Villandry Bike Trip

One day, Sarah and I had the brilliant idea of biking 20 kilometers to Villandry and camping out- tent and all- at a nearby campsite in Savonniers. We ended up waging war with a multitude of ants and ultimately being chased out of our flimsy tent by those multilegged, militant bitches and sons of bitches. Sometimes, though, even the defeated are rewarded- a pity prize, I guess. As we sat on a bench a few feet from the banks of the calm Cher river, we saw the night come alive.

It started with the slow setting of the sun. Rose hues and soft oranges fading gradually into light shades of lavender and yellow. But watching the night fall is akin to watching one's hair grow. We start watching with such determination and patience, hoping to catch the strands in the act of growing, but somewhere down the line, we forget our purpose. A few months later as we brush our hair in front of the mirror, we realize with a shock that hoo boy, a visit to the barber shop has been long overdue. Perhaps, at this point, the hair is sweeping the floor and now you realize why the house has been so clean lately.

Anyway, so that is what it is like to wait for the sun to set. I blinked, and suddenly all the objects around me were silhouetted, as if a painter had come and brushed the trees and the sailboats and the distant cabins and even us, I am sure, in black ink. By now, the air feels a bit chilly, and so I pull open my sleeping bag and the two of us, Sarah and I, sat wrapped up in bright pink or mint green sleeping bags like a pair of caterpillars waiting in their cocoons to morph into a pair of summer butterflies.

Then the music started. The croaking, the chirping, the cawing, and the dolphin calls, the rustling and the wind! My God, what a ruckus! But all the creatures are invisible to the human eye, hidden in the banks, under the river, or behind shrubs and other vegetation. And where are the dolphins? Dolphins in the Cher? Truth be told, ever since I watched that Simpsons episode where the dolphins kick man into the ocean and take over land, I've had a slight irrational fear of the beady-eyed creatures- that evil glint in their glistening eyes, and their fixed, malicious smiles, their horrible clicking sounds that send uncomfortable shivers down my back and make my skin feel all prickly...I shuddered inwardly as these thoughts assailed my mind.

"Something wrong, Ann?" asked Sarah.

"Nah, just a little cold."

"It's the dolphins isn't it?"

"...God, they're creepy."

Fitzgerald

The large room was filled with people. One of the girls in yellow was playing the piano, and beside her stood a tall, red-haired young lady from a famous chorus, engaged in song. She had drunk a quantity of champagne, and during the course of her song she had decided, ineptly, that everything was very, very sad - she was not only singing, she was weeping too. Whenever there was a pause in the song she filled it with gasping, broken sobs, and then took up the lyric again in a quavering soprano. The tears coursed down her cheeks - not freely, however, for when they came into contact with her heavily beaded eyelashes they assumed an inky colour, and pursued the rest of their way in slow black rivulets. A humorous suggestion was made that she sing the notes on her face, whereupon she threw up her hands, sank into a chair, and went off into a deep vinous sleep.

Kodak Moment?

I was sitting at a table in Au Bon Pain, reading an Agatha Christie mystery and enjoying the usual jalepeno-cheddar bagel. On either side of me sat two women with their noses in Harry Potter 5, Order of the Phoenix, completely engrossed.

Get used to it people! It is the week before HP 6 comes out, and fans are prepping all over the world for the release by rereading 1-5...it is a world-wide phenomenon.

A.C.

Sarah: Air conditioner?

Angie: Air conditioner? Your sister's name is Angie Chung, we are in Atlantic City, and the first thing you think of when I say A.C. is "Air Conditioner"? It's a sin, Sarah, a sin!

That's right, folks, yesterday some friends and I decided to take the train down to A.C. for some beach. It was so fun playing in the ocean! There was this dune far out into the ocean, where it was shallow enough so that we could stand on it and the water would come up to our knees. Hoa taught us how to body surf and how to swim with the wave when there's a big one coming, and it was so fun that now, I want to try surfing! Also, we had a seaweed fight.

Hoa: I want clams. There's no better way to end a day at the beach then clams with hot sauce and beer. And lime-flavored tortilla chips.

Lime-flavored tortilla chips! I was sold.

So we ended the day with muscles (no more clams at Frogro), zesty lime-flavored tortilla chips and "The Phantom of the Opera", during which I did the whole sleepy-person whiplash thing and finally conked out. I think I am still slightly jetlagged. By the way, the music is really something. I've heard "The Music of the Night" and the theme song all my life, and even played it in band, but last night, I finally heard the real thing, and it was really something.

Online confession: I had no idea how much I missed my friends until yesterday. As we were walking home from the train station, we went by Hill House and waved to it.

"Hi Hill!"

"Hey Hill!"

"Good times, Hill. Good times, good memories."

Hill House was where we all met, freshman year, and here we are four years later, still friends.