33
by A.
> Basement Jaxx – Yo-Yo
June 18, 2003: I woke up late, at about 10PM, and watched moronic sitcoms and early morning news all night until about six when Mom and Grandma were up. They had kind of a bit of an early breakfast, I think I had a waffle or something. I bugged my mom to do my hair the whole time, which she loathed. They told me that my aunt Gail and little cousin Alexis were coming to the house (in North Bergen) from their house in Mont-something I want to say Monticello, but I know that’s wrong. Anyway, I finally got Mom to do my hair, after an inexorably long wait while everyone had gone back to sleep. It turned out that the color we got wasn’t black enough, it kinda pissed me off, but it didn’t ravage my hair too bad so (I’m writing this on the 19th) today my mom and I are supposed to walk over to the beauty supply here and get black black. Anyway, Gail and 2 1/2 year old Alexis arrived, she didn’t seem too eager to talk to me, but Mom had told me she was shy. Gail was a bit surprised with my fashion change (I had shopped at Old Navy last time she’d seen me), but was still herself. I think we went somewhere–oh yeah, we went out to eat at this diner with this weird eclectic decor. Yes, my use of the word eclectic in this sentence equates to “random shit”, but I suppose “random old shit” would be their theme. But, I digress. People were staring more than usual, I thought it a bit strange, but I got this hella-yummy pastrami and swiss triple-decker sandwich that kept me occupied for a while. Alexis had fries and chicken nuggets, Gail had this weird thing called like–umm–gosh I don’t remember but the name was kind of French and it was french toast with cheese and ham on it, it looked yummy. Mom got a Greek salad, it looked a bit fetid. After late lunch, we journeyed to Barnes & Noble in Edgewater (NJ). They were building condos there like it was going out of style, there were only two hulking steel frames last time I was there, now there were six buildings, counting the ones that used to be frames, and four halfway-completed ones nearer to the waterfront. Anyway, we went into B&N, Alexis in tow. Mom, Gail, and Alexis went into the childrens’ book section, while I headed straight for Fiction/Literature. I picked up everything I loved, and ended up spending 74 bucks. I got a normal-print version of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” (it is absolutely huge), a volume of all of Franz Kafka’s stories (The Metamorphosis being one), a copy of The Scarlet Letter, a normal-print version of W. Somerset Maugham’s “Of Human Bondage” (huge as well), a copy of Slaughterhouse-five (I felt guilty about stealing one of the school’s copies), and a book of H.G. Wells’s stories (The Time Machine, The Island Of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, and War Of The Worlds). I’d read every story in that book except The Invisible Man, I hope it’ll be good, I love all the others. Alexis seemed to be getting tired/cranky, so we started the voyage back home instead of going to any other stores. Unfortunately, Alexis had other ideas, she wanted to go to McDonalds and Old Navy, so we took her to the park to tire her out. It was kind of fun, but I was ravenously thirsty. But, then again, the swings never get old. They’ll still be fun when I’m seventy-five. Anyway, we went home, and I played Caesar III for hours on end. I conquered Syracusae! Barbarous Italians, Psha! Taste my legions. Anyway, after that, they were putting Alexis to bed (in my room, unfortunately, and I was hella-tired, so I grabbed a blanket from the cedar chest downstairs and crashed on the basement couch, with a pile of books surrounding it.