replaced by every day

The produce at the Kroger by my house was so crappy yesterday that after trying unsuccessfully to find one good green pepper in a selection of about 10 total, I left and decided that I'd do my grocery shopping somewhere else. I took Collier Rd. to Peachtree Street, and found a Publix about five blocks north in this strip mall across from Peachtree Battle Avenue, which is a pretty nice area.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I suddenly remembered that this wasn't the first time that I'd been in this strip mall, despite the fact that it looks exactly like all the other strip malls along Peachtree. I'd been there twice before: once in high school, with my boyfriend at the time -- we ate at this Chinese restaurant on the corner, and I ordered fried rice, which I remember as not really being all that good. And then I also was here with Alan sometime in the past year or two; we were driving up Peachtree Street looking for a new place to eat, like we do often, and we ended up at this Italian place called Pasta Vino or something, where I had pasta with clam sauce that I also remember as not really being all that good, either. After dinner we went to the Publix, too, to get some ice cream.

What I found strange was how immediately and clearly these memories came back to me. As I went up and down the isles at Publix, crossing off things on my shopping list, I couldn't help but think about just how long I've lived here (here being Atlanta and Alpharetta), and how, despite the fact that I'm sure there is much of Atlanta I'm not familiar with, there are so many roads that I've traveled so many times.

I was also reminded of how memory works: those two memories associated with the strip mall felt like they had happened ages ago. On the other hand, off the top of my head I can only recall a few days from this past year that I really remember with any sort of clarity. Of course I know that's how the mind works, and that as I go about my daily life there will probably be plenty of memories from this year that surface from the bottom of my psyche. But at this moment, it just feels like recently, everything has gone by so fast, and I wonder, should I be making more memories instead of just filling up my time with class and work and extracurriculars? I don't know how the weekends have gone by this summer when I've just stayed here at my apartment and passed the time cleaning or surfing the internet or just watching TV; I'm sort of jealous of my roommate, who just got back from camping today and always seems to have something exciting going on during the weekends.

So I just wish I felt these past few years were more significant, more defined around events, people, memories. Right now they just feel like a blur, and it makes me worry that maybe, that's what the future is going to feel like, too.

Posted by Jennifer at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just got a random email from my 3041 TA from last semester:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Russell Popkin"
To: "Jennifer Lee"
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2004 9:36 PM
Subject: Quick Question

Out of curiosity, do you live in Post Collier? If so, I think you just
passed me while I was walking out. Otherwise someone that looks like you
lives here, my mistake :-)
Russell Popkin

Anyway, so how cool is that? It totally made me smile and of course I replied saying hahaha yep, that was me, maybe I'll see you around then! But yeah, Russell was seriously one of the coolest, most laid-back TAs I've ever had. And it wasn't like he was lenient, either; he knew his stuff... it was just that the way he ran his lab was such that we (the students) didn't have to sweat the small stuff, like formatting our reports in a certain way or having to rush to turn them in in the first 20 minutes of class. I sent him a thank-you email at the end of the semester, that's how cool he was.

Another thing that has been making me smile is the conversations Adrienne and I have on the little dry-erase board on our fridge (actually, I guess it's not really a dry-erase board, since you have to use a wet paper towel to wipe off the marker, but you know). This past weekend she went to Athens and left me a note that said, "Jen--eat the pie!" (she had some friends over for dinner last week and there was leftover apple pie). Two days later, and (heh) the pie was gone, plus some vanilla ice cream, so I wrote: "I ate all the pie. I'm a pig." The next day Adrienne told me that my note had made her laugh. :)

Posted by Jennifer at 08:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have to climb three flights of stairs to my apartment, No. 2305. I count the number of flights I've gone up by noting the doormat outside the apartments directly underneath mine. 2105 has a mat that says "welcome," framed by bees and flowers; 2205 has a plain rough brown mat that looks like it was cut out of a larger piece of something. And then, finally, our rug, plain and brown, too, but clean and simple.

. . . . .
The people two doors down and across the hall from us have an orange-blue-green-striped doormat that stands out from the other brown doormats on the hall. They moved in about a week after we did, and soon they had a white trash bag sitting outside their door. After two days a slip of paper from the Post Collier maintenance folks appeared on their doormat, saying that all trash must be taken to the dumpster. A few days later the garbage was still there, and was starting to stink. After a little more than a week, it finally disappeared. I really like their orange-blue-green-striped doormat, but now whenever I look at their door I also see an imaginary garbage bag sitting next to it.
. . . . .
Post Collier is a gated apartment complex: there are two entrances, and each entrance has two gates, one for going out and one for going in. Each gate has two parts: a full iron gate that opens and closes slowly, and a wooden arm in front that raises once the iron gate has fully opened. According to my friend Waheed, the gates are evil (or dangerous, or insane... I'm not quite sure what adjective he used). When he tried to use my swipe card for the gates one night, the wooden arm stayed up after the previous car had driven through; Waheed waited for the arm to reset, but after a few minutes it still remained up, so he assumed it was okay to go. But as soon as he moved forward, the arm jerked down -- and if he hadn't slammed on the brakes, the arm probably would've thunked into the top of his car roof. Also, three out of the four wooden arms dip significantly before they go up. I know which one doesn't.
. . . . .
The guy who lives in apartment No. 2005, on the bottom floor behind the foot of the staircase, has two dogs. I know this because one night I went to work out in our complex's fitness room, and though I was able to get in without a key or combination, the door locked after me when I went outside to make a phone call. And I had left my keys and water bottle inside, and my roommate wasn't home, so I wandered around while I tried to figure out what to do. On the second flight of stairs up to my apartment, I saw a pizza guy pull up and walk underneath me. I ran down and approached 2005 just as a man opened the door -- breathlessly explaining that I had locked my keys in the workout room and would he happen to know the combination to get in? 124 should do it, he told me, as his two dogs scrambled out the door and swarmed around my feet. Now that I think about it, I probably should have introduced myself and said "I live up on the third floor," first.
. . . . .
It's been more than a month living here and I still haven't used the pool or tennis courts once. I haven't been to the workout room since I got locked out, either.
. . . . .
The people that live across from Mr. apartment-number-2005 I've never seen, but they have a little pedestal to the left of their door with a flower arrangement on top. A week ago, they acquired a potted bamboo-ish plant, which sat opposite the pedestal on the right side of the door. One day I came home from class and the potted plant had been moved right by the staircase, out into the sun; I almost had to brush by it to get to the steps. The next day it was back in its original place. I had kind of liked it by the stairs.
. . . . .
The people that live two floors down and across the hall from me also have a dog. I know this because at the end of spring semester, when I was moving my stuff from my dorm to the apartment on Wednesday at 3 a.m. in the morning, the dog barked every time I passed by their door on my way up the stairs. Considering that I made at least seven trips up and down those stairs that night, I kind of felt bad for whoever lived there. The barking probably woke them up.

Posted by Jennifer at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...with my friend Kim, who's working at Miller (yes, the beer company!) this summer.

dcrieck: my last day of training is tomorrow
jleepig: is it somewhat interesting?
dcrieck: well it's hard work and there's a lot that goes into making beer that's dangerous
dcrieck: i have forklift training tomorrow
jleepig: oh wow, exciting :P
dcrieck: and next week i start my first rotation- it's in resale, basically we have to figure out which beer is bad
dcrieck: and which packages, cans, etc. aren't up to standards
jleepig: haha
jleepig: that sounds so cool
dcrieck: so i'll be doing that 3-11 every day except mon
jleepig: 3 pm to 11 pm??
dcrieck: yup
jleepig: aw man
jleepig: that's kind of not fun
dcrieck: my shifts this summer will either be 7-3, 3-11, or 11-7
dcrieck: i have special safety goggles, wear a hard hat and earplugs
dcrieck: my safety goggles are nifty b/c they're my prescription
dcrieck: i'm the only white hire for the summer too
dcrieck: and like the youngest, the only one who can't legally drink beer yet
jleepig: hee hee
dcrieck: but when i can, i've been invited to the weekly beer tastings on friday
dcrieck: it's funny, we have to have a bac of .08 or less on the job
dcrieck: and "no outside alcoholic beverges" or non-miller brands are allowed
jleepig: you need to post this somewhere
jleepig: maybe i'll post this conversation on my blog
jleepig: it's too funny ;)
dcrieck: oh i should write down all the signs for you sometime, it's hilarious
dcrieck: it is really complicated machinery, i never knew so much went into a can of beer or bottle
jleepig: yeah
dcrieck: i think the coolest job is the beer tasters
dcrieck: they have to taste every so many to make sure the right beer is going in the right container
dcrieck: oh also, my boss said that any of my tech friends are welcome to visit and get a free beer tasting
jleepig: hehe
jleepig: if they're of age
dcrieck: yup
dcrieck: i'm going to be scheduled for between 40-60 hours a week
dcrieck: it'll be a long summer
jleepig: oh man, kim
jleepig: i hope the beer is worth it :-P
dcrieck: lol...i'm going to hate alcohol i think by the end of the summer
dcrieck: watch me become completely sober
dcrieck: oh crap, i gotta go to the gym b/c i have to be in bed before 11
dcrieck: i can't be tired for forklifting
jleepig: lol
jleepig: ok, bye kim

dcrieck: ooh i really wanted to steal a sign at work today for the office
dcrieck: it shows a guy smoking dressed in the miller work clothes and a forklift right up on his ass and it says "watch your backside, remember safety first"
jleepig: hahahaha
jleepig: awesome

Posted by Jennifer at 08:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At Tony's wedding last weekend, Tony is over at our table, chatting and talking with us. At one point during the conversation I follow his glance over to where his wife, Addie, is dancing in the center of the ballroom.

Me: Addie looks really beautiful, Tony.
Tony: Yeah... she does.

. . . . .
On my way to the Student Center, I run into Daniel Wang, an old family friend, on Skiles walkway. He's on his way to class, but it's been a long time since I've talked to him, so we stop and chat for a few minutes. I find out that he's now an HTS major, instead of CompE.

Me: Well, that's really cool that you're HTS. It's one of the smallest schools here, right? So that must be really nice, the kind of attention that you get in your classes and stuff.
Daniel: Oh yeah, it's great. And the professors are pretty good, too. I mean, I don't know if this -- history -- is what I want to do... later. But right now I really like the classes.

. . . . .
Tuesday night, I get a call from Andy: Erin and Edgar, two of our good friends from high school, are in Atlanta and would I like to come hang out? So I forego studying for my test the next day to go over to Andy's house, where the four of us sit around in the living room watching TV, playing video games, and catching up. We talk about what we're doing this summer; Erin's leaving at the end of the week for London.

Erin: My sister's got an internship with a London newspaper, the Independent -- so we're going to share an apartment there, and I'm going to try and find a job.
Me: And you're just going to work in London all summer?
Erin: Yep, that's the plan.
Me: Wow, that's so awesome. I hope everything works out, and that you find a -- flat.
Erin: Haha, right, they're flats, not apartments.

. . . . .
It's so easy to be reminded of just how much I have left to experience in my life, you know?

Posted by Jennifer at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Priorities for this weekend:

1. buy a new book and sit outside on my balcony to read it
2. go see a movie with my sister
3. bring the NES from home to the apartment

Posted by Jennifer at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm seeing Rent Friday!

But before then I have a paper to write, and two tests to study for. I'm working up the motivation right now...

Posted by Jennifer at 04:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)