Tuesday, July 19, 2005
The finger lakes region in upstate New York is very pleasant this time of year. I spent the weekend driving Panna and Lee around, visiting the finger lakes one by one and gawking at the lifeless denizens of the villages that dot the lakeshores. Panna and I got a few strange looks, but I suppose there aren't very many Poles and Koreans wandering around in that part of the country. I found that visiting Ithaca isn't so bad, when I am visiting Ithaca and not the university there.
Observing the dynamic between Panna and David was something else. They should be celebrating their two-year anniversary in a few weeks, and although Panna graduated last semester she has made arrangements to stay in Ithaca for at least another semester, ostensibly to work as an intern mapping out bike trails in the finger lakes region. I don't think she's fooling anybody except possibly herself.
It is clear to me that they make each other very happy, as I see them both grin like fools right after seeing each other. Yet in each other's presence, they both put on their best moody act, each trying to get as much attention and concessions from the other as possible. Panna of course turns very red when I point this out to her. Around me she is very careful to criticize David, in some thinly veiled attempt to hide her mindless helpless affection, and to uphold the luke-warm, unloving image she has fostered for my eyes these past four years. Panna seems to be one of these people that try to be somebody very different for every person they meet in life. I have no idea if it's clear even in her own mind which of those personas she really is. These days however she is mostly David's Panna, whether she cares to admit that to herself or not, and judging by his impact on her that seems fine enough to me.
Observing the dynamic between Panna and David was something else. They should be celebrating their two-year anniversary in a few weeks, and although Panna graduated last semester she has made arrangements to stay in Ithaca for at least another semester, ostensibly to work as an intern mapping out bike trails in the finger lakes region. I don't think she's fooling anybody except possibly herself.
It is clear to me that they make each other very happy, as I see them both grin like fools right after seeing each other. Yet in each other's presence, they both put on their best moody act, each trying to get as much attention and concessions from the other as possible. Panna of course turns very red when I point this out to her. Around me she is very careful to criticize David, in some thinly veiled attempt to hide her mindless helpless affection, and to uphold the luke-warm, unloving image she has fostered for my eyes these past four years. Panna seems to be one of these people that try to be somebody very different for every person they meet in life. I have no idea if it's clear even in her own mind which of those personas she really is. These days however she is mostly David's Panna, whether she cares to admit that to herself or not, and judging by his impact on her that seems fine enough to me.
