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Dec. 22nd, 2011 05:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lerouxWell, I'm back from Philadelphia as of Tuesday, and it was definitely worthwhile if completely not what I signed up for.
Here is what I planned to do with my vacation:
1. Visit my oldest friend and have her show me around her adoptive city
2. Party hard in true Franklin+Leroux style
3. Attend Flyers/Bruins game to firstly watch some of my favourite players and secondly
4. Watch my girlfriend team exact vengeance on Hockey Evil
5. Do a little shopping
Instead here is what actually happened:
1. My friend took medical leave and went home to Edmonton to deal with her mental health leaving me to stay in her place by myself
2. My own mental health situation did not stay in Halifax as I for whatever reason expected it to and instead followed me to America where it made fun times very difficult (though not impossible)
3. My two favourite players on the Flyers were out with concussions during the time I was in town, and my very favourite player of all time was announced to be sidelined for the entire season and the playoffs with no timeline for return, and also he's 37 and had eight surgeries last season and may never play again, in which case I will have missed seeing my favourite player in person by a matter of weeks and this will haunt me for the rest of my life
4. The hockey game, which I went to with a random boy from the internet (and it was actually a really good date and he was super cute and I enjoyed it) was a 6-0 blowout loss for the Flyers and I watched as another player got concussed
5. And I did a little shopping.
I am being a little dramatic; I did have a good time, and I actually think vacationing by myself is something that really works for me, but I've been struggling a lot with my depression in the past few months and it was honestly (and ridiculously) surprising to me that it didn't magically go away when I went on vacation.
Pronger's injury status is genuinely upsetting. I think it hit harder knowing that he was somewhere really nearby as well, and just the timing... the whole thing is just. Bad.
But here are the good things:
1. Philadelphia is really beautiful. I loved the juxtaposion of old and new architecture, the city is very conducive to walking around, and the weather was perfect until the very last day when it rained. I kind of fell in love with the University of Pennsylvania's campus. I might actually look into doing an exchange there. It's that lovely. And the gigantic post office by the river, and city hall, and the weird neo-gothic church next to the Mütter Museum, and hell, the Liberty Bell. And being a Flyers fan and walking down Broad Street was just cool.
2. Having that five and a half days to myself was definitely something I needed, even if I wasn't healthy enough to enjoy it as much as I wish I could have.
3. I really, really love going to hockey games. I definitely need to go to some Mooseheads games in the next few months. Very little makes me happier than drinking beer in a rink. And while I resent the loss on principle and it was hard to relive on HBO 24/7, I actually had a really good time at the game. My date was so cute. He's a goalie and he's studying sports management and he bought me drinks and brought a signed Roenick jersey for me to wear and was so cute. We chirped our own team ("Oh look, the Flyers finally win a face-off and Bourdon doesn't know what to do with it") and the Doomsday Crier sitting next to me ("Is only game! Why you heff to be mad?") and I got to rant my face right off about how much I hate Stéphane Auger while my date was like, "O__O." But he is the WORST REF and I HATE HIM.
4. The Mütter Museum was really cool. I love skulls and skeletons and specimens and medical history so it was just super super interesting. Coolest was seeing the skeleton of a person with gigantism next to that of a person with normal growth and a person with achondroplasia dwarfism. Also, fetus skeletons at various stages of development all arranged in standing poses. And the skeleton of a Victorian woman with a compressed ribcage due to corset-wearing. &skeletons; I would love for my skeleton to be displayed.
5. I bought some good stuff! A couple pair of fingerless gloves, some tights, a nice scarf, and a pair of bright orange oxford brogues. AMERICA WHY IS YOUR STUFF SO CHEAP.
I also visited some art galleries and historical sites and Starbuckes (it is how I do) and listened to Canucks and Oilers games on the radio and got hit on a lot. I thought Haligonians were forward compared to Vancouverites, but hoo boy. They have nothing on Philadelphians.
And I touched a Calder stabile! Calder is one of my art heroes, so putting my hands on his work was cool (it's steel public sculpture, touching is allowed).
So, yes. Vacation goes in the win column, but it was a hard win.
Here is what I planned to do with my vacation:
1. Visit my oldest friend and have her show me around her adoptive city
2. Party hard in true Franklin+Leroux style
3. Attend Flyers/Bruins game to firstly watch some of my favourite players and secondly
4. Watch my girlfriend team exact vengeance on Hockey Evil
5. Do a little shopping
Instead here is what actually happened:
1. My friend took medical leave and went home to Edmonton to deal with her mental health leaving me to stay in her place by myself
2. My own mental health situation did not stay in Halifax as I for whatever reason expected it to and instead followed me to America where it made fun times very difficult (though not impossible)
3. My two favourite players on the Flyers were out with concussions during the time I was in town, and my very favourite player of all time was announced to be sidelined for the entire season and the playoffs with no timeline for return, and also he's 37 and had eight surgeries last season and may never play again, in which case I will have missed seeing my favourite player in person by a matter of weeks and this will haunt me for the rest of my life
4. The hockey game, which I went to with a random boy from the internet (and it was actually a really good date and he was super cute and I enjoyed it) was a 6-0 blowout loss for the Flyers and I watched as another player got concussed
5. And I did a little shopping.
I am being a little dramatic; I did have a good time, and I actually think vacationing by myself is something that really works for me, but I've been struggling a lot with my depression in the past few months and it was honestly (and ridiculously) surprising to me that it didn't magically go away when I went on vacation.
Pronger's injury status is genuinely upsetting. I think it hit harder knowing that he was somewhere really nearby as well, and just the timing... the whole thing is just. Bad.
But here are the good things:
1. Philadelphia is really beautiful. I loved the juxtaposion of old and new architecture, the city is very conducive to walking around, and the weather was perfect until the very last day when it rained. I kind of fell in love with the University of Pennsylvania's campus. I might actually look into doing an exchange there. It's that lovely. And the gigantic post office by the river, and city hall, and the weird neo-gothic church next to the Mütter Museum, and hell, the Liberty Bell. And being a Flyers fan and walking down Broad Street was just cool.
2. Having that five and a half days to myself was definitely something I needed, even if I wasn't healthy enough to enjoy it as much as I wish I could have.
3. I really, really love going to hockey games. I definitely need to go to some Mooseheads games in the next few months. Very little makes me happier than drinking beer in a rink. And while I resent the loss on principle and it was hard to relive on HBO 24/7, I actually had a really good time at the game. My date was so cute. He's a goalie and he's studying sports management and he bought me drinks and brought a signed Roenick jersey for me to wear and was so cute. We chirped our own team ("Oh look, the Flyers finally win a face-off and Bourdon doesn't know what to do with it") and the Doomsday Crier sitting next to me ("Is only game! Why you heff to be mad?") and I got to rant my face right off about how much I hate Stéphane Auger while my date was like, "O__O." But he is the WORST REF and I HATE HIM.
4. The Mütter Museum was really cool. I love skulls and skeletons and specimens and medical history so it was just super super interesting. Coolest was seeing the skeleton of a person with gigantism next to that of a person with normal growth and a person with achondroplasia dwarfism. Also, fetus skeletons at various stages of development all arranged in standing poses. And the skeleton of a Victorian woman with a compressed ribcage due to corset-wearing. &skeletons; I would love for my skeleton to be displayed.
5. I bought some good stuff! A couple pair of fingerless gloves, some tights, a nice scarf, and a pair of bright orange oxford brogues. AMERICA WHY IS YOUR STUFF SO CHEAP.
I also visited some art galleries and historical sites and Starbuckes (it is how I do) and listened to Canucks and Oilers games on the radio and got hit on a lot. I thought Haligonians were forward compared to Vancouverites, but hoo boy. They have nothing on Philadelphians.
And I touched a Calder stabile! Calder is one of my art heroes, so putting my hands on his work was cool (it's steel public sculpture, touching is allowed).
So, yes. Vacation goes in the win column, but it was a hard win.
