My New Roommate

So I started a new job this week in New Haven, Connecticut. Because of the not-quite-commutable distance between New Haven and Northampton I am now living five nights a week with a roommate I have never met. It was a Craig's List dealio, and on paper it has worked out great -- the place is super-cute, close enough to work to walk and far enough that the walk might actually translate into a leaner, meaner me. The weird thing is, as I mentioned, that I am yet to meet the woman I am living with, as we made our agreement by phone and she is currently visiting her family in Ohio.

So let's see what I've gleaned from living two days in a stranger's home. First, her family is from Ohio, though I find it curious that there is a "Don't Mess With Texas" sticker on her filing cabinet. The mystery woman is exceedingly neat, a fact that makes me slightly nervous seeing as how I'm not so much, really. She has a cat, I'm told, yet there is an eerie paucity of cat hair hanging about. She is currently a PhD student at Yale in American History and she has (and I'm not being facetious here) a fascinating collection of books, mid-twentieth century odds and ends -- magazines, prints, antiques. According to the e-mail she sent me with dining suggestions, she was a restaurant critic in New York at one point in time. She'll, no doubt, be appalled that I have sullied her refrigerator with a jar of Miracle Whip, but then again maybe she'll appreciate the retro-kitsch of processed foods invented in the post-WWII era). She has an enviable sense of style, based on the fun furnishings and the MTA NY Subway shower curtain. This woman has an obvious fetish for skin care and beauty products -- the bathroom is filled with all manner of lotions, shampoos, soaps, etc. Now, of course, I could just be underestimating the average straight woman's fascination with these kinds of products, but I know enough about stuff you smear on your face to know that this stuff isn't cheap.

I also know that she went to Brown and yet is a blonde (the tell-tale sign being the special schmancy shampoo for blondes I spied in the shower this morning).

Oh, the pressure! I don't know if I'm cool enough to share space with this mystery woman.

Had Hoped to See you Tomorrow, Peter

I won't delve too long into the maudlin, but as I resume my musings again after a brief absence, I felt I had to mention the passing of a great American, er, Canadian-American. Several months ago I made note of the fact that Peter Jennings was going to be absent from the ABC World News Tonight broadcasts due to illness and I was surprised even then at how much it disturbed me. I had always perused the newspapers as a kid and my parents almost always watched the evening news -- national and local, but after college I acquired a serious news habit. I always viewed the national news broadcasts as a little Mickey Mouse, but I appreciated the bite-sized views of the world packed into those thirty minutes every night and Peter Jennings voice was soothing background music to that wonderful half-hour of the day when I return from work or school and spend some time reacquainting myself with that pretty, tall blond I know -- a little intersection of the big, wide world and my little place in it.

Anyway, I think that Peter Jennings was a damn fine news anchor. His belief and hope in this country was just as palpable as his not infrequent disappointment in its failings. I recall that after 9/11 he altered his evening sign-off. Instead of simply saying good night, see you tomorrow, he summed up all the fear and uncertainty shared by many when he said simply, "hope to see you tomorrow night." I had very much hoped to see him tomorrow night, and the night after too -- it's strange to say about someone I did not know, but I will miss him.

IN OTHER NEWS

Those of you who might be wondering will be happy to know that Tara's surgery today went beautifully. It would be a HIPA violation for me to go into more detail (that, and Tara would probably not be happy for me to be discussing her medical history on the internet), but just know that all is well.

Also, when I started this blog I envisioned something funny and topical and I'm not sure that I've hit the mark. I welcome your ideas for topics, themes, and whatever strikes you as worth writing about.