this one girl...

It's been a minute since I posted here... I'm not all good at catching up on months and months of Wendylife, it's really just a strange thing wrapped up as a normal thing packaged with college masking tape and whatnot.

So I'm getting ready to put a deposit down for my first house. I've already been 'living' around here since mid-summer and the five people I'll be sharing it with are already good friends. But it's weird, to think that I'm catching up with a couple of friends in terms of rent and bills and... taxes. (Once I get done there a job!) I'm starting a bit later than some - seeing as how my college coerced me into dorm-life for two years - but earlier than others.

The Housemates...

In the basement, there's Geoff. He's the newest addition in that he moved in only a couple of weeks ago, but he's been hanging around for awhile. He's laid-back, a raver at heart, and hails from Nelsonville. He's not a student - he's 22 years old and throws the best parties because he knows all different variations of people and knows how to bar tend (which takes more than just a knowledge of mixing drinks - it takes people skills, and drunk people skills). He makes up fantastic drinks and has redecorated the basement with black lights and neon lights and musical shenanigans. He's somebody who understands the entrancing properties of light rays - staring in mirror tunnels with him is AWESOME. He's a chill dude to hang out with and it's always fun to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender with him because we're all Aang-lovers at heart.

On the second landing, there's the room that's going to be mine next year, and then Emma's room. Emma's midway through her freshman year of college and has got a lot of growing up to do. She adores cute, fuzzy things with a passion which is something we can connect on - her dog, Squirrel, is a hairless Chinese crested who growls at everyone and would protect his Emma with his El Chupacabra snarly life. Emma's one of the few people who has the heart to love him fully and look past his anti-social appearance and behavior. She's got two Guinnae pigs and we love snuggling with them as much as we love snuggling with my two rats. While Emma may struggle to treat guys with compassion and empathy, she is a bright and impulsive girl who brings on the Moulder-love with late nights watching X-Files. We all love to laugh when Scully says, "But, Moulder, I don't understand!" If it weren't for her, I might still be on my high-horse and unable to appreciate the joy of our favorite '90s fringe detectives.

Across from Emma lives Jeremy, an entirely separate breed of person from any of us, yet the best, most intensely loyal friend you could hope to have. We like to joke that he hates everything, but he's one of the few men I've ever met who loves Loreena McKennitt and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy as much as I do. He's a working man and the oldest in the house, often the oldest of anyone who comes around here, at 24. He's compassionate and fierce, a self-proclaimed loner who gets into fights pretty regularly and likes beating the shit out of people. He's got one of the strongest senses of self I've ever interacted with, and while at first it was intimidating to be in the same room with, there are now very few people I enjoy hanging out with more. Intensity is something we connect on - we take very few things lightly, but his sense of wit is sharp and he can always share a laugh with friends.

Then there's Jon, who I'm drawn to despite our fights, despite the ways we clash (and BOY do we freaking clash). Like Jeremy, he's got an extremely strong sense of self - he knows what he wants and his purpose in life is to get what he wants. Because he wants to write for TV and become an LA hotshot writer, he dedicates his time and money and energy on the most up-to-date media and gaming technology. He watches the world of entertainment in order to plan an exact route into what he wants, and there is no doubt in my mind that he will achieve. He's helped me find respect and even adoration for comic books, especially Batman, and reintroduced me to games that I used to love in my childhood - most specifically, Zelda. He could talk about Batman for days straight if given the chance, he's controlling of his room - the attic - but sets it out very specifically as a living-room type space for his friends to chill and engage with each other.

So the title of the blog is called 'this one girl...' because I'm thinking about being 'this one girl...' - one of the few non-townies among a group of people who have lived intensely in the foothills of Appalachia for most, if not all, of their lives. I don't know how I found a place and respect and friendship and love amongst these people who I never even could have imagined existing two years ago, but I have, and if I were a better person I wouldn't question it.

But I am a writer, and I am the exploitative kind of writer who steals directly from her own surroundings to show a world from her eyes. I may not know how to write about myself without criticizing my every thought, but these are people worth examining and loving. These short, tell-over-show paragraphs are barely skimming the surface of any one of them.

But another reason I'm doing this is because I have in mind an image for who I want to be, and that is someone who does not get lost in the present or forget who she loves and has loved for far longer than she's known this world.

Car, if you read this, the comp I'm currently on won't let me email a damn thing... I'll get to my own computer or the library shortly. Else wise, this is what I've been watching lately. Just people.