Thoughts while on Amtrak, after Paris

We're almost in NYC and I'm staring at the infrastructure of NJ marveling at how uniformly ugly bridges and roads and the other things they put over lakes and hills and pastures are all over the world. I just saw the same scene in Paris, and you could repeat it in Hong Kong, Manila, Italy.

We are going past a bridge in New Jersey. How long will it stay up? When it is ready to come down in a century or so, will they take pictures of it? If they care enough about it I'm sure the city will send a photographer to take shots of it and a local historian to dig up stories about the bridge and make a whole show of it. Though when it really comes down to it, no one really gave a damn about that ugly old bridge until it came down.

Now I'm thinking about a foldable roof that collapses and expands over us like a gigantic bell jar, as wide and large as a town.

I'm on Trading Spaces with Bobby. He is standing in the middle of my room, directing someone to do something. Later I see mom setting the table somewhere. All of a sudden I am applying to college, writing upbeat essays (I wrote a very depressing one for undergrad). Then mom tells me she has money to give me for an apartment - $2 Million. So we start calling up agents, and asking others if they have happen to have a list of agents they could recommend us. We see some interesting places that look rather gothic, made of stone, in the center of a town. Then I found out Carlito from the church is now a real estate agent.I was embarrassed to call him but did anyway. He shows us some apartments on the fringe of town.

I'm petting and massaging a pug. But it is a quite large for a pug though he is lying on my lap. The pug jumps off of me - because he's too big to pet, he is uncomfortable w/my massage.

I am looking at a 15 year old boy wait in line. He sees me from afar, and recognizes me as his soul mate. We fall in love. His mother is there. Then we're talking in their family's kitchen. The mother is upset with me and reveals to the boy that I am too old for him. The boy turns to me for confirmation and I say my age. I tell him he must wait until he's of age. He says he'll wait for me. Later he keeps his promise.

I am in a Holton parking lot later, not sure why.