It was a spectacular spring day in Boston. Is it safe to retire my
winter clothes to storage yet? Let’s not be too hasty. I took early
advantage of the day by going on a long bike ride around the Charles river.
Leaving from Kenmore, I first made my way east to the Museum of Science then
went west along the Cambridge side of the river, going past Harvard Square
and the Arsenal Mall (yes, the Mall really was a place that once made guns and
ammo but now sells Pokemon t-shirts and New Balance sneakers instead)
finally arriving in downtown Watertown. Then the fun began as I headed east
again through the thickly wooded bike path that undulates like a kiddy
rollercoaster in parts. Good clean fun there! I made it back to my
apartment in two and a half hours. The whole route was about eleven or
twelve miles. Without hesitation, I can confirm I was thoroughly winded.
I’m still trying to work off last year’s blubber before I needed again for
winter ought-3.
Another motivation for biking along the Charles is the scenery. Am I
talking about the co-eds at BU, Harvard and MIT, not to mention the upwardly
mobile ladies of the Hub? Of course I am. Don’t be absurd. Yet to the
patient observer, the Charles also offers an inspiring display of wildlife.
The cormorants
were out in force today. Near MIT, I saw clutch of the black
things holding court on one of Harvard’s docks. With their awkwardly long
beaks and slick black feathers, they fleetingly remind you of living gargoyles.
Near Watertown, I saw about six of them perched mid-river on a branch that was
blanched and striped of bark. The birds, already freaky enough on their own,
gave this otherwise prosaic scene a menace that I can’t explain. I do wish
I had brought my camera. Next time.
Later in the day, I wondered toward Copley Square to get my locks butchered
at SuperCuts. Why do I go to SuperCuts? It’s $12.50 for a haircut.
Now mind you, that twelve dollars doesn’t get you a good haircut or
one that will get you a job or a mate, but the hair dressers there are
efficient so the hair razing is dispatched with aplomb. After all, I’m not
really looking for that “ready-for-action Disco look” that Bloom County’s
Opus was so keen to get.
After my haircut, I got a hot chocolate at Starbucks and headed over to
the Mother Church of the Christian Scientists and read some of Thompson’s
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This is a book I’ve been meaning to
read since high school. It influenced some of my friends in a not-at-all
preventative way. If I hadn’t heard the incomprehensible interview Thompson
gave to Letterman in the mid-eighties, I would have thought it impossible
for such a drug fiend to write with such clarity, irony and prowess (yes,
I know about Aleister
Crowley’s autobiography). Thompson’s prose is masterfully wrought.
Modern essayists may wish to revisit this classic (I’m looking at you,
Ms. Wurtzel).
I then purchased an unfinished wooden bookcase that will house my VHS tapes and possibly my DVDs. I went the extra distance today and stained the cabinet with Ipswitch Pine stain. It’s a little blotchy in spots, but overall I’m happy with the results. My watercolor paints are calling to me…
All this means I have successfully dodged doing any real work. But that’s a Monday problem. ;-)