I rode the bus home from Providence on Saturday night, a day earlier than planned. There were only seven or eight passengers, each of us alone, with at least one row separating each of us and nobody sitting across the aisle from anyone else. We each had our own private bubble. We rode through the darkness along I-95 and it was like being in my own chauffered vehicle. It was wonderful. I ate a sub I’d bought beforehand, then I did a few crossword puzzles, and then, in the darkness, I listened to the last game of the World Series on my Walkman. It was the first time I’d ever listened to a sporting event on the radio and understood what was going on. I felt like

Mason Marzak in “Take Me Out.”

My experience in Providence was not quite what I’d expected. I went there to meet a guy I’d been chatting/talking with for the past two months; we met online in mid-August and had talked on the phone several times since then, and he’d invited me up to Providence to be his date at a dinner on Friday night, sponsored by his former workplace. He used to work at a Franciscan church, so there were several robed friars mingling with the rest of us in our suits and dresses during the cocktail hour. It was a bit surreal.

He was a nice guy, but I didn’t really feel like we clicked. I also met some of his friends, which was a little strange, considering that I’d just met him, too, really. And other than the Friday night dinner, we didn’t have any specific plans, so we kind of wandered around Providence and its outskirts aimlessly. On top of that, I wasn’t feeling all that well, and I was feeling introverted and moody, and I was dreading going back to work on Monday and felt like I wanted a day at home to relax. So I took an 8:00 bus home on Saturday night. He understood completely. We’ll probably stay in touch anyway.

This is all okay, really, because in the last few weeks I’ve gone out on a few dates with a certain someone, and I’ve been having a nice time with him.

In other news, my bank is being bought by Bank of America.

OK. This is too weird. When I was at school in Virginia, my bank was NationsBank. Then NationsBank bought Bank of America and took that name, so my bank became Bank of America. Then I moved back up to New Jersey, and in 2000 I joined Summit Bank. Less than a year later, Summit got bought by Fleet. And now Fleet has been bought by Bank of America. So I’m going back to Bank of America. It’s like I’m caught in this huge banking vortex and I can’t escape. A friend of mine in the banking industry says that someday there’s just going to be Bank of Earth and that’s going to be the end of it.

Incidentally, this site lets you look up any bank, current or defunct, and see what has happened to it. Kinda cool (though it seems to be having some trouble right now).
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