One Day

Jan's Pad
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We are still not officially on our trip, but only because we haven't taken any plane rides out of the country. In fact we've moved about a mile to the east, further into Brooklyn and are currently crashing at out friend Jan's apartment. This place is the perfect end to this chapter in NY and the perfect beginning to our travels. How to describe it? It is a converted factory, like our old place, but the factory element here has refused to be exorcised. The ceilings are about 12 feet high and solid concrete. There are the ghosts of foreman's doors high up in the walls. Pipes lead here and there to nowhere, or somewhere, who knows. A massive freight elevator the size of some people's apartments chugs to life occasionally and creaks and groans its way through its ancient shaft. One of the two bathrooms is a series of ever escalating platforms culminating with a claw-foot tub on the top of the pile, the water heater below you as you shower. Jan and Co. recently repainted the walls of the vast empty studio we are camping in so the light of day illuminates it and creates dramatic geometric shadows on smooth white surfaces and rough concrete alike. Huge fans hum and cool the rooms. I might call it chaotic comfort, as at any given time there are three of four friends hanging out, working, watching the ball game via laptop in one of the many spacious rooms that make up the warren of spaces. For example, I'm not sure exactly where Steve lives, but it seems you can pretty much count on him to wander through at about noon on any given day. Today he came in to our space hoping to sit in on a photo-shoot that had been scheduled to take place and left apologetically as he found us preparing for the day's activities.

As words fail to describe the complexity of the surfaces of this space, the textures, the pipes, the massive windows, the stove wrapped in tin foil, the twelve foot wooden door that someone has written "211" on, then crossed out, then written again in equally large letters, I will stop trying. I will only say that this is distilled New York, Brooklyn style, Williamsburg style. It is THE flavor that people seek when moving here from all points east and west and north and south. Adding to the drama, the apartment is technically a squat, as during a spat with her landlord, who is attempting to illegally evict the entire building, Jan is refusing to pay any rent. Bow down Bohemia.

Bow down Bohemia

The activities of the day primarily included performing the service for C and L's wedding. We are fortunate enough to be leaving just after their big celebration, and I was honored as a ULC minister to be asked to preform the ceremony. It truly was an honor. Their combination of hilarity and sincerity is unrivaled in this town or any other and it was my great pleasure to somewhat awkwardly perform the rites that have bound them forever. They are just two of our friends who have been more than friends during our time here, but family too in the absence of actual blood relations. It felt so fitting to be so profoundly involved in the creation of their new family unit, and to stand with them proudly in front of so many people who love them so deeply. I know I keep making illusions to Star Wars, but it felt precisely like the end of the first one, after all the harrowing adventure has subsided and some time is put aside for celebration and appreciation.

Now, tomorrow, or today, is our final day for labors regarding our departure. We have some loose ends to tie up, some items that need storing still, some prescriptions that need filling. The parties are over–well not yet, there is a big BBQ here tomorrow evening–and all that stands between us and our plane on Tuesday are the ever moving sands of time. We are at the top of the roller coaster. The clicking of the uphill ride has stopped and we stare down into the abyss of adventure. This moment at this time seems like an eternity, an eternity that will pass all too quickly as we begin the plunge.