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A very Merry Un-birthday
08 November 2001
4 11:18

Today is Dave Lewis's birthday. I haven't seen him in about 10 years. I wonder where he is and what he's up to. I can't seem to track him down past his grad work at Notre Dame. If I did, it would probably be for all the wrong reasons anyway.

Yesterday was my birthday. Now, we are 26. Mom & Dad both called in the morning. Unfortunately, they also called at almost exactly the same time, so I had to call Dad back (I was already on the phone with Mom). Nothing really special happened at work, though Mary stopped by for a visit. I could still totally have a crush on her. At lunch, at Educated Burgher, a random homeless man walked in and sat down at my table. I said he could have some of my fries. I was hoping for some deep, meaningful message from the Powers That Be in return, but alas, this was not forthcoming. His silence made me uncomfortable, so I excused myself and changed tables, whereupon he left. The guy sitting across from me (who I later learned works for a program called "Help the Homeless") saw the whole thing happen, said I handled it well, and got on his cell phone to get in touch with someone who could get the guy some treatment, as he was obviously not quite playing with a full deck. Maybe it was just a small test: "Okay, Ray, are you practicing what you preach? Can you love your neighbor just a little bit?" The answer was yes, but only up to a certain point. (I was not so kind to the fellow who interrupted my post-dinner conversation with Brent on the street.) I'm just not that good. I had dinner with Brent at Rainbow Cafe, where I hadn't eaten in ages. Brent is cool and smart; I desire more of his company. He's also wickedly sexy, but I am a solid but somewhat twinky fellow, and he is a beefy muscle boy, and (perhaps consequently) he digs the hard-hitting built boys, which I am not, so I don't think that will blossom into much other than a friendship. *sigh* But I did go to the gym this morning. I'm going to hurt tomorrow, but I guess it's step one of a journey I need to take. After dinner, I went to Blockbuster (rented The House of Yes (Parker Posey: weird and beautiful), Driven (I was in college with Kip Pardue, so I enjoy the ambivalence I feel when I see him in usually rather floppy movies), The Way of the Gun (been meaning to see it for ages now), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (the one with Calista Flockhart; I heard it was really good)), then went home, poured myself some Southern Comfort on ice, had a little smoke, and watched Law & Order, before recommencing answering the phone to talk to Peter (who now wants to go to Vegas every 3 months; I find this frightening) and Matt (about whom I'm conflicted, so I'm not going into it right now). And then, I fell asleep.

This morning, on the way into the office (surprisingly close to "on time"), I was enraptured by the shade of yellow that this one tree in the middle of the Green had adopted. I don't even really like yellow that much, but in the sunlight, the way it was blended with leftover bits of light green, and the encroaching deeper oranges of some of the leaves made the whole thing look just electric. So I sat down on a park bench and stared for awhile at the tree and the sky and the still-visible moon. And the clock on the Town Hall struck nine, and I continued on my merry way...

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