to the top, then sinking to the bottom, then floating up again. I had a nice meatloaf, with mashed potatoes and broccoli, which I barely managed to finish. I think the nut brown ale that I ordered next went better with the meal.

It was already dark by the time I stumbled onto the T back to Cleveland Circle, and I got on the bus almost immediately. Decamping near the hotel, I opted to cross the walkway to the park, as the weather was so nice, and for the first time in ages, I was swingin' in the park after dark. There were still joggers about, taking in the warm air, too, and I stuck around for a while before walking back to the hotel and unwinding. Yeah, it was Friday night, and I could've found something to do, but I think I need rest on this trip more than anything else, and I'm certainly getting around during the day...

OK, should be in Salem before too long. See ya there...

Current mood: chipper.
Current music: "Master of Puppets" by Metallica.

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11th November, 2006. 1:39 pm. Berry blue

Oh, wow, did I underestimate the portions at Red's Sandwich Shop, located in a historic building in Salem. When I ordered the blueberry pancakes, the waitress looked at me and showed me with her hands how big the pancakes were, and asked if I wanted one, two, or the full order of three. I figured she was exaggerating; they usually do. So I went for the three, and a side of bacon to sweeten the deal. Well, everyone looked over when she brought the plate with pancakes that were literally about twelve inches long, and maybe eight inches wide. The whole stack was probably four inches high, too. She coyly asked if I was going to finish it, and I answered bravely that I would do my damnedest. The Yankee two seats to my right laughed and said that it was always the skinny guys who could do it, and that he'd once seen a young kid finish two of 'em. Well, the diners came and went, and the blonde who came in and sat down on my right looked on in shock and awe, but I finally had to fold, halfway through the mound. This hand was too rich for me. The couple across the counter from me laughed as I excused myself...

And now I'm sitting at a park bench in Salem Common (thank you, Hawthorne Hotel, for Wi-Fi that extends to the edge of the Common), ruing my edible complex and digesting slowly and contemplating. Every time I come to the Common, it seems that I'm not quite the same man I was the last time. The time before last, in September 2003, I was newly in love, a situation in which I hadn't really expected to find myself again, and everything seemed brighter and warmer as a result. OK, I did catch a nasty case of poison ivy, probably from my visit to Walden Pond, but still... A year later, in November 2004, my love had taken a sort of hiatus, and my stop in Salem Common felt more lonely and subdued, more wintry. We did get back together again, for a while...

I never got a chance to come to Massachusetts in 2005, but this year, having been a solo artist for quite some time, my interpretation of the dead but still beautiful leaves on the ground at Salem Common is a little bleaker. Everything dies, after all. I see the girls go by, dressed in their summer clothes... OK, fall clothes, most of them. Anyway, it's somewhat disheartening to watch pretty women walk by, even to make the occasional eye contact and get a smile or a wink, and yet know that I'm alone and likely to remain so. Of course, then I see the gaggles of girls acting much younger and more immature than they really are, and that snaps me out of it, for a bit.

On that note, enough self-pity. I'm going to muse on the Common for a little while longer, then go cheer myself up trying to find Gallows Hill Park. Heh-heh...

Current mood: contemplative.
Current music: Nature 'n people.

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