"If I'd only thought of something charming to say."

I am having orange juice for dinner. It is pretty good. Today I mopped a lot, and got angry a lot, i looked down a lot, and i did a lot of tendus. I do not like mini corns. Fuck mini corns. I think anything with Vitamin C in it makes you feel pretty terrific all over, except if you have the tiniest cut in your mouth. Then it's a bitch. Tonight I learned that the only way to trick a drug dog when smuggling weed across the border is to hide the magic grass under chopped meat, so that when the dog sniffs the area, the officer assumes it just wants the meat. Learning is so important. I talked to cousins today; chatted with BA from Breuggers in Arlington VA, Danny from DuPont HQ in Delaware, and Pat from Washington DC. We re-discovered the music video for Go West's "King of Wishful Thinking" which...you all gotta youtube. It's fuckin brilliant. So is orange juice, mostly when combined with champagne on the beaches of South Jersey. Take me back to Sea Isle City I'm done in these Long Island trenches. It occurs to me you don't know my cousins. And I want to tell you.

I have 17+ cousins, which in our language, has always meant brothers and sisters. We refer to each other by nickname and usually in age order: Matt, Pat, Chard, Ref, BA, Danny, Ica, Bomber, Boobis, Cloudy, BJ, Sarah, AlliCat, Buddy, and Roo. Plus, Jenny Lee, Fatty, and Jackay, and Lauren. Also, Bri, Kay, RyRy, and Stevie. My cousins...are the shit. They take care of me from epic distances. They sense when to call, when to text, and nothing ever drifts away. A few years ago when Danny was in the VA Tech Shootings, no grown ups were called before all the cousins connected first. Brian talked to Danny that day. And when GUB died I laid on Ricky's shoulder in the church, and he just let my fuzzy sweater shed all over his great black suit. Riley knows when to go sit in Michael's lap and when to snuggle with David. So yesterday me and Dave texted cuz we were sad and frustrated and today Bri made me reiterate my life plan to make sure I was set while Dan drooled over Lin Manuel Miranda. They're gonna be best friends.

Learning is good, important. Today Brian said to me, "best way to make things happen is to make things happen." Genius. BA drinks his Vitamin C.



...Ricky.
"Sound of Settling" by: Deathcab for Cutie