You Belong With Me

There is something about traveling to your hometown after losing a considerable amount of weight that makes you feel like you are in a rom com. Or a Jennifer Weiner novel.

I recently lost a little more weight and toned up a little more thanks to marathon training, so I look pretty similar to my high school weight, even though I am not there yet. I went back home this weekend for my sister's graduation.

On the plus side: everyone tells you that you are gorgeous, that you look amazing and skinny. My sister wouldn't let die the incident where a fellow I went to high school with recognized me in a pizza parlor, and when I told him he looked great, as he had lost a lot of weight, he said, "You still look...amazing." Of course, if rom coms happened in real life, a Taylor Swift song would start playing and I would have fallen in love and stayed in my hometown forever. As they are movies and not real, I left with my pizza and flew back to Chicago.

On the negative side, there are also things that happen in rom coms that are supposed to be funny, but not to the heroine of the piece. Such as your three-year-old cousin informing you out of the blue that you belong with your ex-boyfriend. And this happened even after I bought him a sweet Buzz Lightyear backpack and played basketball with him. Also, it's hard to explain the logistics of relationships to someone who is not fully potty trained. Three-year-olds know little about romantic love (outside of being able to regurgitate Lady Antebellum lyrics. And the vague understanding of the concept of coupling.) Yet this three-year-old is also mystified that I don't belong to anyone. This inevitably will lead me to rom com late night paranoia.

Well...I am not cuing the Taylor Swift song just yet.

Day Ten: Boston Again

My plane was overbooked. They were offering $400 in vouchers for people to fly out the next day, but I couldn't hear any details because a man was talking too loudly on his Razr about Bear Week and heading back to Gainesville. Of course.

This has been a travel sandwich of reminders of how much better off I am.

Day Nine: Last Day

I had my last day in Maine today, and I tried to soak up as many things as I could. I had blueberry soda, blueberry ice cream, and a lobster roll. I was not a huge fan of lobster rolls last year and found a whole lobster to be much more enjoyable, but this year was much, much better for some reason. But then, everything was much better this year. For some reason.

I ran one last run - seven miles, today - along the Union River Watershed, which I just loved and found so peaceful. I will certainly not miss running hills, especially the last one along Main Street that would almost make me cry daily, but I will miss seeing the water, the lupine, the horses, and the occasional white tail deer dart out in front of me. They just don't have that on my Chicago runs. Especially the hills.

The 8 PM show was great, and the 10 PM show was fine. I got some fudge and candles to bring back. Back to Chicago!

Day Eight: Ups and Downs

Today was a weird day of extremes.

It started with my toenail finally falling off. It had been threatening to do so for at least a month now, thanks to running so much, but today it just came quickly and painlessly off when I poked at it. I feel like a real runner. I hope it comes back.

Also, The Downgrade was made public today. Even though I had known for some time and no one seems to approve or even care, it was still saddening.

On the bright side though, I finally got a call from an agency asking me to come in for an interview. Several improvisers I respect are signed with this agency, and it's not Vinny's Talent Shack in the suburbs or anything, so I have allowed myself some cautious excitement. We will see what happens.

I also had a triumphant return, after our day off, to being a slut in the 10 PM game of Hesitation. This time Mike graciously gave the gift of looseness rather than the audience, but the streak is still alive and well. Just one more 10 PM show and it's a solid run of sluts. I can do it!

Day Seven: Day Off

There are no shows on Sundays (right now) so everyone gets a day to relax. I only spent one Sunday in Maine, and unfortunately, it rained the entire day. (In fact, the rain began in earnest about two miles into my run. My run lasted another hour and forty minutes, so I was pretty well aware of how it was raining by the end.) I ate in a bug in the course of this run -- a huge bug flew straight down my throat as I propelled myself in the opposite direction. I gagged on the side of the Union River for a while, and the bug and my throat had an epic battle, but ultimately, I won. I needed protein anyway? How awful.

The plan had been to go hiking and then go back to Echo Lake, but since hiking and swimming, like running, are unpleasant in the rain, we saw a movie instead. As such, after my experience in Echo Lake, I have no choice but to become terrified of water, since I didn't get right back on that metaphorical horse as promised.

That night was the traditional Nacho Night, and as Larrance defines a nacho as "something crispy with sauce and a thing" I contributed a blueberry pie. Sadly, my lattice crust turned out to be the very ugliest lattice crust I have ever made in the history of pies, and I was very much ashamed to present it to people. I would not get points for plating and presentation. However, everyone said they liked it, and I was positively charmed to make a pie with real Maine blueberries. More blueberries!

Day Six: More Shows

Tonight a very lovely woman who comes up every year told me that my singing in Gibberish Opera was just beautiful. And she was too sweet to be anything but sincere. It was very nice, albeit shocking.

Meanwhile, a little boy wanted pictures... with just the men of the cast.

Day Five: Shows

10 PM show audiences have fallen into the habit of endowing me with "slut" during Hesitation.