Treasures

I'm glad you're nearby, Ithaca. You have a lot of qualities about a small town that I enjoy. You're seemingly pretty liberal, have a flourishing artistic community, and from what I observed, a proponent of strong sustainable values.

This past Saturday began with an eruption of rain and thunder. After Andrew entered town to pick me up and we started south a short ways, the weather seemed to calm and the storm clouds dissipated. Sun glinted down on us as we drove through surrounding dairy farms and untold rows of corn fields until we finally made our way to Ithaca. We hung around the Commons, an area primarily occupied with local shops and performance venues. Out of all of the places I've discovered since the move, I found this stretch of city blocks to be the most welcoming. I walked at a leisurely pace and listened to Andrew tell stories of coming out here when he used to live in Auburn six years ago. Moments later, I spotted a curious sign overhead pointing to a cinema in between two buildings. "Look at this treasure!" I examined the alley and found this:

Alley Cinema

We stumbled around some more and found a decent record store followed by a late Thai lunch at an overwhelmingly vacant restaurant. I neglected the secondhand bookstore across from the record store the first pass and decided to go back and give it a try after food. Autumn Leaves Used Books is also a record shop and cafe turns out.

The familiar atmosphere lured us in: Not uncomfortably quiet, antique smells, an abundant amount of obsolete technology, etc. Desperately, I looked to see if I could find some great used titles. Not a whole lot. I think the store gets cleaned out pretty regularly. Before stepping out, I peeked at the rare collection displayed behind the counter. It was beautiful...

You will be mine someday.

Subsequently, Andrew and I had some beers and watched the Olympics at a sports bar. I watched the springboard and diving events and reminisced of Railroad Ave back home. The Ithaca commons are very much like that part of Bellingham, just more elaborate and developed. There was an impromptu jaunt up the hill to Cornell University. Why? No particular reason. It was in close enough proximity. Result? Kind of ordinary. Although, there was a dazzling cricket near what appeared to be some sort of engineering building. Driving back through the barren small towns on the way home to Syracuse, I had recharged some motivation. It was encouraging to find instances of home on the opposite side of the country.

This House Is Growing

Manita was the first face I'd seen to inhabit this building opposite me. I still don't know where she's from and what she studies, but she has a puppy and isn't too timid to strike up conversation. She lives directly next to me in a larger space, but the view out her window is lackluster. So far I know we will be splitting internet costs. Jeffrey lives further down the hall and I've seen him once or twice. He's quiet and we have yet to communicate about anything, really. No matter. There are several others supposedly moving in this week. How close or estranged will we be over time? We'll see. It's good this place is growing a pulse.