Tuesday, November 02, 2004
he left me with a smile...
...and more.
It was a busy, busy weekend for me. Between the film festival on Friday and Saturday, two Saturday Halloween parties with Sarriah and a Sunday Magic Castle visit (my second this month after a fifteen year hiatus) with Boychik and his family and friend, I spent the weekend trundling about Los Angeles in buses and cars, rolling suitcase and bag in hand. Looking, no doubt, a wee bit odd, but hey, had to transport my two changes of clothing, wench costume and various toiletries somehow.
Quick rundown: film festival - while kind of interesting, was mostly spent sitting, talking with other volunteers and drinking energy drinks; Halloween parties - first one, which was at a bar, was okay (Sarriah and I had been invited by NewYorkWriter) but not a lot of mingling was done by us and at one point I got furious at one of the bartenders because he just didn't seem to notice I was waiting for a couple of waters for myself and Sarriah, who was sick, for a good twenty minutes - poor NewYorkWriter and Sarriah bore the brunt of my ranting; second Halloween party was the annual one thrown by PythonMan and Summer'85Boy, which I had gone to last year and Sarriah and I were less than impressed - she was back in the car within ten minutes and I followed close behind; the Magic Castle on Sunday was fun enough, but there was a little family tension which is always a bit hard to deal with, even if it wasn't my family.
With all of this going on, what was my best outing? Dinner with TheFirst tonight (he suggested FirstDateGuy, but in the end I do rather like TheFirst - it just seems very appropriate somehow, because though we were not each other's first "time", we were each other's first date - and he definitely has a bit of evil in him).
We set it up a couple of weeks ago for him to stop by my workplace. We had dinner at one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants and coffee and dessert at the nearby Coffee Bean, with a bit of walking thrown in there for good measure. All of the e-mailing and IMing of the past few weeks continued apace in the conversation and laughter and smiles of the evening. On top of that he showed me all sorts of lovely pictures of his wife and children, causing me to grin like an idiot.
After a while he took me home, but before I could walk to my front door he called me to the back of his car (an Aztek, but I'll forgive him for that). As he opened the hatchback he started talking about missed birthdays and cards and such, then said that in the end he opted for something simple, whereupon he handed me a Fry's bag. I think I raised an eyebrow and peered inside. And what did I spy with my little eye?
A DVD player.
Yep, he gave me a DVD player.
I'm still stunned. I'm wondering how I somehow lucked into being the recipient of such generosity of spirit yet again. I believe I said the most singularly intelligent thing I've ever said to a person in thanks:
"Duuuuude! No way!"
How I managed to be more Valley than TheFirst - who's been in the Valley since he was eight, whereas I didn't show up until I was fifteen - is beyond me. I'm still cringing at that one.
We parted with a second hug, then off he went home.
Anywho, as lovely and very appreciated as the DVD player is, the best thing about the evening, and weekend, isn't that. It's just spending time with a pretty cool guy I hadn't seen in nearly 20 years. I can't say we picked up where we left off all those years ago, because we're not the same people we were then. I think we've achieved an ease we didn't have in our teen years. That is a very nice thing to have. As is my new, yet not-so-new, friend.
As I may have said before, cool people? Very good to have as friends. I think I'll keep him.
It was a busy, busy weekend for me. Between the film festival on Friday and Saturday, two Saturday Halloween parties with Sarriah and a Sunday Magic Castle visit (my second this month after a fifteen year hiatus) with Boychik and his family and friend, I spent the weekend trundling about Los Angeles in buses and cars, rolling suitcase and bag in hand. Looking, no doubt, a wee bit odd, but hey, had to transport my two changes of clothing, wench costume and various toiletries somehow.
Quick rundown: film festival - while kind of interesting, was mostly spent sitting, talking with other volunteers and drinking energy drinks; Halloween parties - first one, which was at a bar, was okay (Sarriah and I had been invited by NewYorkWriter) but not a lot of mingling was done by us and at one point I got furious at one of the bartenders because he just didn't seem to notice I was waiting for a couple of waters for myself and Sarriah, who was sick, for a good twenty minutes - poor NewYorkWriter and Sarriah bore the brunt of my ranting; second Halloween party was the annual one thrown by PythonMan and Summer'85Boy, which I had gone to last year and Sarriah and I were less than impressed - she was back in the car within ten minutes and I followed close behind; the Magic Castle on Sunday was fun enough, but there was a little family tension which is always a bit hard to deal with, even if it wasn't my family.
With all of this going on, what was my best outing? Dinner with TheFirst tonight (he suggested FirstDateGuy, but in the end I do rather like TheFirst - it just seems very appropriate somehow, because though we were not each other's first "time", we were each other's first date - and he definitely has a bit of evil in him).
We set it up a couple of weeks ago for him to stop by my workplace. We had dinner at one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants and coffee and dessert at the nearby Coffee Bean, with a bit of walking thrown in there for good measure. All of the e-mailing and IMing of the past few weeks continued apace in the conversation and laughter and smiles of the evening. On top of that he showed me all sorts of lovely pictures of his wife and children, causing me to grin like an idiot.
After a while he took me home, but before I could walk to my front door he called me to the back of his car (an Aztek, but I'll forgive him for that). As he opened the hatchback he started talking about missed birthdays and cards and such, then said that in the end he opted for something simple, whereupon he handed me a Fry's bag. I think I raised an eyebrow and peered inside. And what did I spy with my little eye?
A DVD player.
Yep, he gave me a DVD player.
I'm still stunned. I'm wondering how I somehow lucked into being the recipient of such generosity of spirit yet again. I believe I said the most singularly intelligent thing I've ever said to a person in thanks:
"Duuuuude! No way!"
How I managed to be more Valley than TheFirst - who's been in the Valley since he was eight, whereas I didn't show up until I was fifteen - is beyond me. I'm still cringing at that one.
We parted with a second hug, then off he went home.
Anywho, as lovely and very appreciated as the DVD player is, the best thing about the evening, and weekend, isn't that. It's just spending time with a pretty cool guy I hadn't seen in nearly 20 years. I can't say we picked up where we left off all those years ago, because we're not the same people we were then. I think we've achieved an ease we didn't have in our teen years. That is a very nice thing to have. As is my new, yet not-so-new, friend.
As I may have said before, cool people? Very good to have as friends. I think I'll keep him.
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