Tuesday October 9: Spent a good deal of time burning CDs for Erin. Bought some comic books I'd been missing out on that evening.

Wednesday, October 10: Erin drove me out to _____, Massachusetts to make up for the day of riding I didn't get on Tuesday. Rode hard and felt totally great. Got as far as Bolton, which was much further than I thought I would get. Ate Koshari at a pizza place and camped at Crystal springs. Total miles ~75

Thursday, October 11: Rode to Walden Pond and saw a bunch of nature. Swam in Walden and met James, a great guy. James told Peter about me, and Peter later flagged me down as I was riding away from Walden and gave me a flag. Nice. Stopped in Waltham looking for James to have a drink or whatever, but James was still out doing his thing. Bought some more comics instead. Rode to Eli's (who's wonderful on-line journal is here) house and got dinner at a great Thai/pan Asain diner. Opened with some edemame, then I had the Pad Thai which I hadn't had in a while and Eli got the Crazy Noodles which I think were way better than my pad thai. Desert was fried bananas and ginger icecream, which was great but the ginger was understated. To Eli's for a bit of Tekken 3 and bed.

Friday, October 12: Rode my bike to pick up some mail after a small mail fiasco in the morning. Got some duplicate keys made for the apartment and then rode to Eli's work and we walked to pick up tickets to Björk for that evening. Eli went back to work and I went to Copley Square to see Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and pick up a quick lunch of fries and almost two pints of Sam Adam's Octoberfest on tap at Chili's just before. Lunch made me a little late, so I didn't see the previews. Boo hoo. <<<<>Insert Movie Review Here<>>>>. After the movie, went to Starbucks and got a tall (small) hot chai and was totally wired. No caffeine for three week will make a man quite vulnerable I suppose. Read the paper while I waited for Eli and then we got dinner at California Pizza Kitchen which fucked up my order and put chicken on my portobello and garlic pizza, but luckily Eli ordered a veggie friendly dish so we just swapped. Still I was a little aggrivated. No matter, I made it to the concert on time and sat down just as Matmos walked on the stage. Perfect timing. The boys were amazing and then Bjork. I cried for the first twenty minutes. It was perfect. I wish I had been closer, but good godamn. It blew my mind and I had a totally clear view of everything and the acoustics were perfect. It was the best show I'd been to in long time. I say that somewhat lightly, but it's not often that I cry at all at a concert. But this was too amazing for words. I biked back to Eli's in a haze of beauty and longing. I loved Boston more than any other city that evening. I never wanted to leave the heart of its embrace. Total miles ~20?

Saturday October 13: Just as every political pundit is defining everything in terms of pre and post 9/11, my life is now polarized over 10/12. I was up early and watched some cartoons and Headline News. Comedy and Tragedy in equal parts on every channel. Saw some X-Men: Evolution and then Eli and I went to Rosebud's for breakfast. It was a little pricey but I loved the atmosphere, especially on a Saturday morning. From the yelling of names to be seated on the street to the cramped interior of the diner, it was perfect. Men and women drinking Rolling Rock at noon while families with perfect six year olds and infants brunch in the booths. A strange coincidence in orders for Eli and I make me think we may be sharing a brain, despite the fact that we've only spent a modicum of time together since my arrival. After breakfast we met with Eli's roommate, Keith, and rode the redline to the green line up to Fenway Square to see "Iron Monkey," a prequel of sorts to "Once Upon A Time In China" and whose fight coreography is done by the same man who did "The Matrix" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." "Iron Monkey" is only now being released theatrically in the US though it was filmed in 1993 or 1994. Still, it has aged quite well and was well worth the time invested. After the film Dawn, Eli, Keith, and Eli's old junior highschool friend whose name escapes me at the moment went comic shopping after a Thai dinner where Eli and I ordered just about the same thing again, this time so totally independant of each other as to begger the imagination. I was in the bathroom when Eli ordered and was thusly totally ignorant when I ordered my food, and other than a different in meat (beef and tofu) our orders were identical, save my Thai iced coffee. Eventually back to Eli's for telephone conversations and insomnia. Total miles = not today.

For the next few days, this is going to be a little sketchy. It's November 4th and I'm attempting to recreate almost the last month of my life, so there may be some holes. Okay here's a go.

Sunday October 14: Contacted Emily Van Strein in Portland, ME to see if she could hang out and as it turns out today is a good day. So I bus out to meet her since there's no way I could ride my bike in time to spend time with her today. Bus is full and the guy in front of me doesn't speak a word and seems "eccentric" to the degree that he wears garish neon sunglasses and winter gloves/hat and won't speak a word even if directly addressed. I wonder if he's mute... The coast is beutiful from the bus. I speak briefly with my neighbor on the full bus who's doing some homework for his electrical engineering course. Voltage and amperage arguments run off his blunted pencil-tip and it reminds me of every last minute homework assignment done in the back of the bus on the way to school. Pleasant waves of nostalgia wash over me and I get out my laptop to play with some audio software. Eventually I just put it away and listen to some music: Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works vol. 1, unsurprisingly. When I get to Portland as I'm waiting for Emily to pick me up I get a call from Kati Wölk from Erlangen Germany who is totally incredulous that I actually rode my bike across America. We talk briefly and make a date to talk soon (see NYC log) as Emily and her housemate Jaime roll in and we're off. First stop is pizza at some place where strange things hang in the air between Jaime and the wait staff. They mess up our order but we have it remedied. Then off to two pubs in rapid succession, both of which are nice but the second has darts, which we play. Finally back home, which is a house owned by a wonderful man and woman with a daughter Nica who's just the cuteset ever. In addition to the permanent family and the boarders of Emily and Jaime, the house was hosting a Russian couple who were putting on an art show. I've got their e-mail and maybe website somewhere around here. I'll try to get that up.

Monday, October 15: Emily was working in the morning but Jaime and I went to go see her at her coffee house job. Jaime and I rolled back to the house. Jaime was working on a paper and then had class and other obligations so I hung out and walked around the woods near the house. That night There were people over to meet with the russian painters and dinner was all around, so I got some wonderful home cooked food and finished with ice cream. I forget what we did that night. Maybe just talked for a while before crashing.