de pere

our apartment in de pere is enormous by our standards. over a thousand square feet for the half the price of our little chicago apartment. but the upgrade doesn't come without disadvantages. there is no 7-11 around the corner. and even if i were daring enough to walk the overpass to our nearest gas station/convenience store, which i tried to do unsuccessfully yesterday, i'm given confusing looks and ride offers. "i'm not a pervert or nothin," said one man yesterday as i walked on the gravelly side of scheuring road, "it's just that it's dangerous to walk on these streets." safe or unsafe, i'm reminded that walking the streets, driving them, or simply existing in this town means you're conspicuous. people are generous and kind to strangers, but there was something comforting about being able to disappear in the big city. you couldn't get anyone to notice you if you were walking down the street in a bunny suit in chicago. i think i liked that a lot. strange that the third most populated city in the u.s. was one of the easiest in which to avoid other people.

back to the pros.

i've got friends here. as i said before the apartment is almost bigger than i know what to do with. a patio. we can grill. dvr (which is a bigger deal to me than you might think). cheap groceries. a job that's really meant for me. not that west belden wasn't. i think i made the best of it. but i can't wait to teach strings.

the wedding was the best time of both of our lives. it was me and you and everyone we know, i said to will. a lovely time, it was. and we wish we could do it again next week.

i finished reading the secret history (by donna tartt). i read most of it during plane rides and layovers to and from jamaica. at first i thought i loved it. soon after i finished it i decided there were quite a few reasons i didn't. the characters were self centered and amoral. and hard to relate to. the time frame was hard to grasp. 1990s new england in which college students eat cream cheese and marmalade sandwiches, wear suits every day and refer to each other as "old man." what a beautifully written story, anyway. nice prose. and a fascinating mystery.

now i've picked up dave eggers' what is the what. very nice so far. a well told story, but i can't get dave eggers out of my head as he's writing in first person, even though i should be imagining a sudanese man. i wonder how he knows so much about growing up in sudan. but he's doing a great job so far, i think, because i manage to get lost in it at times. it feels real, i guess. incredibly sad, though, and depressing. maybe it wasn't a summer read. soon i'll read a people's history of the united states by howard zinn. i can't wait for that.

will's out of town. i miss him, even though it's only been one night so far. by tomorrow morning he'll be back. :)