After a very long hiatus, I've decided to try to open up my journal to the public again. Here's a brief update on my life these last several months for those of you who know me well enough that I don't have to tell you all about the personal stuff that's been going on. I'm now in the middle of moving into a sublet in Philly after moving out of Brooklyn a couple months ago. I've begun applying for a new visa for France and, while I haven't absolutely positively decided to move there, that's how it's looking right now. The dozens and dozens of hoops through which one must jump during the visa application process are providing a very welcome distraction; something to keep me focused. The house I'm moving into in Philly is owned by this rocker guy named Ladyfingers and his friends; they seem like really nice guys, and I think it'll be pretty hassle-free to stay there for a couple months. They have a weight bench, which I'm excited about using every day I live there.
Going out of order here... I'd been staying at my best friend Ben's house in South Jersey after I moved out of Brooklyn. Ben lives in a beautiful neighborhood in the suburbs and I've really been enjoying the peace and quiet and solitude. I'd been keeping myself occupied by going running around the lake nearby every morning. It's a three-and-a-half-mile loop, and I'd never done that kind of running in my life; I used to run maybe one or two miles, two or three times a week, so running this long loop every single day was really killing me, but it was good for my head. Shortly after I arrived at Ben's place, we saw a local news story about how an alligator had been spotted right down the road in Haddonfield, in a lake that joins the lake I was running around every morning. I looked for that alligator every day, but never saw it. I wonder if he saw me. They still haven't caught him, and I hope he's doing okay.
With all that running, my legs were killing me every day, particularly my knees, which have always given me trouble. Then Ben and I did a really difficult hike at Hawk Mountain last week, and the next night my knee swelled up huge and I thought I felt something go pop. I was pretty terrified; my knee started feeling like it wasn't moving properly, like the leverage was all screwed up, and I was sure I tore something and would need surgery. I do not have health insurance. Scary. So I went to the doctor and was super relieved to learn that I hadn't torn anything, just strained the hell out of just about every goddamn ligament and tendon in there. The weird feeling was fluid that had built up and was sloshing around the joint as it moved. The presence of the fluid was also the reason my knee didn't want to move properly and sometimes felt like it wasn't connected right; the bones couldn't interact properly with all that junk swishing around in between. So anyway, I've stayed off the knee for one week now, and it's getting a lot better, although it is still not exhibiting the behavior that I as a consumer have come to expect from knees. I'm sure it'll get there. Not exercising is driving me crazy though.
Hanging out with Ben every day has been immensely good for my brain. I've known the guy since we were sixteen and he's the only friend I have about whom I can say it is absolutely effortless to hang out with him and have a good time and never get sick of each other. He's the guy I can laugh with the most easily and the most often about everything, and I've needed that more than anything at all these last few months. We've been going on absurdly long walks at night, going to the shore whenever possible, going hiking in the mountains, just basically staying busy and keeping moving, enjoying Outside and Quiet, two of my absolute favorite things in the universe. Ben has been superhumanly patient and understanding about everything, and I've been sleeping on his floor for way too long now. I seriously don't know what I would have done without being able to land here for a while.
I've started hanging out with other people, too, which I hadn't been up for at all for a while there. I've reconnected with some very old friends and colleagues who I hadn't seen in years; brilliant, decent people who have basically helped me grow up over the last ten or twenty years, and hanging out with them again has done me a world of good. I also have a lot of friends who are very helpful and generous in offering to get me retardedly drunk, and I applaud their efforts. I'm looking at you, Erica. And plenty of you other nice folks, too.
What else... I've been working a little bit here and there, small jobs for the same old clients. I could really really use some new work though, if anyone knows of anything; websites, illustration jobs, etc. I just had to turn down a really sweet gig because it was an in-house deal and would've kept me in the States longer than I'm currently shooting for. Didn't want to commit to anything I might regret when my visa (hopefully) shows up. In working on all the paperwork for the visa, it's neat to be able to say this time that I've been supporting myself with just freelance for well over two years now. The first time I was applying for a visa, I was quitting my good, stable fulltime job in Philly and basically pleading with the French consulate to believe me that I would be able to become a freelancer in Paris and do all right. This time I have tons of invoices that prove it.
I've been writing lots of long e-mails in French the last few weeks, to my friends in Paris, and it's amazing to see how much French I remember and how much I forget. I really miss the language a lot and look forward to getting into practice again; if things work out, I will even be picking up my old weekly language exchange with my friend Philippe, who taught me a huge portion of the French I know, especially all kinds of useful expressions for flirting with men. Hooboy.
I guess that's about it for now. I want to thank everyone who's written to me to check up on me these last few months; I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I know I've been really quiet and I may have even failed to respond to some people, although I tried to at least write back to everyone and say thanks. If I missed you in all the craziness, I'm sorry. I'm looking forward to staying in touch more consistently now. I wasn't checking e-mail or reading LiveJournal very often for a while there, but I intend to keep up with all that stuff now. You can always e-mail me at manning@manningkrull.com if you want to chat. I mean, write. Chat is something different, right? I don't understand computers.
Okay thanks bye!
