April 14th, 2002. Sunday
 

    This is just about the first moment I've really had to myself all day.  And it's 12:45 am.  So really, I didn't really have a real moment all day Sunday to just sit around and relax by myself.  And I missed it.  Events leading up to this moment;
    Well, on Wednesday night, the night of my birthday, I went to dinner with brother Geoff.  We dined down at Blue Ribbon, an expensive seafood place on 5th ave in Brooklyn, next to Great Lakes.  The food was terribly expensive, but Geoff didn't seem to mind. So I had the two pound lobster, some wine, and the smoked fish plate appetizer.  So we came back to my apartment, watched some of the Phillies game, and then Geoff had to go to back to work.
    The plan for the evening was to go down to Great Lakes and get adequately vershnookered.  I'd told the upstairs neighbors a few days ago about the going out for drinks, so I went upstairs, collected Morning and Rachel, and the three of us and Jed took a car down to the Lakes.  Caryn and Nate were already there, and Phoebe showed up not too much later.  Followed by Matt and Caryn's friend Marian.  I don't really like celebrating my birthday that much. I mean, I like going out with my friends and all.  But I don't like people saying they want to buy me drinks or whatever because it's my birthday. It makes me sort of uncomfortable. I don't like that kind of attention.  Anyway, I thought the various factions of the group mixed well.  I spoke mostly with Rachel and Phoebe, because they were sitting on each side of me.  I like both of them more the more I hang out with them.
    I was going to put some pictures here from Great Lakes, but after looking over them, every single person looks positively awful, so I'll withhold the pictures, which is in everyone's best interest.
    So I got the day off from work on Thursday, in anticipation of the Wednesday night revelry.  So as it turned out, I was able to go take a fact-checking test at Spin, thanks to Caryn passing along my resume.  First I had lunch with Caryn and Phoebe.  I had a terribly bland egg salad. It was actually the smell of rotting something in the street that made me want egg salad. It smelled awful, and I remarked that it smelled kind of like eggs. Then I thought, hey, egg salad sounds good.  So then I took the test.  I'm not sure how I did. We'll see.  The only interesting thing to report was that the head of the research department said "It was very nice meeting you" after I finished the test.  I'd met her at least twice before, and was even at her house warming party in Park Slope last month.
    Caryn did also give me some transcribing work to do, which pays a nice 20 dollars an hour.  Plus, the interview tapes were with members of Weezer, so that was an added bonus, since I was pretty interested in what they had to say.  I probably owe Caryn some sort of kickback.
    Speaking of nice deeds by Caryn, in friday night we went to the Bowery Ballroom to catch Tanya Donelly, the former member of the Throwing Muses, Breeders, and Belly.  A favorite from way back.  So Caryn paid for my ticket as my birthday present.  The show was all right.  It was cool too see her play, but I wish I would have seen Belly play back in the mid-90's.  She doesn't rock anymore.  Though I did sort of get a little goosebumpy during the Belly song "Slow Dog."  As a side note, the show was the coldest and least smokey I've ever exeperienced at the Bowery Ballroom. It was so clear and temperate in there it was almost spooky.  It was actually chilly for a while.  I guess the Tanya Donelly fans are not a hard living crowd.  So then I came back to Brooklyn and went to the Lakes with Matt. Nothing eventful happened that I recall. We stood for a long time.
    Saturday was a beautiful day.  Matt and I spent a big chunk of it in the park playing frisbee golf.  We tried to explore the more secluded areas of the park, both to avoid hitting people and out of curiousity.  It's a big park. The single item found more than anything else was used condoms.  Prospect Park is a pretty hot spot for crusing gay men to find anonymous sexual partners.  Hey, that's cool.  None of my bidness.  Gay sex doesn't bother me.  Gay littering does. Ok, just littering. I just thought it'd be funny to say "gay littering."  Anyway, that's not exactly biodegradable.  It should be like taking your dog to poop: you do your business, and you pick that shit up and stick it in a baggy.  And some of these weren't in the most secluded areas either.  As Matt and I were playing, we encountered several solitary men, just standing or sitting around my themselves.  We weren't sure how many were crusing gay men and how many were simply hermitic nature enthusiastists.  Or both.  Wouldn't that be funny if a gay male spent so much time looking for gay lovers in the park that he just started getting really into foresty or botany or ornithology?  Wouldn't  it be even funnier if an ornithologist or horticulturist spent so much time in Prospect Park that he started getting really into gay sex?
    In the evening, we bought a bottle of Captain Morgan and drank it at Matt's apartment, then went to Great Lakes yet again.  I won't be going back there for a while.
    And then today, after getting a bagel, watching a few minutes of tv, and chatting with one of the upstairs neighbors, I had to go into Manhattan to take a guitar lesson. I had to cancel the lesson on Thursday because I was at Spin taking that test, so he made me schedule a make-up lesson.  I offered to just pay him for the Thursday lesson, but he preferred that I actually take the lessons. Fine then.  So I did. And it was all right.
    Then home, and more frisbee golf, this time with Josh as well as Matt. Josh won, fairly handily,  He wasn't dominating, just consistent.  Then I had to go back into the ciy. Jen from DC has been in town all week, and tonight was her last night here and her first real night of freedom.  So I met her at her room at the Waldorf Astoria.  I was really tired, and wasn't sure I wanted to go, but I was glad to see her. She looked really good. So we had a beer in her swanky hotel room, then walked along 2nd avenue looking for a place to eat.  We settled on a pub called Sutton Place, which had excellent bar food. Great burger and great fries.  And the bartender paid for our shots. I really had no business taking that shot of bourbon.  But Jen said she was buying me my meal, and insisted on taking a shot, mostly because we were both pooping out and she thought it'd help get us going. And for some reason, bourbon sounded pretty good. Not that I ever drink shots of Jack Daniel's.  It just felt like the right drink for some reason.  Anyway, We spent most of the time trading stories about similar experiences.  Some eerily similar. And now I've just remembered one of her stories, and it's fucking creeping me out.  But mostly, it was stuff like how we hate bugs.  Anyway, it's always nice to see her.  It's nice to talk to someone who never ever talks to any one of your friends.  So I can tell her just about anything.
    So here we are now. And my room is a mess, and it will not be cleaned, for I must sleep.