Day 3 on the road: South Carolina through Virginia

I couldn't focus on my book (On the Road-Jack Kerouac), so I decided to write. We're in North Carolina now. Passed by South of the Border a while a go and are on the way to a Starbucks. Coffee in hotels that take dogs is deplorable. Mama told about how yesterday, the light was shining through a window into the breakfast area and it shone through the stream of coffee she was pouring and it made it look like Ginger Ale. "Not a good sign." So here I am, listening to music and quietly munching on the Twix bar I bought at the last gas station even though my mom told me not to buy and food. Then again, twix hardly constitutes food, right, mom? I have a coke zero (my new vice), too, but I dunno where it went.

Last night we stayed in a horrendous hotel. It was dirty and gross. Mama and Joan found two thongs in a bag in the sofa in the first room we were given so obviously we asked to switch, and in the new one, this morning, mama woke up and found a spider under her pillow. The breakfast was bagels, miniature donuts that had the flavor and consistency of cardboard, some fruit, some whole wheat bread, cereal, and some juice and coffee. Boring. Bad. We got out as soon as we could, which was unfortunately a bit to early to hit the Barnes and Noble a few miles down the road for their starbucks (they opened at 9).

As I mentioned before, my dad is driving a Penske truck up with us. Our (me, Mama, Joan) worry is that we will start following the wrong Penske truck. I have dubbed it the Proverbial Winsconsin Truck (don't ask me--Mum just started calling it the Wisconsin truck..).

I gotta say. Twix is better cold. Come to think of it, all candy is better cold. They should start keeping candy in fridges. They being the management.

The billboards out here are fantastic. There were some for vasectomies in this one town, and the doctor put his PICTURE on it, and he looked waaay creepy. Yeah, like somebody would want him going near their genitalia while unconscious...Then there was a South of the Border one which had a picture of a fish and said "Virgin Sturgeon and Unused Bagels"

I'm working on this project: see, I hoard fashion magazines like a packrat, so I figure, hey, I can't lug around these magazines all my life just because I like some items featured. A year ago, Melody gave me a folder that had collages on the covers inside and out and some organizing tabs with collages. The collages were made with magazine clippings, so what better use for it than to put MORE collages of magazine clippings in? So I sit here in the car clipping and gluing stuff down to cardstock and then storing it in the pockets. I also clipped articles that I want to save (interviews with actresses, articles on personal style by style gurus, fashion flashbacks for certain celebrities). I will store everything in those plastic protectors, you know? I even had this weird fantasy that once I am a famous actress renowned for my personal style, I could have it published, LOL! I am sure that with the number of fashion mags out there and the years I have left to live, I will take up more than one folder. But It is a good way to keep such things, don't you think? There was one magazine put out my Conde Nast, it was a one time deal called Fashion Rocks, which had articles on the links between music and fashion and I pretty much wanted to clip every article and every picture from every page, which of course, I cannot do, so I just decided to keep that entire magazine. I'll put it in one of the pockets.

Ah. The Swan. I love Carnival of the Animals, and Saint-Saens gave the prettiest one to Cello. Gotta love it.

We just got out of Starbucks. Mama wouldn't let me get anything because I have been eating too much junk food, lol. Just because I had a bacon cheeseburger last night and Mickey D's French fries the day before doesn't mean that I am eating badly :(

We've been following the ass of a Penske truck all day. It sucks.

Movie sound tracks are seriously amazing. I'm listening to the sound track for Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet. Talk about transporting. I can imagine the movei in my mind's eye. I mean, yeah, maybe that's because I used to wastch it like 5-7 times in a row when I was what, 4? 5? But whatever. It's still amazing. Go look it up. Nina Rota composed it. Some of my other favorites are Pride and Prejudice (the new one, composed by Dario Marianelli), Corpse Bride (Danny Elfman, duh. If you didn't guess that one, I pity you.), The Darjeeling Limited (it's various artists, lots of Indian music, some Kinks stuff), Juno (again, various artists, mostly Kimya Dawson, again, some kinks, and this is an acquired taste, for shizz), Much Ado About Nothing (Patrick Doyle--his stuff is great, not always the best to listen to separately, but perfect for the movie), O Brother Where Art Though? (some fanTASTic bluegrass stuff), and most of the Zach Braff movies have great soundtracks. The list is a mix of songs from the movie and original movie soundtracks, but the soundtracks with various artists are a great way to find new stuff, but beware of the ones where you love hearing the song in the movie, but outside of it, it's stupid and cheesy. Some prime examples are Bridget Jones' Diary and Running with Scissors. Each has some good songs, but the entire thing...I mean, I love the scene in BJD where Rod Stewart's Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? plays, but seriously?

So now I'm laying here, trying to get out of the sun (it happens to be on my side of the car right now) listening to Modest Mouse and contemplating what style jeans to get. I need new jeans. My two favorite pairs are all getting worn in the thighs from a) being worn in the thighs, b) me trying to re-sew it which I recently realized weakens them further, in a way, and c) being even more worn. There are actualy HOLES. These two pairs...the first is from Gap and has zippers in the bottom, not one of those things I could get again, but it does give me a clue that maybe their other bootcut curvy short jeans size 7 would fit. But they are like...$45. I got mine on sale for about $10. The other pair is Mavi. The style I got is usually $98, but I got mine on sale for $15 from Macy's. Because I rock at shopping. Macy's sale racks are my friends. The Macy's in MA is HUGE. Hopefully I can get some cheap Free People stuff, too...oh and to add to the gravity of the situation, the Macy's website no longer features Mavi. Maybe I will end up having to fly to Turkey to buy them.

I just finished my Veggie Delight sandwich from Subway. It felt healthy, even though I don't think it was. Now I'm listening to my iPod on shuffle, another fun exercise I've had...Mushaboom-Feist; Camelot-Monty Python; Next 2 You-Buckcherry; Mi chiamo Mimi-Puccini; Lollipop-Mika; With God On Our Side-Bob Dylan. Schveet. I have been told that I have one of the most diverse iPod collections...I even have Basia from the 80s. A one hit wonder--my mom has her CD, and I used to really like it when I was lik 7, so when I got my iPod, I was all, hey, let's listen to this again, and whenever it pops up on my shuffle, I start crackin up, it's so...80s lol.

Half of me is hot and the other half is cold. I have the window heating me on one side (it is currently 100 degrees even outside), and the other half is bearing the full brunt of the air conditioner. I guess I should just grin and bear the heat because the cold is REALLY annoying...

Road trip blogs are so much fun...they remind me of my babysitting blogs, but longer. They are both times when I have time to write down all the thoughts I have. When I sit down to write a blog, it's hard to get stuff to surface..

It's sort of sad how little I write in my diary now that I have a blog...I used to write all the time...I have this really nice one from Israel...actually, the last blog I wrote..I'm going to print it out and paste it in because it really did explain everything well. My diary seems to be more of an outlet. Like, I don't open my diary and tell about my day step by step. That's not a diary, that's a journal, or a log. A diary is for putting the words of anger that you would regret if you said them. It's for going on and on and on and on about somebody you are in love with because your friends and family get bored with you, but you can't stop thinking about them. Your diary is a place to make note of your dreams and aspirations and goals. My diary says "thence" on it in hebrew, which is cool because it's from Israel, so like, from there, get it, get it?

We're 14 miles into Virginia.

I wish I could read peoples' minds.

Northampton has the most fabulous music scene...there is the Calvin theatre which is an actual theatre, there is the Iron Horse, which is a dinner theatre for musicians and stuff, there is The Pines which is an outdoor venue, and some clubs with DJs and whatever. I like the Iron Horse, even though you never know if you will get a good table. I now have a newsletter telling me what new concerts are coming up. Ingrid Michaelson performed at the Iron Horse a week ago, I was crushed that I missed it. The Bird and the Bee are performing in September...Dana Fuchs, who played Sadie in Across the Universe will be there in early September, but I don't even know if I like her music, I just guess that she has amazing stage presence. And that she was great in the movie.

We just went past a place called Spotsylvania. For some reason, my mom does NOT get that that is the coolest name ever.