obligations...

[swingchickie]

so, next week i am going home to philly again, for 2 days. i'm usually back there maybe 3 or 4 times a year, either for holidays (xmas and easter) or to work at our corporate offices for a day or two. this one's a work trip. i have to work thursday, so i'm taking friday as a vacation day and then i'll come back to boston saturday.

the problem is the power struggle that goes on when i'm home. basically, when i'm in town for any length of time, whether it's a day or a week, there are all these people who get pissed if i don't visit them. now, i will admit, it is very nice to be loved, and to have people there who want to see me. the problem is that i just don't have the time to do it all, and then i'm put on massive guilt trips. i'm not one of those people who has one close circle of friends who i can see all at once... because i have a lot of different interests, i've built friendships with individuals here and there, which means a million visits if i want to see everyone. i end up coming back to boston exhausted, because i've spent X number of days seeing 3 people a day and it's just too much.

i've lived in boston for 7 years now... and in all the times i've gone back to philly for those 7 years, i have never been able to spend a whole day by myself and do things on my own terms. what i would give for a weekend with gorgeous weather, a full tank of gas, and nothing to do but explore my old haunts and bum around the city. i'd go to new hope, where i grew up, and shop to may heart's content, have lunch in one of the amazing restaurants there, and stop in every art gallery i was too young to appreciate before. i'd walk around the villanova campus and see what's changed since i graduated, and i'd buy a school sweatshirt for old time's sake. i'd have coffee at my favorite place in conshohocken, and then go across the street and have sushi at the restaurant where i had my first meal of raw fish. *grin* i'd walk around society hill and dream of owning one of those beautiful brownstones... then i'd spend the night on south street, people-watching. maybe even buy something funky at zipperhead (is it still there, i wonder?) to commemorate the trip.

the closest i'm going to come to that next week, is having lunch on friday at manny brown's on south street with one of my girlfriends. in a way, it makes me look forward even more to getting promoted and moving back in the next year or so, so that i can have a life there. *sigh*.

Comments

[thetech.livejournal.com]

Is there any way you can sneak down there and not tell anyone? That way, if nobody knows you're there, then there isn't the perceived obligation to go visit everyone. I realize that since you're having lunch with a girlfriend on Friday, that word might get around that you're in town, so that idea is probably blown for this trip.

It's like that when I have a day off... I don't dare tell any of my family, else I'd be booked for this-and-that and my day would be all chewed up!

Zipperhead's still there.

[12thknight.livejournal.com]

So's Garland of Letters. The smell there almost blows you over at first (á la Yankee Candle), but there's the coolest people there...the gentlest and nicest. and the gyros aren't too bad at the South Street Deli, and you can walk them off by the riverfront when the lights just start flickering awake on the Moshulu.

you have lunch planned, I see. are you doing anything for dinner on Friday?

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

i could do that, i've certainly contemplated it at times... but a good chunk of the guilt comes from mom, who i always stay with when i'm in town. if she found out that i'd been back without contacting her, she'd be absolutely devastated. seriously, she would probably cry for a week. it's not worth the drama. *grin*

Re: Zipperhead's still there.

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

oh my god, garland of letters, that's a place i haven't thought of in years. i hope these places are open during the day, when i'm there. i know south street comes alive at night, but i'll take what i can get for now.

dinner friday night is with mom (i'm taking her out for a belated b-day dinner). gosh darnit. but i'll be back in another month or so for work...

[12thknight.livejournal.com]

forgive me...but I felt compelled to ask. ::grin::

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

hey... why don't you log on to yahoo or AOL IM once in a while... been looking to say hi, you silly goose. *grin*