10/2/03

Someone seems to have something against me sleeping. I haven�t had an uninterrupted night�s sleep in weeks, and I was determined to sleep well before the trip to Miami. I shut the demanding cats in the basement, double-checked all blinds to ensure no cracks of light would seep through. I even took Benedryl to make sure I wouldn�t have trouble sleeping. It was not to be. First, due to a wakeful AJ and an unexpected phone call, I was later getting to bed than usual. At 2 a.m. we were awakened by a scritch-scritch sound. The cats weren�t in the room. It took us a while to locate it, but some animal seems trapped inside the bedroom wall. It scratched all night and was still scratching this morning, poor thing. I have no idea what it could be. It�s probably a mouse, but it sounds enormous. At 2 a.m. it was a rabid badger. Earplugs eliminated the sound, but not the idea that some strange creature might claw its way out at any minute. Kind of like Alien.

It was hard leaving this morning, especially since AJ is still not feeling well. But it�s also nice to have some time to myself, to be away from taking care of people for a while.

Flying seems like an impossible thing. It always seems like you need to have conviction in the ability of the plane to fly, in the way that Wile E. Coyote can get halfway across a canyon before falling � once you lose faith in the conveyance, you could fall.

It was a totally easy flight. We were half an hour early landing. We flew in over the Everglades, which is a weird sight. It�s much bigger than I thought � miles and miles of no buildings or wires. It�s impossible to tell the water from the vegetation from the air. There were a few spots that were clearly water and a few spots that were just as clearly land, but in between was a tangled mass of organic material that looked from the plane like it was spreading like a fungus across whatever terrain it hit. I would really like to go visit it, but I don�t think we�re going to get the chance.

It was a shock to get off the plane into the steamy heat. It had been a mere 21 degrees when I got up this morning. My friend M met me up at the airport. He went to school with me and recently moved down here to take a teaching job at a local university. He took me a tour of the fabulous Miracle Mile in Coral Gables before heading to the hotel. The 1920s era Spanish-style mansions are unbelievable. I checked into the hotel, and headed up to our room. We got a dirt-cheap conference rate and figured we�d be in some corner somewhere, but we ended up on the second highest floor with a view of Key Biscayne and Biscayne Bay. Boats go by right next to the building. We can see the outdoor pool, the rim of which is lined with hammocks. I would much rather be out there.

I did manage to tear myself away from the view and dragged M to hear a couple of papers before having an inauspicious encounter with the professor for whom I TAed and was a research assistant for a year and who had been my thesis advisor until she left my university. She had to read my badge before she remembered who I was. I guess that�s what I get for being the prodigal scholar. Take a hiatus from the field for a few years and no one has any idea who you are. Almost immediately, though, we ran into our friend L, with whom I�m sharing a room here. The three of us went through our early graduate coursework together and used to go out to dinner together once a week. She now teaches at a large Midwestern university. In honor of our reunion, we downed a few beers at the hotel bar before heading out to Miami Beach, another architectural haven. We walked along Ocean Drive in the dark and stuck our toes in the warm, warm ocean then headed to an outdoor bar for mojitos and more catching up. Have you ever had a mojito? My, they�re tasty.

Miami is grimy and sexy at the same time. With all the men strolling through Miami Beach in tight shirts and well-fitted trousers with women in long flowing gowns against the background of the ocean and the Art Deco buildings, I felt like I had fallen into a film noir. Or perhaps Godfather 2.

It�s late and I�m exhausted. More tomorrow.

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