1:29 am - Friday, Feb. 03, 2006
Would You Like To Play With Me?

Mon 1/30/06

One thing I feel the need to do in here that I didn�t need to do nearly as much in a private journal is justify myself.

I�d like to start moving away from that a little bit.

Last week I called John O, leaving a message on his voicemail, to let him know the Kitchen Academy (A cooking school right next to the ArcLight) is having three days next week where you can go in and enjoy some free food on them.

(Wednesday is a lunch menu, Thursday is a �Breakfast Buffet�, and Friday is �Cuisines of Asia�.)

For some reason, he�s not very good at responding back to phone inquiries�now I know�so today I followed up with an email (Which he typically does respond back to), to see if he wanted to get some free food Wednesday or Thursday, and follow it up with a free movie.

I also finally got around to calling Tim G. (From the bookstore).

A week ago this past Wednesday, I stopped by the bookstore after a free screening of The Squid and the Whale, just to see how he was doing.

He wasn�t working that night, and Phil told me that a few days previous, he�d given his notice (He told people he had a new job, but for some reason, he wouldn�t tell anyone what it was).

So anyway, today I called and left a message on his voicemail, congratulating him on making it out, inquiring about the new job (�I�m guessing an adult bookstore...�), and awkwardly inviting him to the movies sometime.

It does feel awkward, to basically ask another man out on a �play date�.

I wonder why that is...?

(END)

(Watching South Park, which would be on my list of \"Things I Enjoy In Life\", if I'd ever get around to writing a list of \"Things I Enjoy In Life\". But anyway...)

John O. emailed me back recently, to tell me that while he couldn't do the Kitchen Academy thing this week--He's going to be away on business in Palm Springs--he'd be up for getting together next week.

And I talked to Tim G. yesterday.

He's working with Joe--another former manager at the bookstore--in the security department at Cedar-Sinai (Joe basically got him in). He applied back when I was still at the bookstore, but first they lost his application, then there was some confusion with his background check, and long story short, it took nearly six months to get from \"initial application\" to \"first day on the job\".

But he's there, and he seems much happier; While I had my issues with David (The GM at the bookstore), they paled in comparison to Tim's out-and-out hatred of the man (Which makes sense, really--Most days, I didn't have to deal directly with David, but as part of \"management\", Tim could hardly avoid him). So just the fact that he's in a David-free environment seems to have brightened Tim's entire outlook.

During the course of our conversation, I brought up the idea of seeing a movie sometime (Though I doubt there's going to be much we'd both want to see until the summer movies start rolling out). He seemed up for that, so when he gets his dsl set up this weekend, he's going to call and let me know his new email address (Since he's currently working loads of overtime, and I work at night, and am on the computer most of the time when I'm at home, email would seem to be the communication mode of choice).

Another person I need to call/communicate with is Garrett P.

Garrett sent me a Xmas card, and wrote that \"It would be really enjoyable to see more of you next year than I did this year\" (Garrett and I first met at Schuler Books, back in Okemos, MI; now we're both out here, trying to make our dreams come true).

Garrett is a good guy, and the couple of times we have \"hung out\" the past couple years, I've enjoyed myself(Even though he's responsible for my seeing the worst movie I've seen while living here in L.A., and maybe one of the worst movies I've seen in the theater period, Reign Of Fire).

It can be tough to get together out here--coordinating schedules, dealing with traffic/parking, figuring out what you can do on the cheap, etc--and I think one thing Garrett and I have in common is a certain \"social passivity\". But now I've got the \"free movie\" thing going on, and Garrett's indicated a continued interest in my company, so the least I can do is give him a call--Do I still have his email address, I wonder?--and see if we can figure something out.

In terms of the opposite sex...

Teresa V., the woman I like from the ACG workshops, hasn't actually been to any of the workshops I've attended so far this year.

That's been a \"point of concern\"--Being the center of the world the way I am, I wondered if she was avoiding them in order to avoid me--but I asked Brett if he knew what the deal was, and he told me she'd called to say she was taking a stand-up comedy class.

And since she didn't have money for both the standup class and the ACG, she wouldn't be back at the ACG for a couple months.

Which kind of blew my big plan (Which basically consisted of being \"cool\" the next time I saw her at a workshop). So now I guess I have to call her again, and see if she really is \"always up for seeing a movie\".

(Frankly, I'm losing my taste for this particular venture. But I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't see it through to its--in all likelihood--disappointing conclusion.)

Communication with Christy stopped once I made it clear that asking her to the movies had little to do with the movies and everything to do with seeing her.

As I suspected it would.

And there aren't any \"fresh prospects\", really--I'm at least 20 years older than any of the girls at the ArcLight, and the only other \"age-appropriate\" woman I've felt any sparkage with at ACG is married--so for now, it looks like the long-term affair I've been having with my right hand will continue uninterrupted.

And on that note, I leave you.

previous - next