almost but not quite there

The residency is almost over. No classes today.

You have officially gone through the residency journey with me. Thanks for taking the virtual tour.

The plan today is to roam around with friends, read, write, do writerly things (too secret to mention here).

Tonight Buki is throwing a graduation party. Should be fun to catch up with folks.

Many of my friends will not be at the residency. I've grown attached (as is my tendency).

Tomorrow I'm headed back to New York.

Books: Mysterious Skin by Scott Hein, Stop-Time by Frank Conroy, and Jailbait by Leslea Newman

Music: Just My Imagination by The Temptations and Sometimes I Don't Get You by Yo La Tengo

(pics of the inappropriate hugging and the antm modeling care of jen. chaney told sara that she is twins with germany's winner of antm and it's gone to her head. can you blame her?)

Sometimes you can't take a picture of the moon.

posse.

The student center, where our small group workshops take place has this freaky bulletin board with weird blurbs like, "don't drink and drive" and then directly to the right, pictures and words like "flip flops" and "hair dryer." To top it all off, there are bloody rags stapled to the corners. I think they were going for some kind of Red Cross theme, but after staring at this for days, I couldn't stop thinking that in my life, not forgetting refers to the Holocaust. I borrowed a Sharpie and added "The Holocaust" to the board. Brian was tickled.

He called me, "trouble."

He wants this to be his next bio pic for his next book.

And now a look at some of the food I enjoy while educating myself.

At the beginning of the week, I worried that I hugged a mentor for too long. I may have accidentally rubbed his back in the moment. Abbey reenacted the movement, which is now universally symbollic for: inappropriate, creepy stalker student, the mentor I was hugging, and Gili's a freak.







Sara and Gili's talk show (aka workshop hogs). Example: "What do you think, Sara?" "I'm going to go with you on this one, Gili." "I don't know, Sara, you've got a point." On and on and on they go.

Jen practices a different camera face.

Buki relaxes after her reading. Diva!

Sara attempts to teach me an ANTM face.

"Gili, stop talking, you're making me panic!"

Pay attention to me, pay attention to me.

Happy birthday, Christine!

Our usual camera faces. Jen commented, "If we put my cheeks with your chin, we'd have the biggest face in the world." Don't I know it?

Billy, my surrogate mommy.

mingle

mingle

Marjorie, my default therapist. Love that woman.

sleepy gi

How much is that dress in the window? I do hope that it is for sale.

two wise women

Did All of That Happen Today?

Everybody was giggly today. Tracy stole one of the balloon chairs from undergrad orientation.

The balloons smacked Tavi in the face.

Billy (second from left) agreed to be my surrogate mom during the residency. He's very good at this.

Jess is not avoiding me. (Or so she says.)

Alana and Sara: MFA students behind bars!

Buki returns and teaches her fabulous graduating student seminar on story endings. Michael (my old mentor) beams.

Dan moved so that Jess and I could sit together. Ben loves school. (I told him that I may use him as a character in one of my stories.)

I wanted to give this parasol to Aimee but Celia bought the last one.

Here's what happened: last night at the reception, the faculty made a deal/bet to use the word "cocksucker" in their workshops today. (I'm sorry, mom, but it's true.) Brian forgot to say it in our workshop and so he decided to repeat the word ten times in order to be our favorite mentor. But Susan Goodman, adorable Susie, swooped in and insisted that she would be our favorite mentor and so she yelled "cocksucker" ten times. But not before I could get my camera out, so then we had the opportunity to watch them instantly reenact this. It's a tie; they have both won our hearts.

Abbey's very impressed.

Not a day goes by without featuring little Jen G. (Her flickr site has officially made it to the links section on the right!)

"Mexican" cuisine.

Tell it like it is, Deb.

Gorgeous.

Won't admit they're sleepy.

Finally, I found the right lighting.

Sometimes you gotta make your own fun.

She rocks the cleavage.

Abbey's got FLNE (fear of letting the night end).

But we did.

Didn't Take Many Pictures Today

Leslea Newman's workshop on how to research was adorable. Such a fan. I started to read her young adult novel, Jailbait and I'm loving the main character. I probably won't get far in it because I'll have to start reading for school soon.

A.J.'s workshop was the best workshop I've ever had where my own work wasn't being critiqued. She applied her comments and analysis to all of our work and she provided us with the tools to revise. I wish I had more time in the program to work with her.

During workshop time, I like to stare out the window.

I'm going to rename this, "Jen's Blog." She's one of the only people I know (not including Riva) who is as mesmerized by the camera as I am. (If you look carefully, you can see my lovely mentor in the background above Hannah's head. I swear to you, that was unintentional.)

I know this isn't realistic, but at some point today, I imagined Abbey and I could purchase an abandoned train that's no longer on tracks. Wouldn't it be amazing to have a writers' retreat center located in an old train? A girl like me will never stop dreaming.