August

Two nights ago, I met David at a crepe place in Mt. Washington- cute place, nice food.

Yesterday morning I went to Sylvia's for a couple of hours. I tried to leave sooner, but she kept bringing up more topics and 45 minutes later, I was finally able to get out of there. Most of the topics were absolutely boring, but once in a while, she would start to discuss something interesting- too bad she changes topics every 2 minutes so the interesting topics were dropped before it got really interesting.

Last night I tried to have a quiet night in my room. Unfortunately, some kids on a lacrosse team were staying in the rooms all around me and were making A LOT of noise- screaming, playing lacrosse in the room, bouncing the balls off the walls... I called the front desk a few times and they quieted down for a few minutes but then got noisy again. Eventually, I fell asleep. I hope they're not going to be there the entire weekend. It would make sense if they check out today- play a game in Baltimore last night, spend the night, go home the next day- but I'm not holding my breath.

Kim finally returned my call on Wednesday (I called her last Thursday) and left a message about Friday being a good night to stop over. I called and left a message Wednesday night, but she hasn't called back yet. I probably won't be going over there tonight. I'll plan on going back to the hotel to try to have another quiet night of reading (since there are absolutely no good movies in the room- except for 2 that I've already seen, they're all action thrillers- so much for variety), and if she happens to call today, I guess I'll go visit, but she probably won't call. She's one of the 99.9% of unreliable people in this world.

I also called Eytan yesterday to see about getting together Saturday afternoon, but he hasn't called me back either. I'm not holding my breath for that call either. Terry's in town.

The office situation has still been obnoxious- worse, actually. I'm so glad I don't have to deal with this every day.

Jon and I are going to play tennis Sunday morning. I called him from the hotel phone, he has caller ID, and told me the number came up as Good Samaritan Hospital. Strange.

I'm really looking forward to going home. I've had enough of Baltimore.

I didn't go to Kim's on Friday night. She called that evening, and I told her I was too tired and we made plans for Sunday- she was having her family over for dinner and told me to join them. So Friday I had a somewhat relaxing evening at the hotel.

Saturday morning I got up and went to Arlington to visit Eytan (Terry left early in the morning). We went into Georgetown and hung out there for a while. It was really hot, so we spent most of the time indoors. I bought the OBC "Company" recording at Barnes and Noble- I was very impressed with their shows and jazz selection.

Then the trouble began:
I left Arlington at 4:30 to get to Bethesda for dinner at 5:30. I didn't want to go through DC since I always get lost there, so I decided to take the Capital Beltway around to Wisconsin Ave. I had a little trouble following the most confusing road signs I've ever seen, but I stopped in a shopping centre and a woman was able to give me very clear directions. I got back on 305 toward 495 and it was a parking lot! The traffic barely moved until I was over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. There was no accident, it wasn't raining (yet), and there was no construction. WHY WAS THERE SO MUCH TRAFFIC ON A SATURDAY EVENING?!?!?!?!?! By the time I got to New Hampshire Ave. on the Beltway, it started pouring. Fortunately, the traffic didn't slow down too much. I got off the Beltway and drove towards Bethesda. I was driving for a while and got scared that I wasn't on the right road or something since it said Rockville Pike, but Rockville Pike turns into Wisconsin and I saw a sign that said so soon after I got worried. I found the Hampton Lane (the road the restaurant was on) with no problem but could not find the restaurant. I found a shopping centre with a video store that was open and was going to ask directions in there. I tried to ask the guy behind the counter for directions in between customers, but he made me get in line (bastard). I asked the 2 people in line if they knew where the restaurant was and they didn't know. I KNOW the guy behind the counter heard my question, but he made me wait until he was finished with the other customers before answering my question (he did know the answer). I found a parking garage and stumbled into the restaurant over 2 hours after I left Eytan's. They were almost finished dinner.

After dinner, we all tried to get ice cream at some place that used to be nearby (I got a ride over with Neil, Maxine, & Abby), but the place was gone. So I tried to walk back to where my car was and couldn't find the road let alone the lot in which I parked. I got pissed off and didn't really want to get back in a car anyway, so I went to the Hyatt for a drink. They were HUGE drinks, and there were two somewhat interesting men at the bar I was talking to, so I ordered another one. I was rather drunk (probably more than I would normally be since I was so tired) so I called Daniel to see if I could hang out there for a little while until I sobered up. He was home and I found it with no problem (well, I did have a little problem with a curb- I fell up it and scraped my elbow). I hung out with Daniel and Naomi for a bit and then we started to watch the Muppet Show episodes he had on DVD. I made the mistake of lying down on the couch, and I fell asleep. I woke up several times throughout the night but not enough to realise where I was. When I woke up in the morning, I was a little confused. I left Daniel's at 6:30 and set out to find my car.

I walked down Wisconsin for an hour (stopping at Starbucks on the way since I was super tired and wanted some caffeine, plus I needed a bathroom). I still hadn't found Hampton Lane yet and I didn't remember passing a CVS, so I went in there to see if someone could tell me where I needed to go. No one did, so I looked at a map. The road was not on the map. Finally I called Paula and she told me I passed it and to turn around. I was also on the wrong side of the road and the side I was on had a different road name, that's why I missed it. She stayed on the phone with me (my battery was just about dead) until I found the garage.

I got to the garage and it was CLOSED!!!! If I wasn't on the phone with someone, I would have broken down and cried. I got off the phone with her, hoped I had enough juice in my battery, and called the number for emergency assisstance. Someone actually answered the phone and told me to ask the security guard in the building to let me in and if that didn't work, he could send someone out later to let me get my car out. Fortunately, this part was easy. The security guard let me in, I got my car, and I was back on the road in no time at all (thank goodness for that piece of luck).

By that time, it was 8:00, I was tired, still in my clothes from the day before, and was an hour away from where I was supposed to play tennis with Jon that morning. I decided to make a stop at Neil & Maxine's (so glad they were home) and called Jon to cancel (I'll play tennis one day). Instead, I spent the morning with Neil, Maxine, &Abby. Abby was a bundle of energy like usual- she danced and ran all over the new room in their house- she's adorable! I had a crappy lunch with rude service (a theme of the weekend but not worth writing about in here- lets just say, everywhere I went this weekend, the service was horrible) with Neil and then went back to the hotel. I was so exhausted, I called Kim and gave her a short version of why I couldn't make it to her house for dinner. I really wanted to go, but I just didn't want to get back in a car and keep my eyes open and deal with the family thing (too tired to make conversation). So I got in bed and watched TV and read the entire afternoon/evening/night.

I'm still tired now and I'm hoping I can use this next weekend to catch up on sleep. I can sleep an average of 4-5 hours a night for a bit, but I also need some catch up nights (I don't remember the last time I had a catch up night- maybe a month ago?).

Today was work in the new office. I was going to answer phones while everyone unpacked, but surprise surprise, Verizon didn't get the phones working properly. I stuck around for a while getting irritated with the employees there and then by 1:00, I decided it wasn't worth staying to answer non-existent phone calls. So now I'm at Kinkos writing this entry and checking my mail (I had quite a bit to catch up on).

Oh, I realised last night that I left some clothes at the Embassy Suites last week, so I called them this morning. Of course they didn't have them (I wasn't surprised). I'm a little upset since I really liked those 3 tops (and one was made by an old friend, so it's not replacable), but there's nothing I can do.

Tonight I'm going to pack (the remaining stuff that I do still have) and then meet Harvey for a snowball since I didn't really get to see him for the 2 weeks I was down here.

Tomorrow I go home!!!

I had an irritating second-to-last day in Baltimore trying to find a place for lunch. I looked around Timonium and couldn't find anything I wanted. Then I went to Mt. Washington and everything was closed on Mondays. So I went over to Cold Spring Lane to go to the Daily Grind- a good place for coffee and to sit for a while and read. They closed at 3:00 in the summer and it was 2:45. I went across the street to the bagel place which was open until 4:00, but they had no plain bagels and I really don't want a bagel with basil and sun-dried tomato or blueberries or cinnamon raisin. So I finally went to Loco Hombre and had a quasadilla and mango margarita while reading the fascinating "Mismeasure of Man".

Then I went back to the hotel to pack before meeting Harvey for a snowball. Our visit was very short- short ride to the place, short time eating the snowball, short ride back for a total of 20 minutes. But I did get to play him my favourite song from "Company" ("Getting Married Today").

I left Baltimore yesterday in August and arrived home in October (it really felt like a gorgeous Fall day yesterday). There was some traffic heading to the Lincoln Tunnel, and I found out why just before the tunnel- there was a horrible accient on the other side- a crane was picking up a completely smashed flat car- looked horrible- I've never seen anything like that close up.

So I got home, dropped off my stuff, and went to see "The Importance of Being Earnest". Then I had an hour before meeting Harvey and Paula (they took the train up yesterday morning) at Artisinal, so I went to Barnes and Noble and read Vancouver guidbooks. The woman at the cafe counter scared me a bit and then irritated me. She said in an alarming voice, "What's wrong with your eyes?" I got scared, thinking there was something really wrong and then she said, "Are they two different colours?" Geez, yes, they are two different colours. Then she said, "And it's black like that?" (or something like that). Yes, my left pupil is rather large, I was born that way, I told her. She wouldn't leave it alone and that started to irritate me. I haven't had a comment about my eyes like that since I was in elementary school. Usually if people have anything to say about my eyes it's usually something like, "Wow, you're eyes are two different colours- that's cool," or "Are your eyes naturally like that or do you have coloured contacts?"- this woman was a little too much and I was even more upset than I would normally be because she scared me at first- I really thought something happened to my eyes.

So Artisinal was wonderful as usual (the food, not the service). I really need to go back there and get some cheese to go.

Oh, I didn't exactly appreciate last week's Sex and the City. I mean, I guess I appreciated the warning about what Atlantic City will be like (and what it will be like getting there), but I sort of already knew that (although I had a little hope that maybe it changed a little), so I kind of was irritated getting shown in detail what I'll have to deal with in less than two weeks. Oh well, I'll be getting there really late on Friday night, will be working long days on Saturday and Sunday and will be leaving Sunday night, so I won't have too much free time there. I'll gamble (AKA give my money to a casino) a little, take a walk on the boardwalk until the tourists get in my way one too many times, and then go read or watch bad TV in my room (although I really had my fill of bad TV in the past 2 weeks- there's some really bad stuff out there right now, like Meet My Folks- I can't believe that's really a show).

I had a dream a few nights ago that I wished I could have finished (but the alarm woke me up and I really didn't have time to go back to sleep). I was in Amazon.com's retail store and Ricky (and maybe Larry) Sachs was there. I needed to pick up a roll of film. Then John and Joel were there and I wanted to show Joel my list of music to see if we had the same taste in music, but I woke up before I could get his reaction. Then last night I had a dream that I was at Paula and Harvey's house in their bedroom. Rebecca came in and told me that Troy had a gorgeous body. I was about to ask her how she knew what he looked like when Troy walked into the room naked.

I was going to go through my huge pile of mail today, but I think I'll save it for tomorrow instead.

I rented 2 movies today- "Wet Hot American Summer" (because I still kind of like Janeane Garofalo) and "Va Savoir" (because it sounded kind of interesting).

It's so nice to be back home! Even walking past all the idiots and flier hander outters, there were still some interesting looking and good looking people to look at and it was nice to see the Verizon truck gone from my street and see the building on 58th St. starting to go up.

I'm organising my email folders right now- feels great. At least I can do a little organising with my August even though most of it is getting taken up by work.

I also decided to break down and pay the $5/month to get more space for my site (since they never responded to my email about getting more than one account). The file manager looks different and might have some more useful stuff, but I haven't looked at it in detail yet. I'm excited.

Now I'm off to watch my movies.

Very strange dream last night. Of course I can't remember all the details now since I went back to sleep after I woke up from it, but this is what I remember. I was in a non-descript place and Terry was there. At least I thought it was Terry. It soon turned out to be Clayton (a guy from high school who Terry reminded me of when I first met him). Then Clayton left and Terry was there. I realised that the first guy I saw was a different Terry. I remember thinking that I never realised there were 3 guys who all looked and acted the same. Then I was in Phoenix finishing packing up my apartment. Brie was there and she was about to start packing. The place was a mess. That's all I remember now. Why are so many people from my past in my dreams recently? Am I living in the past too much? I'm not thinking about these people during the day though. I don't know.

I woke up singing "Poor Baby" from "Company". My shower has a leak. The maintenance guy rang my doorbell accidentally this morning so I told him about it and he said he would deal with it later. I hope he remembers. And I also just realised the A/C isn't working in my bedroom. It's been so cool that I didn't realise it wasn't working. I guess I can call downstairs later to find out the number I'm supposed to call for maintenance if he doesn't show up today.

I hooked up my new phone and I love it except for the ring tone. There are 6 choices, and I don't like any of them. They are either too quiet (even with the volume turned up all the way) or too irritating.

I was half thinking about going to the theatre events around September 11. It's 4 events on 3 days (9, 10, 11). I really don't like all the events/memorials going on around that time, but this one sounded interesting. So many of my favourites are participating- Neil LaBute, Spalding Gray, Chris Noth, Mercedes Ruehl, Cynthia Nixon, Joel Gray, Stockard Channing... But they don't tell you which person is involved in which show and at $100 per show it's not worth it. That's fine, I really didn't want to go out and deal with all that stuff around that week anyway.

I can't believe it's almost been a year. It seems like 5 months at the most. Time goes way too quickly (yeah, like that's the first time I'm mentioning that). It finally started to sound almost like history about a month or 2 ago and now it's all in your face again. The media and most of the country just won't let it go. I don't know if I wrote about this, but when I was in Baltimore, I went for a drink at the Hunt Valley Marriott (since they have a better bar than anything else around there), and there was a man from Philadelphia who, when he found out I lived in New York, asked me a zillion questions about where I was that day. It was like it had just happened. I told him I didn't want to talk about it and he wouldn't drop it. I just quickly finished my drink and left.

And this patriotism has gotten ridiculous. I have to admit, I felt the need to be patriotic the first few months, but by now I'm sick of it. Not that I'm anti-American, I just don't feel the need to have it in the forefront of my life. I watched a lot of TV while I was in Baltimore and saw the promotions for the new Fall shows. So many of them are feel-good/American/family-oriented shows. And what's popular on Broadway? "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and the child-friendly "Into the Woods". But I don't see this trend in our movies. All the movies out recently have been action-thrillers.

As for my travel plans for the end of the month, I decided to just take the train down and take taxis and possibly have people give me rides to and from the hotel. I know most of those people hate doing favours, but I'm assuming when it's really late at night and it's impossible to get a taxi in Baltimore County at any hour, they'll give me a ride back to my hotel. The car rental situation was just ridiculous all around. I checked in Manhattan, Newark Airport, BWI, and Towson and the cheapest I found was $67/day not including insurance (and that was at some place I'd never heard of in Brooklyn).

Now I'm going to call Academy Bus for the Atlantic City trip and then go through the Mt. Kilimanjaro-sized pile of mail on my table.

Oh, also tomorrow I'm going to look at an apartment for Robyn (woman I met last year from Vancouver who is moving here next month). The apartment is only a 5 minute walk from mine- very convenient. And she really likes the woman who would be her roommate. I hope the place looks nice and it will work out for her. I'd love to have a friend within walking distance. And the woman living there is a medical scientist- I'd love to be able to ask her questions! One day, I'd love to talk to Kristin more about her work. All I know is that she's a chemist. I don't know anything about the company for which she works. I'd love to know more about what she does. I love scientists!

And after I look at the apartment for Robyn, I'm going to go up to 86th & 3rd, since I learned Academy Bus has buses that leave from there to go to Atlantic City. I called the number listed on their website and the guy who answered said I had to go up there to get a schedule. Fine with me. I'm always happy to avoid Port Authority, especially late at night.

Today has been a good day.

I went to go see the apartment for Robyn, and WOW!! I'm so envious that she has the opportunity to live there! The views are absolutely amazing. When I saw the address, I thought, what are the odds that the apartment will actually have a river view? I mean, there are 3 other sides to a building. But not only does she have a river view, it's a corner apartment, so there is also views of Manhattan. What an amazing place to be!! The apartment was new, clean, and large. I told her that there's a slim chance she'll find anything better and that she should take it. I wish I could move in instead! Wow! Well, if she does move in, at least I can come visit.

Then I picked up a few things at the food store and came home to go through my mail. That never takes as long as I think it will, and I really shouldn't dread it as much as I tend to do these days. The worst part is trying to find a place to keep things I'll need in the near future (like tickets to shows, the jury duty notice, services I need to cancel before the end of the month...) and remembering to look at that stuff before the expiration date.

This morning I had been emailing this woman who posted something on Craigslist a while ago about wanting to find people with whom to go to the theatre. I emailed her about that a while ago and forgot all about it. She wrote back a few days ago, so we've been trying to find something to go see. I told her I get free tickets to a lot of stuff (mostly comedy clubs these days) and that interested her. Long story short, we're going to see Chicago City Limits tonight and first we're having dinner at Angels up the street. So not only do I get to do something fun tonight, I get to do something fun within walking distance of my apartment (that's extremely rare). And the other good thing about tonight is that dinner's at 9:00 and the show at 10:30- my kind of hours!

And another thing I found on Craigslist is an East Village lunch/brunch group. They meet on Wednesdays and Sundays. So I was thinking about going down there this Sunday just to check it out.

The bad news of the day is that Paula's had a really tough week. Moving is hard enough without all the things going wrong (problems with Verizon, the people who installed the locks, the elecriticity guy, the alarm people, the people doing their new stationery not to mention the problems they've been having with their website host- I've been telling them to get a new host for a while now and they're finally going to do that after they finish settling into the new office). It's really ridiculous and I feel terribly and wish I could do something to help. But there is just no such thing as customer service anymore; it's customer lack-of-service that we're getting these days. No one seems to be immune to this situation. At least once a week I hear a story about furniture not being delivered ontime, phone companies not showing up when they're supposed to, the DMV suspending licenses for no reason, Internet servers being down for lengthy periods of time... I'm wondering when enough people will get mad enough to do something about it. I have a bad feeling though, that it's still going to get worse before it gets better.

Oh, when walking back this afternoon from the apartment Robyn will hopefully be moving into, I passed by some filming going on outside the Sutton Theatre. Typical me had no idea who it was or what it was for but it looked like a big deal. If I didn't have bags of groceries, I would have stuck around a few minutes to see what was going on and maybe ask someone what it was.

When gay boys grow up and become gay men, do they all move to the Upper East Side? I saw more gay men on First Ave. last night than I've seen in an Ethan Allen store on a sale day.

Last night was fun. I met Jennifer at Angels and we got along pretty well. She's from Louisiana and now lives in Park Slope- she moved here a couple years ago for a publishing job after living in DC for 6 years. She's kind of quirky and has a dry sense of humour. After dinner, we headed over to Chicago City Limits. The show was okay. It had its moments but wasn't amazingly funny. Oh well, at least it was free. She's going to the They Might Be Giants show in Central Park next Thursday, and I think I'm going to try to go as well.

My shower and A/C got fixed yesterday, but now I'm having other problems. My cable modem has been down since I got back last night and is still having problems now. Last night the guy said it shouldn't be more than 30 minutes (yeah right). This morning they said to call back this afternoon if it still wasn't working. This afternoon I called, and the guy said the problem was clear and I should just restart my computer and modem. I did that and it still wasn't working. I called back and the woman said there was still a problem and to call back later this evening if it still wasn't working. I HATE RCN!!!

So I read a little this morning and then went out to pick up my pictures that I dropped off a few days ago. I waited a while for the elevator and the down light kept going off and I had to press it again a few times. It finally showed up and someone else got on a few floors down. Then the door wouldn't close for a few minutes. It finally closed but then stopped at the next floor. After 2 more floors of this, I just got off and walked down the rest of the way and the other woman followed. Then on my way to CVS, there was a Con Edison truck doing work on 57th St. Ugh, I finally got rid of the Verizon truck and now this. At least there wasn't a problem with my pictures. Some of them are even look nice (especially the ones of the East River- it doesn't look realistic at all).

Neil called a little while ago and told me that Maureen had to go open the office because Harvey's key didn't work. How did some of the keys work and some did not? If you cut keys, shouldn't they all be cut the same way?

Is this country just breaking down completely? It seems like nothing works anymore.

If I still can't get online by 6:00, I think I'm going to go out and rent a few movies. Paula keeps trying to get me to watch "Peter's Friends", so maybe I'll see if they have that one (though they probably don't).

I did go out and rent some movies, but I didn't bother looking for "Peter's Friends" (wasn't in the mood). I decided on "Shipping News" and "Kate & Leopold".

I'm still thinking about going to brunch tomorrow. I'll decide when I wake up if I really feel like doing that.

I'm not going to the brunch. I know this is mostly presumption, but I really think most of the people there will just be in a different place in their lives than me, a different wavelength. So I am not going to waste my energy and time going down there. This is the last day I have to relax for a while and I'm going to take advantage of it. I'll watch "Shipping News", colour my hair, maybe read a little, maybe put some more pictures up on the site now that I have more space, work out, watch Sex and the City and try to go to bed early since I have to get up super early for jury duty tomorrow.

Robyn is going to take the apartment near me! I'll have a friend within walking distance- how exciting!

Not much else to say today.

I'm exhausted!

Last night I was so good and got in bed at 10:30 after having a drink while watching SatC (which, I think, was my least favourite episode). I was lying in bed for a few hours getting more and more angry with myself as it got later and later. By midnight, I was in tears. I wasn't really crying, but I was trying to force myself to cry. And I wanted to cry for silly things that didn't need to be thought about then since it felt better crying about that than crying about not being able to fall asleep. So I got up and got online for an hour or so. I got back in bed around 1:30 and finally fell asleep around 3:00. Getting up at 6:00 actually wasn't that difficult. That surprised me.

Got down to the courthouse and listened to the orientation stuff. Then we sat there from 10:00 to 12:30 waiting to see if we would be called. I really need to bring a more entertaining book tomorrow. While "Mismeasure of Man" is very interesting, it's a lot of information to digest and it's not something you can read non-stop all day. Anyway, no one was called by the time they told us we could go to lunch. As I was leaving the building, I recognised a girl who was in my theatre class last semester. I can't believe I actually recognised her. I mean, she is distictive looking, but still, so is Paul Shaeffer and I couldn't recognise him. Anyway, she lives nearby so she was going home to take a nap. I had a quick lunch in Little Italy (I think tomorrow I'll do the Vietnamese place across the street from the courthouse).

It was extremely hot today and the courthouse's air conditioning wasn't working too well. Between the fact that I got very little sleep last night and the fact that it's very boring sitting and doing nothing and the warm room we had to be in all day, I almost fell asleep a few times sitting there. That made me feel even worse. I am NOT looking forward to tomorrow. The only thing I can hope for is to be called by the guy to go get asked questions by the lawyers; at least that will break the monotony.

I was going to go up to the grocery store on 86th St to see about the bus schedule to Atlantic City, but I was just too tired. Hopefully I'll be slightly more awake tomorrow. Even if I'm not, I'll have to go. Although, I guess I could just show up Friday evening and just wait until the bus comes. Yeah, maybe I will just do that.

I hope I have good enough clothes for Atlantic City. I should have looked into that this weekend, but I forgot. Oh well, I'll scrounge up something. Then I need to make sure I have the clothes I need for the end of the month, but I have time to worry about that.

And before I leave for Atlantic City, I need to make sure the apartment looks okay for Jon and Michelle. I told him a while ago he could stay with me that weekend and I didn't want to cancel on him just because I'll be in Atlantic City. I'm not entirely comfortable with people staying here when I'm not, but I'll just have to get over that and hope that they don't go through my stuff.

Oh, and I keep meaning to get the mail (haven't gotten it since last Tuesday when I got back, and that didn't even include Tuesday's mail) but keep forgetting. Not good. It's probably all shoved into that tiny box which makes it hard getting it out. I remembered to do it today, but the mail person was there and she gets angry if you try to get your mail while she's putting the mail in the boxes. Now I'm too tired to bother going down there to get it (plus I don't want to talk to creepy doorman). I'll just get it tomorrow. I'm sure the box is already too full; what's one more day?

I think if I get in bed before 9:00, I might not have trouble falling asleep tonight. That's my goal, anyway.

I wrote this at 7:00 AM:
I had several dreams last night:
The first one was something about Terry and driving with him to Harvey and Paula's house. I remember having interesting conversations with him but don't remember what they were about. That was the first dream I had so it's the most hazy.
The next one: I took Paula and Harvey's regular phone with me on the drive back home. Somehow I was able to still use it even as I was heading up 95. I only stopped using it when I saw a cop car and thought I'd get in trouble. Well, I did sort of get in trouble. I pulled over without him asking me to and he gave me a ticket for driving without a seatbelt. I only took it off for a second to throw the phone away and that's when he saw me. The ticket was a fine plus I had to get the seatbelt fixed. I told him it was a rental. Then the dream jumped to Stephanie Podolny's house. I asked to use her bathroom and she pointed the way. The toilet was being used to wash clothes. I went to the second bathroom (somehow I knew where all the bathrooms were) and it was the same situation. Oh, by this point I wasn't wearing any pants and there were several people in the house- I think someone was having a big house party. Then I think it was Emily King's house. Then I still couldn't find an available bathroom, but I ran into Joan in the hallway of Kim & Dana's old house and I asked her where the bathroom was (even though I knew). Fortunately, it was free and no one was washing clothes in the toilet.
The last dream I also don't remember the details of anymore. I was with Rebecca, Kristin, and Christina and we were doing some kind of weird choreography on the floor to "Johnny Can't Decide" from "Tick, Tick... Boom!". Rebecca didn't really know what she was doing and was embarrassed. There were several people around encouraging us to keep doing this. That's all I remember now- I hit the snooze button several times this morning and each time, some details of the dreams faded away. I'm surprised I actually remember parts of several dreams though; usually I only remember bits of the last one.

Anyway, now I'm singing "Johnny Can't Decide".

So, change of plans. I'm leaving for Atlantic City tomorrow.

Got down to jury duty today, and by 10:00, they called half of us- I was not included. So I had another day of sitting and reading. It is nice to catch up on reading, and I'll be doing even more of that in AC- what else is there to do at night besides gamble for a few minutes? Then at 3:30, they told us we were dismissed and handed out the proof of service notices. So to save Mike a trip (he hates being away from home and being a work thing makes it 20 times as worse). So, I'm leaving tomorrow as soon as I finish everything I need to do here and will be there until Sunday evening. If only I could read during the day at the convention centre. Actually though, the thing that is bothering me most is that I'm expected to wear nice shoes. Well, I tried to do that yesterday for the first day of jury duty and by noon, my feet were killing me. They are red in the places where the shoes dig into them and walking in them is nearly impossible. I was told to soak my feet in Epsom salt. Guess I'll have to pick some up tomorrow- one more thing I don't really have time for. I don't even know where to get it; I'm assuming Duane Reade will have it though.

So, before tomorrow afternoon/evening, I have to get epsom salt, stop by the bank, pay some bills, organise a few things, clean up the apartment enough so I'll feel comfortable with Jon and Michelle here, check with Amtrak to see what's going to happen with my Acela reservations for the end of the month (although there's really nothing I can do about it except maybe arrive a day earlier by regular train since I don't trust them to be on time and I can't afford to be late if I arrived the day I need to start working, in which case, I have to pray that the Sheraton has a room available the previous night), and pack. I hope I'm not forgetting anything. And when I get back I really have to take a look at my finances to see how much I really have available to see how much (if at all) I'll have to work the next few months.

Oh, the other thing that is going to be somewhat of a problem is that I don't have enough summer business clothes. I had this same problem in Hong Kong last summer and the problem has not been solved. So I'll be wearing the same 2 outfits the entire time. I actually did stop by Barami the other day but couldn't find anything I liked. Maybe I'll find something when I get back from Atlantic City (if stores still have summer business clothes). Then I could have something different for the end of the month in Baltimore (although, I can be slightly more casual then).

When I got home, I was a bit stressed about all this. Although, it was only because it was a quick change of plans, it's really not that big of a deal. But anyway, I was a bit stressed when I got home and was taking a rushed shower while thinking about everything at once. I put the conditioner on my hair and then poured some soap on my hands to wash my face. I forgot I already put the conditioner in my hair, and I started putting the soap in my hair. It felt funny, and then I realised what I was doing. I've never done that in my life. I calmed down after that.

Okay, enough writing. Time to go deal with some email, order dinner, and then start cleaning up this place.

Wow! I actually got to talk to a reservations agent and managed to change my reservation to a day earlier. She told me the train leaves at 11:00 and gets in at 1:09. Sounds kind of impossible since only the Acela could have done the trip that quickly (not that it ever did, it was always delayed and went slow enough to cause the arrival time to really be later than the scheduled time). So maybe they think they'll have the Acela up and running by then? I don't know. All I know is that I plan on it being delayed and slow and not getting in until around 2:00 or even 3:00. But that's fine since I don't have to work until Thursday. It's better to be early and spend an extra night in a hotel than to be late on Thursday due to Amtrak problems and be late for work (especially since I'll be relying on a cab to get me to the office)- that would not be good.

And I decided I'd rather rest tonight and leave after rush hour tomorrow evening rather than rush around tonight and tomorrow to try to leave by 3:00 and have more rest time in AC. I need the rest now and I have a lot to get done and don't want to rush and forget something. I can rest on the bus tomorrow evening and maybe do the gamble-and-get-free-alcohol thing tomorrow night so I can fall asleep more quickly. I know that's a horrible way to try to get sleep and the sleep you have after drinking is worse than when you're sober, but I'd rather do that tomorrow night than toss and turn for hours and get mad at myself for not falling asleep. It's not like I make a habit of it.

Oh, and I found out that I'll be attending a cocktail party Friday evening. Of course I don't have anything really appropriate to wear (something else I should work on one day when I have free time- in other words, Christmas 2003), but I have something semi-appropriate and that can count as another work outfit. I wasn't going to bring that since it's borderline business attire, but I can use the cocktail party as an excuse for wearing it (not that anyone will ask me why I'm wearing it, but I'll make myself feel better). As for the shoes, there is no good situation. I'd love to wear the sandals and tell everyone who I see looking at my feet why I'm wearing them. But that's obviously not a solution. What I'll have to do is wear the uncomfortable shoes, bring band-aids (not that they really help), and try to sit as often as possible since I can keep them halfway off when I'm sitting. But I'll bring my sandals with me since I know after the first day, I won't be able to even put on the dress shoes (unless the Epsom salt thing really works enough to make my feet feel back to normal the next day). I hate my feet.

I have not finished anything I need to do today, but I needed a break. I started organising and cleaning up the apartment, went through the mail, made a reservation for the Spalding Gray Q&A at the Cuny Graduate Center in September, and answered some email (Brian might be coming to visit the weekend after next- that would be fun). Now I just need to finish cleaning, go to the bank, go to Duane Reade, and pack. I'll probably take the 6:40 bus which means I'll get into Atlantic City around 9:30 (assuming there is an average amount of traffic). I'm not sure at which hotel we will be dropped off (each bus goes to a different one), but I'll find out how far the Flagship Resort (where I'll be staying) is and either walk or take a taxi.

If I didn't miss being at home so much, I might not mind this trip to Atlantic City. I can take a walk on the boardwalk (which might or might not be a good thing depending on how many tourists are in my way), catch up on reading, and gamble a little. I'm not going to have too much free time, so I won't get too irritated with my surroundings (I hope). The main bad point is spending all day in the convention centre with basically nothing to do. I'm terrible at doing nothing. Maybe during the quiet times, Paula and I can have some interesting conversations. And I'm not looking forward to the eating situation. I'm not very good at finding a quick meal with edible food at casinos. Oh well, it's only for a few days, and I can rant about all the bad parts when I get home.

Okay, back to being productive.

Earlier today I had Tull's "Wind Up" in my head. Now I have part of Bethoveen's 9th Symphony in my head.

Changed my mind. I think I'll take the 6:10 bus. Even if I have to sit in more traffic, I still should get in a little earlier. I just need to do a couple of things and then I'll head out. Atlantic City, here I come.

Okay, so Atlantic City was a complete nightmare!!! I'm exhausted and don't really feel like writing about it now, but the longer I wait, the less I'll feel like writing about it and I really want a written memory of this, so I'll just do this now.

I got on the bus at 86th St. and felt like I was on the Soul Bus. Everyone had Caribbean accents, was eating fried chicken and greens, and all were REALLY loud! Not the little old ladies I was expecting, but I guess they don't travel at 5:30 PM. So they said the trip took 2 and a half hours, but I think they meant that was the time from Newark. First we went to Port Authority to pick up people there. Then the bus was full so we didn't stop at the other stop in Manhattan. Then we stopped on the Garden State Parkway to pick up a few more people. Then we stopped at another stop on the Garden State to drop off a few people. We got to Caesars at 9:30. I got off the bus and went into Caesars to ask where the Flagship Resort was. It was supposed to be 2 blocks from the Convention Center which was near Caesars, so I figured I could walk. The woman at Caesars told me it was at the other end of the city, so I had to take a cab. Finding a cab was not the easiest thing, but I finally got one. As soon as we got a few blocks away from Caesars, the area started looking really seedy. I was a bit nervous staying all the way out there alone, but oh well.

Got to Flagship and they did not have a room for me. I gave them my confirmation thing and they kept looking. Meanwhile, I didn't like the area and it was far from the Convention Center, so I called Paula and Harvey to see if they could try to get me a room at Caesars (even though they were supposedly booked). They told me they would try and to come back there. They didn't have a room when they showed up either, but with some fighting, they were able to get a room.

Harvey managed to get me a room for one night, but after that I would have to find something else. At least I had a place for Wednesday night. It was a nice room but the people next door were partying all night and kept me up.

The next day was okay until it was time for lunch. The Convention Center had hot dogs and nasty-looking pizza. No thank you. The only thing within walking distance was the Tun Tavern, so we got carry-out from there. It was disgusting!

By the end of the day we were all quite hungry. Harvey and Paula were having dinner with a client and I asked if I could join. Getting dinner reservations was nearly impossible. Harvey would call a restaurant, they would ask if they had a Emperors card (or whatever was the equivelent at the other casinos), he said no, and they said they were booked. In other words, you had to be a high roller to eat at a sit-down restaurant. The buffet lines were all super long and that wouldn't work with a client dinner anyway. Finally we found a restaurant at Caesars that wasn't part of the hotel, so we were able to get in there.

The whole town is run by the mafia. If you're not a high roller, you are not guaranteed a room, you have to eat at the crowded buffets, and you are basically treated as a second class citizen by everyone.

Thursday night the only room I could find was at the Comfort Inn about 5 miles away for $120. Another man I knew was also staying there (since they "lost" his room reservation as well- in fact, out of the 100 or so people I talked to at the show, only 2 were able to check into the room for which they had originally made the reservation- my favourite story was someone who had a room but the person staying in that room previously decided not to check out and it was illegal to kick them out and there was no other room available), so we shared a cab over there.

The next morning I asked the woman at the front desk to call me a cab, and when she did, she said there was no answer and she would try back. I think the cab drivers are on the payroll of the casinos and won't go to a non-casino hotel unless there is nothing else to do. It took an hour to get a cab and I was late. Oh, and I took a shower in Paula and Harvey's room that night since the Comfort Inn was pretty disgusting.

Friday I was able to take over the room of a client at Caesars since he was leaving early. The problem with the room was that it was one floor up from the casino and overlooking it, like a courtyard. Between the slot machines clinking and the music blaring (getting louder and louder as the night went on), I couldn't sleep much at all. Plus, there was drunk people on my floor all night, being very loud and knocking on my door from time to time. Oh, and I never really knew what time it was since my phone (which is the only thing I have with the time) didn't work in the room and the clock was glued down behind the glued down lamp, so if I wanted to look at it, I had to get out of bed to do that.

Saturday my message light was blinking. I called the operator and they connected me to voice mail. It said I didn't have any messages but I did have mail. I called the operator back and they told me to go down to the front desk to get it. I waited in line and when I asked for my mail, they said I already picked it up. I told them I did not and asked who signed for it. It was the guy staying in the room before me who signed for it, except it said that it was a box and I had been expecting an envelope. After some discussion, I just left. I'm still convinced I have an envelope floating around Caesars somewhere.

Sunday I had a ton of stuff that I needed to take over to the Convention Center. I needed a box to put it in, so I called the operator (there was no way to get to individual departments on my phone like in most high-end hotels). She transfered me to the food and beverage department which had a message to leave my name and number. I called the operator again and told them what happened, and they told me it was the right department but they were closed on Sunday. She told me to try the front desk. I did and they were no help. Finally I just called a bellman since I needed to check out and get over to the show and asked him when he got up to my room if he had a box. He said he would try to find one (finally, a helpful person- he must be new). He found a box and most of it fit in there. I had a hell of a time carrying it all up all the stairs at the Convention Center, but it worked eventually.

Then there was all the carding going on. I got carded every few minutes in the casino. I wish there was a handstamp or something they could do so I didn't have to get out my wallet every few minutes. That wasn't a major problem though. The only time it was a bit humiliating was when I was invited to a private party of a client at the Taj Mahal. I showed them my invitation at the desk and they asked me for ID. Fortunately, no one I knew was in the immediate vicinity and didn't see me have to show my license to get into the party.

Then Sunday afternoon, it was finally time to leave. The buses leave every hour or every other hour from various casinos. Well, I didn't want to carry my luggage to another casino, so I picked the bus that left from Caesars. I got in line and the bus filled before I could get on it. That was at 2:30. The next one left from Showboat (I think) at 4:30. I didn't really want to wait 2 hours to get in line with the 30 of us who didn't get on the last one plus the hundreds of other people ready to go home on the 40 seat bus. So, I went back to the show to see if anyone was driving up to anywhere near NYC. I found someone going to Brooklyn, so I got a ride with him. That was lucky!!! Bob's a nice guy. We talked, listened to a comedy CD (John Pinette), and listened to some good tunes (including Tull).

He dropped me off on Avenue J where I could catch the Q train home. Of course trains weren't running to that station yesterday, so I had to take it towards Coney Island and then get off and go back towards Manhattan (all this was with luggage). It took about an hour to finally get home from there (so the total trip was 4 hours), but that was still easier than taking the bus- same amount of time- plus I had some nice company on the ride.

Fortunately, the show was a success. If it wasn't, all the crap Atlantic City gave us to deal with would have seemed even worse!

Now I'm so glad to be home!!!!!

Jon and Michelle stayed here over the weekend and got me a Borders gift certificate. That was nice. Only one little problem that I want to ask him about. There is water all over my bathroom floor and the bathmat is completely soaked. Oh well, not a big deal.

So yes, I am so happy to be home! But I have to leave again in 9 days- ugh. Oh, and since Amtrak is now having problems with their regular trains, even though some of the Acela trains are running again, I still don't trust them. It could be fine to take a train and they might even be on schedule, but with my luck I don't want to take a chance. So I'm going to spend the extra money and rent a car. It's a business expense. The good thing about taking the train though is that I won't have to drive home on the boring Turnpike on Sunday after working until 2:00 AM Saturday night. But I can try to sleep in Sunday morning and leave late afternoon. I'm sure the hotel can accomodate a late check-out, but I always have noisy people staying next to me at that hotel so I'll probably get woken up early or something. I'll be okay though. Once I'm awake, I'm awake. I'm not going to fall asleep on the road. If I feel like I'm getting tired, I'll pull over and rest for a bit and get some coffee.

I have a medical concern that hopefully is not really a problem. One of my birthmarks seems to be growing a little. I have so many that it's hard to notice all of them to see if something doesn't seem right, but I'm pretty sure this one on my forehead is bigger than it used to be. So I need to find a dermatologist soon. I'm going to call Marcell to see if I can use hers, but she's away this week so I have to wait until she gets back. In the meantime, I should pick a regular doctor from the Aetna book in case I have to go through them before I can see a specialist. I don't know if I can do it that quickly, but if I can't, I'll just pay for the one appointment with the dermatologist (which hopefully isn't outrageously expensive).

There, that entry didn't take as long as I thought it would (it never does). Now I'll finish up a few things and then try to get to sleep early.

I did not want to get out of bed this morning. I finally had a peaceful night of sleep and I did not want it to end. But all good things must come to an end and so I got out of my comfy bed and started my day.

I did do one nice thing today though. I saw a movie on a whim. And it was good! I was looking at what was playing around here and discovered Neil LaBute had made a movie of which I wasn't aware. "Possession". It was not his typical style, but I still enjoyed it. Even Gwyneth Paltrow was okay- she's much better playing a British woman than American (go figure). I'm actually beginning to think that I just first saw her in a few bad roles and she's really a better actress than I was giving her credit for. She's not amazing, but she's quite good. Anyway, the movie was a nice surprise.

Since I didn't catch up on any reading while I was in Atlantic City, I think I will do so tonight. I think I'll start "Kissing in Manhattan".

And I really should go through the mail tonight or tomorrow. Why do I feel like there's always mail? Probably because there is always mail. I think I get more mail these days than ever before. Why? And it's not even all junk. I think I will do it tonight since it never takes as long as I think it will and I feel like I have a little energy for it now and if I put it off until tomorrow, tomorrow I'll probably put it off until the next day, and then the next day I'll put it off again... Yep, I'll do it right now. How unprocrastinating of me.

I still have the smell of quarters on my hands from the poker machines in Atlantic City. No matter how many times I wash them, I can't get rid of the smell. It's awful. Oh, and I don't think I mentioned this before, but I did play a little poker and came out ahead by about $75. I don't really care how much I won as long as I came out a little ahead or broke even since I don't want that horrible place getting any more of my money than was necessary. Anyway, I really hope the quarter smell goes away soon.

I needed to get a few things at the drug store and I had about 10 pictures left on my roll of film, so I walked around the city a bit trying to finish off the roll so I could kill two birds with one stone. I like to be efficient when running errands. I wasn't finding anything interesting that I wanted to capture on film so I wound up with a lot of architecture. The taking-pictures-of-buildings thing seems to be a trend for me right now. While I was out, I also stopped by the bank to make a deposit.

And I was good about my mail last night. It took longer than I thought it would (figures, usually it takes less time than I think it will), but I was very throrough. I still need to make a couple of phone calls about some things, but I can do that tomorrow. Also tomorrow, I need to cancel my Amtrak reservation and book a car. I'm sure the trains are running better than they were last week, but I still don't want to take a chance of getting on a faulty train. Besides, I really don't like taking the train. I used to love it. There used to be more interesting people taking the train and it used to be less crowded. Now it's almost impossible to find a seat, even on a reserved train, and it's filled with either business people talking loudly on their phones or families with tons of screaming kids. And the quiet cars seemed to have disappeared. I haven't seen any on my last few train trips. And trains never used to hardly ever be delayed. Now they're always delayed and then travel so slowly, that the arrival times are usually an hour later than the scheduled time. So even though the Turnpike is the most boring stretch of highway in the country, I still think it's better than taking the train. I don't have to deal with loud people, I can sing, and I can travel on my own schedule.

I still don't know if Brian is coming up this weekend. He said he would call yesterday but never did. Think I'll go call him as soon as I'm finished writing this entry.

And in less than an hour, I'm going to watch "Peter's Friends" and then last week's SatC since I missed it Sunday and forgot to watch it one of the other times it was on.

Oh, and the happy part of my conversation with Rebecca is she brought up the fact that she had a Terra Nova song in her head the other day. Then we started singing it and that led to singing other Terra Nova songs. I hadn't thought about those songs in years since I lost the first 2 albums (she said she would copy them for me). Those are such great songs, although some of them are very depressing (some are depressing in their own right but some are just depressing because of the memories they bring up for me- what I was doing at the time I was listening to them, who was in my life at the time, where my life was at the time...). But singing them and trying to remember the lyrics made me happy and now I'll continue trying to remember the lyrics to some more of them. And if both of us are in Baltimore around Christmas (since both of us are invited to Daniel's wedding- I might not be able to go because of finals and she is going but might not stay long after it), we might try to go visit Bob and Pam in Chestertown. Rebecca's never been there and I haven't been in years and would love to go back- it's such a beautiful drive and it's nice spending some time in a small, quiet town.

On that note, I'm off to watch SatC.

I completely forgot until now that I'm seeing "The Boys from Syracuse" tonight. Of course Brian will be coming in just before it's over so I think I'll either have to send him here and have the doorman give him the extra set of keys or have him come to the theatre and wait for me. The theatre is only a block from Port Authority, but I don't know if he'll feel like waiting around an hour for me. Plus there's a party in the theatre after the show that I wanted to go to, but I probably will wind up skipping it if Brian wants to meet me at the theatre and can't get into (or doesn't want to go to) the party. Hopefully he'll call me before the show starts so we can figure out our plans.

Today was a be-on-hold-with-customer-lack-of-service day. Bank of America, RCN, Amtrak... It took some time, but I think I got everything accomplished.

Brian mentioned maybe wanting to check out Mingus Big Band at the Fez tonight but that wouldn't really work even if I didn't have the show to go to tonight since the show is at 11:00 and he's not getting in until around 10:00 and I'm assuming would want to drop off his stuff here before heading down to the Fez. Fortunately, I just found out that they will be playing a free show tomorrow night at Lincoln Center so maybe we can do that.

Okay, so now I have less time than I thought I had. I have to finish up a few things and then find a quick place for dinner (since I haven't eaten all day and don't have much food here since I've been away so much and will be leaving in a few days so why bother buying food) and then head over to the theatre.

And I am so fed up with my clothing situation. I think I'm going to try to find some business/dressy clothes either tomorrow or Saturday (don't know where I'll go yet). Brian can find something else to do during that time. I know shopping in August means crowds of tourists, but hopefully I can find some place to go where they won't be. I'll need to check into that- maybe I'll do that now. I know I bookmarked a few places that sounded like possibilities but I think they were more casual places. One of these days I'm going to find a store that has clothes that fit me. When that happens, I will be a happy girl.

Thursday was fun. "The Boys from Syracuse" was okay. It was a typical old-fashioned musical but the cast was quite talented. I went to the party upstairs for a few minutes while waiting for Brian to call. He called shortly after I got up there and he and his friend, Marc, got a cab and met me outside the theatre (it was pouring). We went down to the Village Vanguard and met Marc's friend, Nahal, there who was saving us space at a table. The Paul Motion trio was playing and they were okay- nothing special but some of it was quite nice. Then we went to some bar in the West Village for a bit after the show.

Yesterday Brian and I had brunch at Norma's- yum! I had mango & papya crepes and Brian had a waffle with fruit and a brulee top. I had ordered that before and recommended it. He loved both his dish and mine and was thrilled I recommended we go there. See, everyone loves Norma's. And I was certainly happy to go back.

Then we went to Daffy's for a bit (long lines because only one of the registers was working and they could only take credit cards) and I got a black blouse (I still need more tops and hopefully will have time to go find some Monday or Tuesday).

Yesterday evening we went over to Lincoln Center for the free outdoor Mingus Big Band show. They were great! They even played "Haitian Fight Song" which is one of my favourites. We had to leave a few minutes early though so we could go cross-town for the Chicago City Limits show. They were much better than the last time I went- most of it was hilarious! Then we went up the street to Merchants NY for a drink (not a bad place- I'll have to remember that one).

The only bad part of last night is that during the concert, I started to feel like I was getting a cold. This morning I still felt like a cold was ready to take over, so I sent Brian out on his own and I'm spending the day resting. Resting!!! This is an exciting experience for me (even though I'm only doing it to fight off the cold). Resting is wonderful! If Brian goes to the Yankees game this afternoon (which I should know quite soon since the game starts at 4:00), I'll watch a movie and if he doesn't go to the game or come up with anything else to do on his own, maybe we'll do something low-key. I wouldn't mind going to a museum. There are several exhibits around that I'd like to see. Well, hopefully he'll call soon so I can figure out what his plans are.

Tomorrow his friend, Annie (well, it's actually Rebecca's friend), is doing a walking tour of the Lower East Side which we might do, depending on when he wants to go home.

Okay, he just called and is going to the game. I really wish I could go too, especially since I haven't been to a game all year, but it's also really nice to stay home and rest. I know this cold wants me to go to the game, but I'm fighting this one. This is a really bad time to be sick.

After Brian got back from the game, we went to dinner at Caffe Cielo. At 8:30, we were the only ones in the restaurant. I guess everyone is really on vacation. Although, I don't even think that many tourists are here. We were very close to Times Square and you could walk around easily- no tourists were in the way. It's a very odd feeling.

Then we went to Mod. I finally got there and am very glad. Except for the extremely loud music (I'll have to go earlier next time when it's more quiet) it's great. Very kitchy with yummy drinks. I had a Bellini and an Ovaltini (chocolate martini with Ovaltine- sounds horrible but was quite good). Brian had some kind of fruity frozen drink with 7-UP that tasted like a fizzy smoothie. Definitely will have to go back at some point.

Today we got up and had breakfast at Ratners. I'd never been there and I can't say I'm in a rush to go back. It wasn't horrible, but there are a lot of better places. I'm sure it was great in its hay-day, but it seems to have lost it's charm. Maybe the renovations took away the charm. It's very spacious and new looking.

After breakfast, we walked around a bit looking at the flea market stuff and checked out the pickle festival.

Then we met Annie for the Big Onion Jewish Lower East Side walking tour. She had a lot to say but nothing incredibly informative. Perhaps it was just not informative to me; maybe this was new information for most people. But I did get to briefly look in Teany- Moby's new teahouse. I definitely want to go back there!

Brian left around 5:00 and now I'm exhausted. I no longer feel like I'm getting a cold, I'm just tired because I walked around in the heat for 4 hours and didn't have enough to drink so I'm pretty dehydrated. Tonight I plan on vegging and watching SatC and the original movie that comes on after, Hysterical Blindness. I'm not thrilled about this movie but it just seems convenient to watch. What would really be nice would be some pot. Oh well.

Tomorrow is errand day- pick up pictures, mail packages, get vitamins for Harvey, get a few things at a deli so I have something to eat for the next 2 days, go through the mail, go to the bank, and try some clothes shopping (I want to check out Michael's and then stop by Housing Works).

I randomly turned on The Daily Show and saw that Denis Leary was going to be on. I continued watching in hopes that they would discuss the little spiff between them about Jon Stewart not doing Denis' show, Contest Searchlight. And they did. I still don't understand why Jon Stewart cancelled out, but it does bother me a little. These two are great friends and I don't like the fact that Mr. Stewart would do something like this. Not this really concerns me, I mean, there are obviously much more important things in life, but these guys are two of my favourite celebrities and I don't like the fact that there are problems between them. I also don't like Denis' reason for staying friends- "If I told you I would never call you again, you'd be happy and I don't want to make it easy for you," or something like that. Now I know this interview is for the public and what they say off-camera is probably very different, but I hope they clear this up (and Jon Stewart really wasn't as nasty as it sounds like he was) and they remain friends.

Anyway, today was productive. I ran all my errands except for mailing packages. I really wanted to do that today, but when I came home to get the box, I was too tired to go back out. So I'll have to do that tomorrow, which is a shame since that will be the only reason I'll need to leave the apartment tomorrow and I love days when I can stay home all day. Oh well, maybe I'll stop by Bloomies to see if I can find some better sunglasses as Brian told me that maybe the reason I can't see very well with my current ones is because cheap sunglasses distort things. It would be nice to have better sunglasses since Paula told me that maybe I have so many wrinkles around my eyes because I'm always squinting in the sunlight. So maybe I can find a pair tomorrow that's not too expensive but are less distorted (so I can have decent sunglasses for my upcoming drive), and while I'm there, see if I can find some dress shirts that fit and aren't too expensive.

Oh, and I forgot to get the mail today, so I'll need to do that tomorrow as well.

The clothes shopping thing pretty went well today even though Housing Works was closed so they could prepare for their big sale this week. I found a DKNY suit for $89! I just need to get it altered as the pants are miles too long.

Tonight I'm going to relax and watch "Attraction". It doesn't look too promising but has Samantha Mathis (and I love her) and is on at a convenient time (11:00 PM).

Tomorrow I'll run out for a few hours, clean up the apartment, and pack. Then Wednesday morning I leave.

I mailed my packages, went through the mail, did a little cleaning, and got a light sweater at Bloomies (I tried on some sunglasses but I couldn't see any better with the more expensive ones, so I'll stick to my cheap ones for now until I have more time to try others). Now I need to finish cleaning, decide what music I'm taking on my trip, and pack.

I'm tired. I still feel like a cold wants to take over, and I don't know how I'm going to keep preventing it from surfacing while working too many hours and eating poorly in Baltimore. If I manage to wake up earlier than necessary on Thursday morning, I'll stop by a grocery store on the way to pick up Paula and keep it in the office in the kitchen; then I'll at least have something to eat other than the crap in the cafe next to the office and the stuff the catering people bring.

Not much else to say today other than I hope it doesn't rain too much on my drive down tomorrow. I don't like driving in heavy rain.

The New York theatre world's September 11th events are now at a discount. I couldn't justify spending $100 on a performance when I didn't even know who was performing, but now is another story. There's a 25% discount and they list some of the performances and some of the actors on each day. I think Septmeber 9th looks the best (in my opinion). Neil LaBute is directing his new play with Kristin Davis and Paul Rudd being the actors. Hopefully the date for this will not change as I am about to purchase a ticket. Maybe I'll even get lucky and Spalding Gray will be performing on the 9th as well. But my luck, he will not be and maybe Neil LaBute's play will be on a different date too. We'll see. What I'm more concerned about is going into a depression after seeing this stuff. Hopefully though, it'll just make me miserable (but allow me to reflect and think and all that wonderful stuff) for the night and then I'll get over it and get back to whatever else is going on in my life the next day.

I need to start really reading about the candidates for the upcoming election. I'm so out of the local politics news. I'll have to make time to do that when I get back.

So, I'm all packed and ready to go. I just need to call Ticketmaster (since for some reason, I can't enter the discount code on their website) to order the ticket for the 9th, and then I'll head out for my hopefully not-too-rainy trip down to Baltimore.

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