I'm feeling sort of thick right now. And tired. Too much eating, not enough sleep. After work today, I met up with Jen at the West 4th St. subway stop. We humored the notion of seeing a movie, but then we just ditched that plan and wandered around the Village a bit. We couldn't really decide what we wanted to do, so we ended up doing nothing. Well, of course we did something, but nothing really planned. Just stuff for the sake of doing stuff. But it was fine. We wandered into Banana Republic, looked at stuff, and felt poor. Well, not really poor, just not understanding how one justifies paying $248 for a sweater that does nothing but provide warmth. We figured for that money, you better be able to eat it or get your money's worth in some additional way. Anyhow, then we wandered down Carmine st. to a small Chinese restaurant I frequented over the summer for some cheap fried rice. Feeling bloated and sick, we then stood on the street corner for quite some time, trying to figure out what we should "do." As we were standing on the corner, we saw this oldish man yelling at some woman passing by "Yeah? You'll change your mind!" while gesticulating with a cigar. The woman kept on walking and then this scary cigar guy in a trenchcoat started following her. He didn't really look like the harassing type. He almost looked sort of respectable. I saw her walk down the street in the what I thought was a store called Toys in Babeland, a sort of exotic fetish and lingerie store. So we figured, what the hell, let's see what happens. So we stood across the street from the store, which is now called The Birthday Suit, and watched the guy stand outside the store waiting for the woman to come out. Stalking the stalker, as it were. That amused us for a while. The guy ended up leaving after about 5 minutes. We couldn't figure out why the woman would choose that store of all places to seek refuge in. Anyway, after a while Jen wanted to take a picture of us standing in front of a cigar store Indian, but my lack of batteries for the camera foiled that plan. But we walked down to the cigar store anyway to get a closer look and the Injun. There was also a cigar store Fidel Castro there, which I'd never seen before and which amused me and creeped me out. So we stood on the corner of West 4th and Jones st. for a while shooting the shit some more. Then it was decided that we really had to do something, or just go home. So Jen suggested we go to this place called French Roast, a 24-hour restaurant on 11th St. And I must say, it's probably the nicest 24 hour restaurant I've ever seen. Very cozy and comfortable. So out of boredom, we ate yet again. The hot chocolate was described as "thick and foamy French hot chocolate." I don't know, that seemed sort of weird. But it was tasty. And a little creme brulee. Also tasty. So we sat there, drinking and nibbling, and had pleasant conversations. So even though we didn't go "do" anything, it was nice just to hang out. Though the entire evening did have this feeling of anticlimax. But I enjoyed that French Roast joint.
While we were eating, I was telling Jen about my new shower curtain. During my stay at home, I bought a new shower curtain at Walmart. It's got this rather pleasant scene of a desert island and palm trees and the bluest sky you ever did see. I thought "My, that's a nice little scene. I like to 'escape' the the shower anyway, so why not 'escape' to a tropical island shower. Plus, I always buy translucent blue shower curtains, for their calming effect, and that sky certainly is blue, so why not go a step further and imagine I'm showering in some island paradise?" The only problem was, after I took it out of the bag, it turns out it wasn't translucent. I was really pissed off. So I asked my other rooomates, and they all agreed with me that the little desert island scene and palmtrees should face in, toward whoever is taking a shower. As one of them said "The only people who should matter to are the people inside the shower." And he was absolutely right. Anyway, Jen couldn't believe this. She thought it was pretty weird. But I said, what's the point of having this calming picture face outward, if the whole point of buying the damn thing was so that I could pretend to be in a tropical paradise while I was in the shower. That's what it's for! She agreed to that, but added "All I know is, that's something girls would never do." And she's right about that one. Girls have all those weird little hangups, particularly when furnishing a home. I'm much more about utility than appearance. Less so these days, but still, no where as bad as most girls I know. When I lived with Berry, it always irked me that we had this huge empty living room floor because there was no coffee table. One day i discovered that the but riser she had her plants on actually was a coffee table! I was like "Why is this coffee table sitting under a tapestry in the corner and not being used when we have no coffee table?" And she said because it was too ugly. Christ. I gotta eat my mac and cheese off my lap while watching tv because the goddam table is too ugly? What do you us sitting on the floor, surround by Cheese Nips and red peppers all over the floor? Pretty? Sheaaat...
Anyway, I'm getting more work to do at the magazine these days. Well, today anyway. I was actually busy all day, and even stayed past 7, which I rarely do. It's nice to actually contribute, and I may even get a byline or two out of it. We like the sound of that. though i'll probably still send my resume out this week. Caryn did go to the trouble of fixing it up for me. It looks very futuristic. Anyhow, there don't seem to be enough hours in the day. It's past 2am, and I need to sleep. The lsat two entries have been sort of poopy, and I think boredom really helps my writing a lot more than activity. A tradeoff, then.
DA&R
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