family part 2: 24 hours in boston

my sister goes to college in boston, a city i know mainly for airports and bus terminals, and that i've been wanting to get to know more about. she keeps insisting i come visit, and since she'd been to new york twice since my arrival (independent of my moving here, but here none the less), i felt i owed her a visit.

while fung wah and its tales of woe terrify me, there are plenty of other cheapie chinatown buses that go to south station in boston and twice now i have enjoyed lucky river. i missed my 9 am bus by ten minutes (me to s: "i missed the bus by ten minutes! what a bummer!" s: "i knew you'd never make it." my reputation precedes me, apparently.) after going bus to t (the boston t is like a baby subway, if your baby was dirty and not particularly convenient) to shuttle to campus, i was finally greeted by my sissy. i got a tour of her house first. she lives in the "arts haus," a campus housing option for particularly creative students. they live in a big rambling old house and throw elaborate costume parties (past themes include: 70s porn, space porn, circuses. a wholesome lot.) after meeting her lovely friends we went vintage shopping at garment district, a huge warehouse of clothing from a variety of decades and home to the famous (also: scary) "dollar a pound," a pile of clothing you literally wade through ("jump on in!" my sister said) and literally pay $1 per pound of. upstairs (in a more traditional shopping setting) we found the world's most amazing purple sparkly jumpsuit, and it was decided that i would purchase said garment to wear to the night's party. we t'd downtown to the ica and explored part of their permanent collection and enjoyed "the world as a stage," about the intersection of the art world and theatrical performance (gee thanks, college degrees in theatre and art history, for helping me to make sense of it all.) while there are four floors inside the brand-new building, only one displays art, and we had plenty of time to eat delicious tibetan food before the party.

friday night's party was in honor of the mash-up: only mash-ups were played, and you had to come dressed as a mash-up of two different people. with purple suit, big sunglasses, a symbol tattoo and a (faux) pet monkey, i went as a combination of prince and paris hilton (i was a big hit with the drunk college students.) we danced and danced and it was a lot of fun, although it made me realize i am done with that college world of big drunken parties and random hook-ups and vomiting unusual colors. i miss my college friends a lot, and i've had pangs of jealousy for the good times my still-in-school friends seem to be having, but the truth is, as i danced in my purple jumpsuit, laughing with my sister, i realized that i am an adult now. the next morning, they swapped stories about various night-before collegiate doings, and i listened, and smiled, because i remember those post-party debriefings, and it's just very far from what my life is now. and i really really like what my life is now.

anyways, we brunched, and sister gave me a tour of the snowy new england tufts campus and we took pictures with jumbo, their elephant mascot, and it was a pretty morning on a pretty campus, and then i packed up and came back home, to eat dinner with s and get ready to go to work the next day. it was a whirlwind trip, but just enough time to have fun and see a little more of my sister and her city. next time i want to visit boston in the spring, and stay while, to really get a feel for the place.

it's good to be home.