2005-06-25 - 1:40 a.m.
What I'm listening to: Baba O'Riley-The Who.
Just returned home from a fantastic as always road trip. I'm back home for a few days on r+r, as well as to check in on some friends.
The road trips that I do with the parents are always interesting as far as conversation goes. My mom usually lies down on the back seat and falls asleep. I'm usually driving, and my dad and I are chatting about this and that. I'm not sure why, but a lot of stories surfaced tonight.
I found out a few stories from around 1948 or so. I was aware of these, but more details surfaced tonight. I also found out a few more things about my late uncle, which I was somewhat aware of but am more certain of now. He died when I was 12. I learned tonight, more about his interacting with various relatives and so on. Actually, tonight a lot of stories surfaced that would explain a lot of the feuding that has been going on in the family for generations. It's good for a laugh-it's just so petty.
The car is an interesting vehicle that way. Stories surface at night, on the road, while travelling somewhere-as if the temporal dimension of the journey affects the story being told. I wouldn't have heard the same story in our living room. The time and space just seems to static for an involved story about the past. Maybe it's the lack of visual and aural stimulation. When you're in the car, you have all these objects whizzing by, the cd player providing a soundtrack for the narrative. Very cinematic.
One of my cousins rode his motorbike from Toronto to North Carolina one summer many years ago. He said that the key difference between a car and a bike is that when you're travelling in the car, it's like you're watching tv, because you have this giant windscreen in front of you. When you're on the bike, it feels like you're a part of the scenery.
Breakfast tomorrow morning with a very dear friend going through a really rough time-this is the main reason why I'm home this weekend. Moral support.
Then off to my brother's place for tea, and playing with the nephew and niece, and no doubt to show off my newly acquired vintage tube amp. Then off in the evening to visit another old friend.
This was supposed to be a chill-ax-in weekend. Oh well.
