November 11th,
2001.Sunday
It's sunday night again. Oh how the time does fly. Remember when the weekend was just starting? I thought those days would last forever. Speaking of Friday, after work on Friday I came right home to drop off my bag, freshen up, and head back into the city. Upon arriving, found that the package from Garrick that I had been eagerly anticipating had arrived. Inside, were five cds he burned of software for me. So I got to work installing all sorts of stuff. The centerpiece of the package was Mac OS X. It took me quite some time to figure out what was going on, since I haven't really gotten down the concept of having two hard drives. So i didn't have time to install OS X. I must admit, I was pretty proud of myself for not doing that and instead trying to get to where I was supposed to be on time. And that place was Sandobe, the sushi restaurant on 11th st in the east village that I've been frequenty lately. I got there right on time, and a few minutes later, Caryn showed up. James, whose idea it was to meet there at 7:30, didn't show until quarter of, with girlfriend in tow. Dawdlers. Caryn said she was confused my James' odd mix of being really anal and really slow. Anyway, the sushi was adequate. You get what you pay for, which is cheap sushi. Not the best in the city, though Caryn thinks so. She's wrong. Anyway, James' girlfriend brought her roommate with her, this argentinian guy. Not much to say about him.
After getting a pastry and coffe, we walked over to Irving Plaza for the highly anticipated Stereolab show. I was really looking forward to it. I hadn't seen them in five and a half years. I was supposed to go two years ago, but that was the day Rodzilla flew home from France, and I only had one ticket. And I heard it was an amazing show. And the new album is great. So all that together made me really want to go. Security was very tight at Irving Plaza. Metal detectors, people frisking you at the door. I was shocked and apalled when, after being frisked and told I could go in, someone stops me and looks at my keys and tells me I can't take in the little swiss army knife that's on the keychain. That was pretty dumb. Though I must admit, there were a lot of people inside that I would've liked to stab. It was one of the dorkier crowds I've ever been in. Plus, I have no love for Irving Plaza. We only caught a song and half by the opening band Quasi, which was disappointing because they were the reason I'd bought tickets for Friday. Anyway, Stereolab were incredible. I love the way the lead singer barely moves, but when she does, she just does this little shake to the music. very graceful. Everything looked and sounded great. Well worth the price of admission. Then Caryn and I wandered around for while. We sat in Cafe Pick Me Up for quite some time while I drank a beer and discussed all manner of things, mostly relating to the subject of me. Then we met Matt at this bar Odessa. I'd eaten there with Rodzilla a while back, during a most physically painful brunch. If I'd know it was a full-service bar 8 hours before we ate there, I would've even been more disgusted last time. Anyway, this time was a tad more pleasant. Though Caryn and I only stayed for a few minutes. We just talked to matt and his girlfriend and her friend for a while, then I came home, where I stayed up till about 5 AM playing around with OS X. I have to admit, I spent a large amount of the evening thinking about when I would get home and be able to play around on the computer. Caryn said those are the kinds of things I shouldn't say out loud.
So my parents were in town for the weekend, so I had to get up earlier than I'd hoped and trek up to Lincoln Center to meet them and Geoff. Another infuriatingly slow train ride. After an adequate meal of seafood udon, I made my way back home, fucked up the computer, and took a nap. I love naps. I was having some great dreams. Some really cool visual stuff. And a lot of dreams where I thought I was awake but really still dreaming. Or where I thought I was still dreaming but really awake. I'd open my eyes and think I was under the covers, but really I was looking at my door and dresser and lamp and not knowing it. And I thought I was still dreaming, and the weird arrangement of furniture actually looked like an animation of a man and woman getting married. I can't really explain it. So I'll stop.
Then off to work. I was cursing myself for agreeing to work on a Saturday. But it wasn't too bad. The people in charge always bring in snacks for the writers. So I sat there and had milk and cookies and watched Shakespeare in Love. And that wasn't even the program I was supposed to be watching. But it's probably what I would've been doing on a saturday night anyway, minus the cookies. So after watching America's Most Wanted and writing some crappy trivia questions about it, I was freed for the evening.
I came home to find Matt, Jed, and Dylan in my room playing video games. Not that that annoyed me. I was actually pleased to find them here. The girls who moved in upstairs were having a party, and I was hoping to make it home before Jed and matt and dylan went up. I don't like walking into strange places alone. So after Dylan's girlfriend arrived and then a beer or two we all went up to apartment #2. I hadn't been up there for quite some time. The added some walls to make it a four bedroom, almost identical to our apartment. I must say, I like what they've done with the place. It's really been hitting me hard lately what terrible interior decorating sense I have. There place was much cozier. The party was a combo birthday celebration for like four people, two of whom lived in the apartment. Everyone there was prety nice. We walked in just as several dozen candles were being lit atop several trays of cake and cupcakes. Hmmm. Cupcakes would be good right now. Anyway, I had an allright time. I got to talk with the neighbors I bit. I'm always worried that the rest of the builing hates us. Because we're loud and sort of messy and always hanging out on the front porch. And we don't dress well. After a while, I was in loud drunk mode. It's always sort of embarrassing to remember how you were acting the next day. Anyway, there were a lot of people there. It was much better done than any party we've ever thrown. Lots of food and drinks and whatnot. Matt spotted a black girl with long frizzy hair that he thought would be perfect for our combo, but he never rustled up the nerve to talk to her. I just wandered from person to person. One girl I talked to actually designed the website for the company I work for at night. I think I was being fairly charming, at least adequately amusing and conversational, but I'm also afraid, looking back, that I was being stupid. There were several fairly attractive girls, and today I was looking in the mirror, trying to replicate the faces I was using while talking to them. It was a pretty embarrassing excercise. What I was really looking for was a look of desperation in the eyes. I don't think I saw too much of it. But enough that I don't want to look in the mirror right now and do the faces again. OK, I just did. I didn't like what I saw.
After a while I was the only one from our crew still up there. I was feeling pretty sociable, and figured that that was the best social opportunity of the evening. The rest of them wanted to go down to a bar. Matt came up to get me, and I decided it'd be better to go out than to stay any longer, and I'm glad I left. When I got downstairs, three strangers were in the living room. I got my jacket and we all went outside to wait for the car. After a few minutes of conversation, I said "Um, who are you people?" I knew that it was Dylan's ex-girlfriend and her friends, but I just felt like being pretentiously weird. They actually knew a few people we went to college with, and I kept telling them that I had a big crush on the girlfriend of some guy they knew. Bad first impression, methinks.
So I wolfed down a whiskey at Long Tan, which I barely remember being at. I talked to Dylan's girlfriend Kelly about something or another. I think it was about his ex-girlfriend. Then I think I sat around silently. Then we decided we'd much rather go to Great Lakes. At least Dylan and I did. We don't share the love of Long Tan that Matt and Jed seem to exhibit. It's too expensive and clean and hip. There's only so much soft orange and red light I can take. It doesn't make me feel at east the way the darkness of Great Lakes does. On the way there, we stopped to get a bagel. Dylan, Jed, Kelly and I got into this really involved discussion about classic rock with the two guys. I think it was because I was singing the Cars "You're All I've Got Tonight" when we walked in. We were arguing about who would win in a fight, Journey or Boston. I said, at their peak, Boston would win. But overall, in a longevity sense, Journey wins easily.
So Great Lakes was fairly thumping for 2:30. I really like the look of one of the bartender's girlfriends. I've embarrassed myself talking to her on a few occassions. I don't know why I like goth looking chicks so much. But I dig the look. There was an amusing moment when I asked the bartender for the number of a car service. When I called the number she gave me, a femal voice answered, all confused why I was asking for a car. Then it turned out that this confused female voice was only 6 feet away. She'd given me the number of the bar. Silly girl.Geoff woke me this morning when he called specifically to ask me if I remembered whether or not the theme song to the show Perfect Strangers had words.
And didn't do much else with my day. Made wontons for dinner. They were tasty.
Here's a movie I just made of me eating an egg salad sandwich. (it's 1 MB, so it may only be worth the wait if you have a high speed internet connection. And even then, it's probably not.)
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