Monday, 19 September 2005 | Exit does not exist

I find New York incredibly hard to leave, and equally hard to come back to. Leaving means carving a hole into my schedule, organizing a trip of some sort, and inevitably missing out on the most exciting weekend of the year*. Coming back means an abrupt end to 8+ hours of sleep, a return to days in which every second is accounted for, and catching up with everyone and everything that went on without me.

Today is especially difficult, because I just returned from the most laid-back state in the country (North Carolina!) and tomorrow, not only am I anticipating a particularly busy day at work, but I'm following that with three hours of class, a two-hour photo assignment, and the arrival of two house guests (whom I'm excited about seeing, but whose presence prevents me from putting off things like unpacking suitcases and paying bills).

Also, I should mention that a cockroach just FELL FROM THE SKY and landed on my lap, right before crawling over to an undisclosed location in the vicinity of my closet and camera bag. Welcome home!

*When I was little, I remember going to church and being told that Jesus was going to return to Earth, but that no one could possibly predict when that would happen, and anyone who did would be wrong. Since I didn't want the world to end (even though I realize the rapture is theoretically supposed to be a good thing), I decided to simply predict that Jesus would come back on each new day, in an effort to prevent that from happening. Similarly, these days I'm suspicious that I have the power to create awesome weekends in New York, just by planning to be away from it.