1:11 am - Tue 9/9/03
Wahoos, Kathy B., And My Two Fabulous Hosts

From The "Book Journal":

(11:40 am. About to go to Clara's with Jane to have lunch with Kathy B., a person I've know casually forever, but have really only become friends with since starting the Diaryland thing and moving out to L.A..)

I feel guilty about how I left things in my last entry. It was late, I was tired, and I hope I didn't create the wrong impression--The wedding was lovely, and I was more than a little moved; the reception, on the other hand, didn't work out quite as well for me.

One nice thing that happened at the reception--A handsome young blonde guy got my attention at one point, said he'd overheard me talking about the HBO commercial, and told me how cool he thought it was.

We introduced ourselves, and I asked what he did for a living; he told me he "didn't do much of anything", at least not anything he really cared about, but he wanted to be a writer.

Prefacing my next comment by saying "I know nothing about nothing"--which is true-- I did give him the one piece of good advice I thought I had to offer: Do it now, because it will never get any easier.

We talked for awhile, and to be honest, I was a little surprised at myself; sure, I talked about the HBO thing and my life in L.A. and all that--talking about Jim is kind of my gift, after all--but I also spent a good amount of time and energy trying to "pump him up" about taking his own risk.

(Good luck John. I hope you'll think of me when your first novel is published...)

Sunday morning, there was a fancy post-wedding brunch at Bill and David's "House Beautiful" digs on Genesee St. (Bill is Jane's ex, and Emily's father; David is his "life partner").

Their home is decorated to the eyeteeth with lovely furnishings, and all kind of pictures, knickknacks, geegaws, and assorted "objets d'art" (sp?); while I can appreciate the effort involved, it all seemed...a bit much to me (Basically, it's a "gay aesthetic", which is just not my aesthetic. And if you've ever seen the way I live, you have to be having a really good laugh right about now, because if I can be said to have anything resembling an "aesthetic", it's "New York Tenement").

(1:40 a.m.)

The brunch was very nice--the food and drink highlights being a punchbowl of mimosas, Jane's "strata" (I don't know what all was in it, but it was good), and locally created pastries called "wahoos" (flaky, open-faced pastries with a cream-cheese-and-fruit filling. You know the "no one can eat just one" line about the potato chips? this is more like "No one can eat just five or six"!)--and I had a nice conversation with Shaia (?), one of Emily's two bridesmaids (She works for a non-profit that helps foster kids transition into independent living when they turn 18. As you can imagine, we had some stuff to talk about there!).

But I kind of had the same "downward spiral" I experienced at the wedding/reception; Emily and Chad started opening the gifts, and I was so bored my teeth started falling asleep (For one thing, they weren't my gifts. For another, most household items hold no intrinsic interest for me). I'd gotten about three hours of sleep, I was full of wahoos and mimosas, and I would have killed for the chance to just lie down and sleep.

(For the record, I bought them a silver wall clock. They seemed pleased.)

Then, led by Teddy and his cousin Ryan, a group of some of the younger people adjurned to a computer, and brought up some of the funniest sites I've ever seen on the web (If you haven't checked them out already, Google "Star Wars Kid", "Burger King Guy", "Dear Penis", and "Bang Bang Bang". I was crying, I was laughing so hard!).

Then, as things were sort of breaking up, I had an enjoyable time talking about the movie Capturing The Friedmans with Mark and Jane's nephew Chip, who at one time was "The Playboy Advisor" (Which I think is pretty damned cool).

So actually, unlike the wedding/reception, where I really felt miserable at evening's end, I just sort of had a "dip in the middle" at brunch.

And speaking of meals...

Other than screwing up and going to Clara's an hour early, I thought lunch with Kathy B. was a big success (And while I felt bad for wasting Jane's time--I might be on vacation, but she's not--it did provide an opportunity to see a little more of downtown, which was fun, and to hit an atm, where I got some much-needed cash).

When we got back to Clara's at 1:00, I was initially afraid that Kathy and Jane were going to talk about kids and family stuff for two hours and I was going to spend the time desperately trying to find my way into the conversation, but the talk segued from that stuff to Boomers (The show Kathy just finished working on as A.D), movies, my job woes, and a host of other topics.

I remembered Kathy as being fun and funny in person, and I've certainly enjoyed striking up an email correspondence with her, but today somehow "sealed the deal" for me, even though the "deal" didn't really need to be sealed; I found myself hoping that I've made another lifelong friend.

Called Schulers today, and talked to Mary Ellen; lunch is on for 1:30 tomorrow, then my "gig"--did I mention I have a storytime gig?--is at 7:00.

I'm kind of nervous about it. Not so much "performance anxiety"--I'm doing Robert Munsch stories, which I could do in my sleep at this point--as a fear that no one will show up and we'll all be embarrassed and uncomfortable.

But it'll be what it'll be. Can't "control and predict" that.

Talked to Angela F. before she got M.E. on the phone, and she suggested that, if I'd like to, she and her husband Mark would like to have me stay over tomorrow, to chat and see their little girl, Sylvie, who I've never met (She was born after I left for L.A.).

Not exactly sure why, but I was a little shy about bringing this up with Mark and Jane.

Jane said something the first or second night I was here that echoed my own sentiments exactly, something to the effect that "This doesn't seem special; it just feels like you've never been away...".

In ways, it feels very much as if I've been away, and for quite some time, but not with her and Mark.

If I start crying about not having "family" in here sometime, could someone remind me about those two...? I sure don't deserve them, but lucky me, I've got them anyway.

Well, I could go on--I'm really not kidding about that--but tomorrow's going to be a sort of full day for me, so I should try to at least take a shot at getting a good night's sleep.

Nitey nite y'all...

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