Okay, it�s been a long time since last I wrote, and I�m sorry about that. It�s not been for a lack of things to say, but more for a lack of time to sit down and say it. Plus, I was working last week at this place that HAD NO INTERNET, so my opportunities were even more restricted than usual. And can I just ask right now what the fuck is up with no internet? I totally thought I was going to pull a Shining in that office after about three hours. All work and no internet makes Dr. No...well, you get the idea.
I�m unemployed again, though, a fact I routinely greet with mixed emotions. I�m thrilled at having more time to read and relax, and paralyzed with fear at the prospect of, you know, abject poverty�but I�ve got other things coming up that I need the time off for anyway, so I suppose it�s just as well. Plus, I was working with this one dude who...okay, he was a nice guy? But he once asked me how to �spell the abbreviation for etcetera�. And he was fairly exemplary of the general level of thought put into the project as a whole.
They�d originally asked me to come in and work on Saturday, but it then turned out they didn�t have enough for me to do and so they canceled the request. I sort of figured that was coming when they took my equipment away halfway through the day on Thursday and, rather than sending me home, paid me to sit and read my book for four hours. They ended Thursday by telling us they might not actually have anything for us to do on Friday, but then they didn�t call to actually TELL me whether or not this was the case, so I came in anyway and sat around reading my book for the entire day. Whatever�if they want to pay me to read my book, I guess I�m cool with that.
I was really glad to have Saturday off. It was gloomy, but Ulrich and I drove up to Santa Barbara and went wine-tasting, which was a lot of fun. Of course, I got completely shitfaced and almost got bitten by an emu, but it was worth it. The countryside is so beautiful up there, and wine-tasting is one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon. Not for the shitfacing, but rather because it seems ironically sophisticated, and I do like me some wine. The problem with getting drunk while you�re tasting wine is that, well, pretty soon you can�t really taste the wine anymore. But that�s why God gave us Taco Bell.
Oh, and on a completely unrelated topic that I had wanted to write about last week, Ulrich and I went out to dinner last Thursday, and I was telling him about the weird dreams I�ve been having of my old friend Solitaire. We moved on from the topic and were talking about something else, when this couple got seated at the table right behind me. I happened to glance up in the middle of my sentence and recognized none other than Solitaire herself shrugging out of her coat. She didn�t see me, a fact for which I�m extremely grateful, because I was able to gracefully move to a different table without her noticing me.
Solitaire and I have not met face to face since sometime in 2000, when she was busy avoiding me because I was gay and her homophobic boyfriend didn�t like me anymore. Well, maybe that�s an overly simplistic explanation, but it�s the only one I have. Because she didn�t actually explain why she was suddenly avoiding me. Because explaining would mean having to stop avoiding me. She did eventually apologize for all the avoiding and the seeming judgment of my person, but she somehow managed to never find the time to see me again. She also managed to maybe somehow �lose� my phone numbers after I emailed them to her when she told me she was living in Los Angeles.
Oh well. It�s not like I couldn�t track her down if I really wanted to, but what the hell would I say? I mean, I had the golden opportunity�and one I�d pictured in my head a million times over�and I couldn�t think of a single thing. I�d love to just invite her out for drinks or dinner, but I also am not exactly all het up to get rejected yet again by someone whom I once counted my closest friend. So we snuck out of the restaurant, and I don�t think she saw me. Not that I�d know for certain, I guess. The perils of living in one of the most populous cities in the country.
Well, anyway, this entry is all choppy and stuff, and I�m sorry about that. I�ll try to form more cohesive and entertaining entries in the future, if you promise to let me know about potential job opportunities. Cool?
The Word Of The Week Is: Squinch. It�s a �corbeled arch or niche enabling an octagonal structure to sit on a square base.� Now you just have to look up �corbeled�, like I did. I�m Watching: Passions. I have literally watched six and a half hours of Passions today, and I think I might be high. I�m Reading: Art of the Middle Ages, by Janetta Rebold Benton. Hence the corbeled squinches.