measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Home and hellbent First, let me make my PR statement of the week-- The Acela train rocks. There's nothing like speeding past light traffic on I-95 (that you know is going at least 75 mph) as if the cars were going 30. :) The train is bright, clean, and very comfortable. The cafe car is this funky little bar type place with stools and a counter facing sideways so you can look out at the view while you munch on your sandwich. There are real window shades, and footrests and everything. Plus, it's only a 5 hour ride from Boston to Philly. You can't beat that via Logan Airport with how security is these days. What a relaxing and fun way to travel. The saying is true-- you've never seen America until you've seen Her from a train. Worth every penny, in my opinion. So after a long weekend, I'm back here at work. Feeling good, feeling refreshed, and relishing in the fact that spring is most definitely here and rejuvenating me. It was nice to get home (second home, anyway... first home being Montana of course) and see everyone. My mom had to work on Saturday, as she always does-- weekends are her busiest time with new home building sales. The development she's been working in since last autumn is smaller than her last one, but the model home is absolutely beautiful and just airy and open-- so inviting! I want that house. Of course, something that size would probably cost the better part of a million dollars here in Massachusetts. *sigh* It's amazing to see how many new homes are going up in and around Lehigh Valley. That area of Pennsylvania is just primed for such growth. It's taken a while-- the old steel factories in Bethlehem are partially standing and rusting as the years go by. But all of a sudden, Allentown, Easton, and Bethlehem are becoming commuting cites-- sometimes to as far as New York and Philadelphia. It's amazing (and heartening) to see the growth just over the past couple years. I've been going to Easton my entire life-- my mom grew up there, graduated from EAHS (like strawberry will do shortly), and returned there a few years ago to be closer to my grandparents and the rest of the family. There are so many places there that I can do the "remember when..." game with. My grandparent's old house on North 10th Street, going to the Colonial pub for pizza and steamers, having hoagies or Richard's hot dogs by my grandpop's plating shop right next to the river, big Polish-flavored celebrations of weddings, christenings, and graduations in my grandparents' backyard, listening to my grandpop and all of his friends sing drinking songs in Polish and Ukranian out on the back porch over shots of vodka... understanding none of the actual words, but knowing the melody of every tune. I've never actually lived in Easton, yet it's oddly home with the amount of time I've spent there. So as I was driving around, I realized how much like home Easton was becoming. For the most part, I know my way around. I get lost sometimes, but considering how many back roads are in that area, the fact that I can find my way from downtown Easton to McCungie is a miracle. And I realized how important the area is for my family, how firmly the roots are planted there. Easton will always be the family hometown. My new cousin is adorable. She's just over two weeks old and weighs about eight and a half pounds. A full head of brown hair, and those mutated blue colored eyes. My guess is that they'll turn brown like most of the Luczyszyn clan. She's a good baby-- not a lot of crying unless she was hungry. Otherwise she was just hanging out in that fugue state that most newborns are in. And my grandmother seems to be doing very well. She had surgery a couple weeks ago to remove the cancerous growth off of her bladder. Further tests showed that the cancer had not broken into the wall of the bladder, which is very good news. It's taken a tremendous amount of weight off of her shoulders, and she seemed to be in extremely good spirits on Sunday. She had all of her grandaughters (and all but one grandchild-- my brother) at the table on Sunday-- I think it was a wonderful thing to her. [bar] During the course of the weekend, I managed to unload a weight off of my own shoulders, too. About $2,300 worth of weight. My yearly bonus came through, and between that and my regular paycheck, I managed to close my largest credit card account in one fell swoop and hack about a fifth of of my only remaining card. I cut my personal debt by two thirds. I feel so much better about life right now. Even though I didn't spend any of my bonus on myself for treats, in a way I did because I made so much of the financial stress go away. If I play my cards right, I could literally be debt free by the end of May. Woo hoo! New apartment, here I come.... 3:09 p.m. - 2 April 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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