Treats

For some reason, my new phone line is already working, so I’m able to tool around on the Internet tonight.

Also, inexplicably, I have cable TV, even though the cable isn’t supposed to be turned on until Saturday. This is glorious. For one thing, it’s the first time that this particular TV set has been hooked up to cable since June 1998. For another thing, this is the first time I’ve both had cable TV and lived alone since May 1997. It’s been four years since I’ve been able to watch cable TV in the privacy of my own home! Amazing! Did you know you can watch the news 24 hours a day? And you can watch movies? And there’s this show with these four foul-mouthed kids made out of construction paper?

Tonight I sat and ate a microwave dinner and watched “The West Wing” with such great clarity of picture. In my old apartment I didn’t have cable and I got rotten reception for the TV channels I did have. And as I watched tonight, you know what I heard from the street? Nothing! And my windows were open so I wouldn’t inhale paint fumes! It was wonderful.

Last night I had dinner with the Piano Man. He just got back from vacation on Monday night, so this was our first time seeing each other in two weeks. We went to a Ukranian diner on 2nd Avenue called Vasilka or something like that. I’m sure you East Villagey people know where it is and how it’s really spelled. Me, I’m having a rare moment of orthographic distress. (Which has nothing to do with birds.)

We had a really nice time. I’d forgotten about his sense of humor. It’s very dry and deadpan, and I like it. We sat down to eat, and the first thing he did was pick up the enormous menu and open it, intentionally blocking out his entire face. Trust me, it was funny. I guess you had to be there.

And, even though I’m Jewish, last night’s dinner was only my first borscht experience.

Anyway, it was a nice evening. And I’m seeing him again on Saturday night.

I’m trying to pace it here. I can’t tell whether I’m worried about him moving too quickly or me moving too quickly. A little bit of both, I think. I mean, my life is kind of nice right now, being able to go online or go to a bar and meet people and have sloppy sex with them. I wonder if I want to lose that.

But anyway, I’m going to move slowly, and I’m going to do what feels natural. Even if those goals are contradictory.

In other news, I was thinking about the other night — my paranoia about Wes and TRHG possibly getting together. After I wrote Monday’s night’s entry, I thought to myself, maybe I did something good. I mean, in a way I threw a little party. And what’s the thrill inherent in hosting a party? Bringing disparate people together. Being responsible for their meeting each other. You have Power. You are The Host. You Bring People Closer. So if Wes and TRHG wind up having a night of sloppy sex, or several nights of sloppy sex, or if they wind up becoming friends — then it will have been my doing. I will have been responsible for bringing some more happiness into the world. I will have increased humanity’s collective happiness quotient. And that’s a good thing. See, the happiness pie isn’t finite. One person’s happiness (or two people’s happiness) doesn’t take away from another person’s happiness. Rather, if one person become happier, we all become happier.

Unless your idea of happiness is sending anthrax through the mail. Then we’re all very unhappy.

Tonight I’ve continued to set up my apartment. I’ve found the right place for my bookshelves, I’ve cleaned most of the kitchen, all the boxes are in the appropriate rooms and just need to be unpacked (mostly books and CDs). And right now I have some underwear in the dryer. Isn’t that fascinating? I know, my life’s a thrill. Unfortunately, the dryer is really, really slow. I’ve been trying to get those undershirts dry for at least two hours now. At this rate, my laundry will be done by Thanksgiving.

Oh yeah, it’s Halloween tonight, isn’t it.

On Halloween 1985, I won first prize in my fifth grade class for my costume. I went as the King of Diamonds. Yeah, the card. My mom made this costume for me out of two pieces of sandwich board. She drew the whole thing in painstaking detail. It was pretty amazing. It was a pain to wear, though, because whenever I walked, my knees would bang against the front of the card. Plus it was hard to carry that stupid plastic pumpkin full of candy.

If I seem like I’m rambling tonight, it’s because I’m trying to get in the habit of verbal diarrhea. See, I have to write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. That’s about 2,000 words a day, and that’s assuming I’m going to take very few days off. We’ll see if I can do it. Choire is doing it, too, as are some other people.

I know there seems to be a lot of Choire-love going on here lately, but I can just say how amazed I am at the man’s capacity to link? Where do you find these things? I’m envious. I miss the days when I could surf all over the crashing waves of the Web at work and find interesting blogs and links. I feel like I’ve been really derelict in reaching out to the blogging community lately; I feel like I’ve retreated into my own blog instead of surfing around and exploring other people’s sites. It would be nice to get back into that.

Anyway, I’m going to go check on my underwear again. Happy Hunting.