ohsothankful

26Nov06

It has been a strange month. That’s my excuse for the delinquency in updating.

Strangeness, in and of itself, is not that unusual in my world. This particular November, however, has been fraught with even more than the usual amount of ridiculous over-thinking and planning and outright panicking. Big Life Questions have been asked, questions like what to do, where to go, when to do it, and how many cigarettes I can possibly smoke in one sitting without actually kick-starting a cardiac episode. Some conclusions have been reached, but this post is about thanks, not about my so-called future. That will come soon.

So. YESTERDAY was Thanksgiving. I’d actually completely forgotten, all thoughts of turkeys and pilgrims being mired in the goop of my half-baked existential angst. Thanks to my glorious flatmates, however, I got to have one of the most delicious Thanksgivings ever.

For those of you who don’t know, I share a two-story council flat right off Camden High Street with three other people:

1. A politically-minded, pint-sized Greek goddess named Marina. Marina is sexy. It’s a powerful brand of sexy: that overtly European, tousle-haired, accented, Godard/Truffaut-referencing, cigarette-rolling kind of sexy. She wears black leggings and oversized sweaters that slide off her shoulder, and she has been known to exclaim “I LOVE this song, it is so WONderful, this is my FAvorite song” at least half a dozen times in the course of an evening. She’s also smart and fun and extremely loyal. When she leaves a room, you feel her absence.

2. A raven-haired indie music princess from L.A. named Leslie. Leslie is crazy cool. Her love for all things music-related knows no bounds. She gets what you’re trying to say, even when you are being completely incoherent. She rocks the Hot Secretary look. Once, after splitting a bottle of wine over lunch at Pizza Express, Leslie and I gingerly hopped and skipped our way across half of Bloomsbury, laboriously avoiding every crack in the sidewalk. Just Because. Often, she addresses me as “Lady” instead of using my name. As in: “Hey Laaaaydee. Whatchyadoin?”

3. Leslie’s boyfriend (now fiance!!!!), a quirky, scruffy Aussie named Andrew who is studying for his PhD in technical but important sounding things I don’t understand. Andrew wears good T-shirts. Not in-your-face, look-at-me-I’m-so-clever T-shirts, but ones you don’t really notice at first, until one day, you’re like, hey, that’s a Great Scene From The Exorcist/Band I Really Like/Very Insightful Saying you’ve got there on that shirt! Andrew also rolls with the punches. For example, if one were to, say, launch into a small dance mid-sentence, Andrew would immediately bust a complementary move without skipping a beat, all while continuing the conversation. (That scenario may have happened in real life. Possibly yesterday.)

We have our ups and downs, the four of us, but generally we all agree that we have a pretty solid thing going w/this whole cohabitation situation. And while I suspected it all along, after yesterday, I can wholeheartedly say that I have the best fucking flatmates EVER.

While I huddled in my room all day, cradling a tub of chocolate snacks, being overwhelmed, and intermittently hurling abuse at David as we watched Citizen X (I’d coerced the poor guy into bringing me the day’s newspaper because I couldn’t face the 200-foot trek down to our landlord’s corner shop), The Fabulous Threesome somehow whipped up an amazing meal: exquisitely cooked turkey, stuffing, veggies, potatoes, cranberry sauce — the works. When I emerged from my darkened lair, blinking and stunned like a geriatric mole, I was ushered into a warm, brightly lit, aromatic kitchen and handed a glass of wine. They even fed my belligerent Irishman.

The food was amazing. We all got rip-roaring drunk, sang loudly along to the Rolling Stones, and discussed everything from literature to the joys and woes of inadvertent lesbian encounters (not mine, don’t worry). Although it’s taken me all day to recover from the festivities, I would like to take a moment now and note that this Thanksgiving, I am grateful for my friends. I’m really gonna miss you crazy kids when we all finally have to move on.

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