January 6th, 2002.
Sunday
I've spent most of today trying not to spend any money. I've also been trying to download IBM's ViaVoice program, so I can lie down and and speak and have the computer do the typing for me. It's been a long weekend. Figuratively speaking. In literal terms, it's actually the first weekend of regular length in three weeks. Anyway, on friday, after springing out of work, I went over to the Grey Dog on Carmine street. Finding no seating, i took my coffee to the outside bench and sat in the cold for a little while before calling Rodzilla, who was over in NYU's Bobst Library. So I walked over there, waited around for a while, then we walked back to West 4th street and caught the F train bound for Brooklyn. On a whim, we decided to get out at Bergen street for dinner. There was this place I'd always wanted to investigate, called Bar Tabac. I often pass it on my way to the Smith St. bars and the gym. It has that french brasserie look. The food was good, but a bit on the pricey side. Though the atmosphere was pretty pleasant. I had the lamb. She had the muscles. We had a nice meal. A nice place, but probably not really worth going back to for a full meal.
So after that, we got back on the F train and returned here to Park Slope. Hung out for a while, as Rodzilla did a little tap-dancing. That was weird. But funny. Then Jed, Rodzilla and I went on down to Long Tan, on 5th ave, to drink over priced drinks. I sort of like that bar, but only because the people there are a little more attractive than over at Great Lakes. Mostly terribly people, but nicer to look at. So Matt showed up after a while, then we went back to his place. I raided his fridge for lunch meat. I can't help it. Then back to Great Lakes. Spent a long time there. Ended up talking to these two sisters and their friend Chandler, who I think was dating one of the sisters. She was 23. He looked about 45 or so. Sick. But for some reason when i was asking matt for 5 bucks to take a car home Chandler gave me a ten dollar bill. I tried to refuse, but he wouldn't have it. So fine with me. I love Great Lakes. It's a comfortable place to hang out, and I love the music. Just a great place to hang out with yer best friends.
Saturday was spent mostly sleeping, eating, and watching tv. Which was just fine. I was glad to see Rodzilla enjoying hanging out in Brooklyn more, since in the past she's really been reluctant to come hang out. Anyway, it was a fun time. So in the evening, I was planning on going down to Matt's again and going to the 5th avenue bars again, when I got a call from the long-lost Mimi. She'd emailed me on Friday to tell me her and her boyfriend would be in the city this weekend, and wanted to see if I wanted to get together. It was sort of weird, because we hadn't really been in contact for the last two years or so. When I worked in DC, when we first starting emailing, we wrote all the time. I still have more emails from her than anybody else. We'd always figured we'd meet eventually someday, even when she was living in San Francisco. So I was still intrigued about the possibility of meeting her. Anyway, her and her friends were at Botanica, on Houston st., so I told her I'd meet them there. First, I had to call Caryn, because I sure as hell wasn't going to be showing up alone as "the internet friend." Especially when I found out it was her and 4 other people. Luckily, Caryn was just on her way back from Long Island and didn't have plans for the evening. I ended up having to wait a good while for her to make it to Botanica, and kept Mimi waiting for quite some time. Later she told me that her friends said if they were me, they wouldn't have come alone either. So that was a good time to tell her why I was so late. Anyway, when we finally get there, who should I see as soon as I walk in the door but Kate, my old boss at the Parks Department. She was with this girl Christiana, who also worked at Parks and is now in the same program I was at at NYU. Of course, I was a bit surprised to see them there. So i said hi to Kate, and Christiana said something like "It's my birthday!" when I suddenly remembered that I had received an email invitation to Christiana's birthday party the day before. There was no date on it, so I just assumed it was on friday So then it hits me that they think I'm there for the party. And then when I looked at their faces they kind of had that look of people when they see someone they invited to a party, out of courtesy or because they didn't want to edit their email list, but never expected the person to show. And there I was, with a friend. So at first I was just kind of shocked and awkward, but now I was really, really uncomfortable. I'd accidentally shown up to a party I was invited to but had no intention of attending. I looked around to see if Jen K. was there, hoping I could tell her all about it, but she was no where to be found. I saw the guy she was kind of seeing, but no her. So I talked awkwardly with Kate for what seemed like an eternity, and in the confusion gave an enthusiastic hello to someone I thought was Mimi but realized shortly thereafter that it was not.
So then the real Mimi comes walking over, and now it's really weird, because I don't want Kate to know that I was just there by accident and had no interest in hanging out with the Parks people, especially since the only person I even like at Parks, Jen K, wasn't even there. So I just told her "Um, I'll be right back." and ran off and greeted Mimi. She pretty much looked the same as I figured she would. So we had a few drinks, and chatted it up. I was sort of uncomfortable for a while, as I always am with new people, particularly under circumstances like meeting internet people or blind dates, so I was drinking my beer pretty fast. But I calmed down after a while. Nate showed up soon thereafter to keep Caryn company. He also works for the Parks department, and was also quite shocked to see the room full of Parkies. I asked him if he wanted to say hello to them, but he said he was keeping a low profile. I said "A low profile? Isn't that against the whole gay-male aesthetic?" I'm glad that I've been hanging out with Nate more, because I can gradually keep getting more offensive, To this he gave me a little flame-on "fabulous!" which amused me greatly. Anyway, talking to Mimi was fairly interesting. Like talking to an old friend, really, especially since we hadn't communicated regularly in so long. It's weird to have a lot to catch up with with a person you'd never actually met before. After talking for a while, she said something about what a good time she was having out, and then something along the lines of "You're much more charming in person that you are in your writing." I'm not tooting my own horn here. I just found it an interesting thing to say. I said "More charming?" and she said "Well, less insecure." "Because I spend 50% of the time qualifying my statements?" I just did that five sentences ago, didn't I? She also said I still don't write about certain things, and gave me a hard time for my hang-ups. It's simultaneously fun and disturbing when people you don't know that well seem to know all about you, in ways you wouldn't admit to yourself. Anyway, nice meeting her. About how I expected her to be. Her friends seemed nice, but I only really talked to one of them, and only for a bit.So I spent today, as I said before, trying to not spend any money. I was also trying very hard to not eat any cream cheese today, which has become a steady part of my diet in the past week. I failed, but ever so slightly. Though I did cook a big pasta dinner, shortly after which I was railroaded into going in on a pizza with the roommates. I got a call from Jen K around then, and she was just back from Philadelphia. She'd been sick for a while now, and it turns out that she'd had a pretty serious respiratory illness. She came over, finally making her first visit to my apartment, and I took the opportunity to show her all the stupid movies I've been making to amuse myself. We also watched Rushmore. Watching Rushmore again after seeing the Royal Tennenbaums really made me remember what a superior movie it is. And how fantastic Bill Murray is in the movie. He just captures the emptiness so well it's amazing. Jed and Dylan went down to Matt's to play Halo on his Xbox, which I'd spent a few hours doing after leaving the city last night. It was a lot of fun, but we were there until after 4:30, and I just knew I'd feel like shit about myself if I spent the evening playing video games. I'm really trying to cut that stuff out. So I'm glad Jen K came over. it was the perfect excuse to stay home. Sunday night is meant for hanging out and talking and watching movies anyway. So there you have it.
I've eaten too much again, and I'm feeling sort of thick. I noticed a little jiggle in the gut region yesterday. And the apartment is so dry. I'm getting rashes from the dryness, I think. it's very uncomfortable. But I'm scared to use the humidifier, because I haven't cleaned it, and I've been told you can get pretty sick if it's not clean, since your basically, propelling all sorts of crap into the air. Wet air. Which you then breath in. and it infects you. And that's not good. So given the choice being lazy and dry, or well moisturized and sick, we'll take lazy and dry.
Another thing- when I was talking to Jen K. the other day I, I posed a hypothetical for her: Would you rather have sex with a homeless person, or kill a homeless person. I think this is a pretty good question. So I've been asking everyone i meet. I think it's a tougher question for girls, on both sides. Sex, in general, would be more of a violation. And girls are less inclined to kill. Most people I think have picked sex. Then I up the stakes and say the person is pocked marked and covered in open sores and lesions. Then it quickly changes to "I'd kill." Jed was not hesitant to say he would rather kill. Then he posed his own question: Would you rather buy a homeless person a cup of coffee and a bowl of soup, or kill a homeless person. Rodzilla usually refuses to participate in these sorts of sick stupid hypotheticals, so I was pleased to hear her thoughts on how she would prefer to kill a homeless person.
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