JUNE

I'm sitting here at the office pissed off since the people messangering over my keys aren't here yet and they were supposed to be here by 5:00. Why aren't there any competent people in this world?

It's been a pretty boring few days. I can't even remember what I did exactly. Well, last night I went Eytan and his parents to this Jerusalem thing at a synagogue. There were political speeches and Israeli music (which was mostly pretty). They night before that, Eytan and I went shopping. I looked around for 2 hours and found NOTHING! I hate shopping. I really wanted to find a pair of nice shoes so I can stop wearing my Docs for work events, but I couldn't find anything. Shoes come in two sizes: narrow and ugly. I hate my wide feet. They cause so many problems. So, I think I'll look around New York for a little bit Wednesday afternoon in between shows. I want to see a matinee and an evening since there's nothing to see in Baltimore and I need my theatre fix. Sunday I'm going out to visit Mike on his farm. I can't wait! I'm really sick of sitting here waiting for keys. I think I'm gonna leave and just not have a place until Monday. Boy am I going to yell on Monday.

Now I have to leave. Eytan isn't feeling well and I don't trust him trying to drive home so I have to go drive him home. I guess it'll be a quiet night of sitting around his apartment listening to him telling me how he doesn't feel well. I hope he gets better soon. He's starting to scare me with all his ailments.

Eytan was pretty sick last night. He had a high fever so I stayed with him. Today I went to Cross Keys to see if the wrong keys they gave me earlier yesterday would work. They did. That was at 10:00 AM. They hadn't cleaned up from the last tenant but I'm not supposed to move in until 4:00. Now I just have to hope that they didn't change the locks between then and now. It would be nice to know that I have different keys than the last people but I'd rather be able to move in today.

I went to lunch with my mother on a whim this afternoon. I went to their house to pick up my laundry and she was home (even though she wasn't supposed to be). We went for Chinese and had a nice leisurely afternoon.

Tonight I'll just move in, unpack, and rest since I didn't get much sleep last night. Plus I want to get up early and get to Mike's by the afternoon so I can spend most of the day there. I'm supposed to go to the Tea dance with Lisa & Bev tomorrow night but I don't know if I'll make it back in time. I'm not too upset, we'll be able to go out some other time.

I'm really looking forward to having my own place. I have this idea that I'll have a ritual of working all day, going home, working out, and then go to Bibelot and read until they close. I'll probably really only get to do that two or three times in the month that I'm there.

My mother and I talked about this crazy idea that we'll get an apartment on the Upper East Side when I move to New York next year. It would be ideal. I could commute from Manhattan to the Bronx for school, live in a nice neighbourhood, not have to deal with roommates, and have my parents stay once or twice a month for a few days each time. I would love to live in a nice apartment in Manhattan. I think I'd be really happy. It would be a long commute every day but it would be worth it knowing that I'm going home to my favourite part of New York. The only reason I was hesitating with Manhattan College was that I didn't know if I would like living in that neighbourhood. I know it's a crazy idea and we probably won't find a good deal, but it's nice to dream.

I need to find a way to listen to music in this office.

Well, yesterday didn't work out at all like it was supposed to but it was a good day for the most part. I went to White Flint and found a work outfit AND shoes at Bloomingdales in less than an hour!!! Then I went to the Cheesecake Factory for a drink and had an interesting conversation with this guy, Ed, and the bar. We talked for 2 hours and then I called Mike. He wasn't around so I left a message for him to call me on my cell phone. My cell phone then died so I just went back to Baltimore. Then on the way back I got this pounding headache, I felt like it was going to explode. So I just went back to my apartment, watched the Tonys (which were very predictable), and went to sleep. This morning I feel like I'm getting a cold. I can't afford to get sick right now. I am going to will the sickness away. My mind is powerful enough to do that (or at least it usually is).

The apartment in New York might actually work out after all. I found this fantastic apartment on E. 57th that has everything and they're somewhat reasonably priced. Available apartments don't come around too often but we have a whole year to get it. We're going to look at it on Sunday. That would be incredible if I could live on the upper east side. It would be like a dream come true. That's why I'm not getting my hopes up too much; my dreams don't usually come true (or at least not that easily).

It's hard to keep this updated being out of town. Let's see, New York was good: the auction was good, the restaurants were good, the bars were good. I especially liked the Bubble Lounge in TriBecca. Eytan and I went to the Mets game since they were playing the Orioles. I didn't really care that much about the game but it was fun going even though we only stayed for the first 5 innings. The first day there I went to see "The Wild Party". I didn't care for it too much but certain parts were really fun. Most of the audience hated it.

Last night I went to visit Jeff at his mother's house. He was there for 2 days and today he's leaving for India. It was good seeing him again. Jon stopped by as I was leaving. It was good seeing him again too. We'll probably get together before I go home.

The apartment I'm staying in is falling apart. I'm not renting from Bridgestreet.com again. The towel rack keeps falling down, the toilet won't flush, the VCR doesn't work, the washer & dryer is really old and a hassle to use, and the lighting is horrible in the bedroom and living room. I'm really not there much though.

Friday night I'm going to see "Queer Cafe" with Eytan. Saturday I'm going to try again to visit Mike. Sunday is "Side Show" with Eytan (really looking forward to it since the past few shows I've seen haven't been too hot).

Oh yeah, that apartment in New York wasn't where I thought it was. It's too far west, so that's ruled out now. I'll have to leave the apartment hunting up to my parents. Maybe I can go there for a few days in August if that would help but I don't see what the point of that would be. I think I'll just have to tell them what I'm looking for and trust that they'll take my preferences into consideration. I also never got to look around Manhattan College. Maybe I will go there in August and do that. I just have to find a place to stay. I would probably go to New York much more if I knew where to stay.

Last night I went to see "Caberet" with Jon at The Mechanic. It was surprisingly much better than I thought I would be. I liked what Sam Mendes did with the ending. Lea Thompson is hot but she's not a really stong singer. She was really pushing last night. It turned out that Michelle (Jon's wife) was out of town on job training so he had nothing to do. It also happened to be their one year anniversary last night. So now he gets to remember his one year anniversary as the night he went out with his ex-girlfriend. Sorry, Jon.

Tonight is MY NIGHT. I've been wanting alone time for a while now. I finally am going food shopping and I'll rent a couple movies too. Tomorrow night I'm going to the Orioles game with Eytan and meeting 2 of his friends there (Craig and George). I've really been keeping busy here. It almost makes me want to move back to Baltimore. But I HATE Baltimore. This city is SO not what it used to be. I was walking back to Jon's car from the theatre and everything was closed and dark and run down. Why would anyone choose to live in the city? If only there were still nice places. Too bad. It would be really convenient to move back here. It would be cheap, I could go to Loyola or Towson, live in Cockeysville, work at home, have friends... Oh well. Right now, I'm not sure about New York. I'd want to live there on my terms which are next to impossible. Why can't there be any Pre-War, renovated apartments on the Upper East or Upper West side to sublet for not that much money? Oh well, I'm too tired to think about all this right now. I need to get going and have my peaceful evening that I've been waiting for, for almost 2 weeks.

The baseball game was awesome!!! Eytan, Craig and George got first row tickets from a friend of theirs and I got into the lower section and sat 12 rows back. Then it started pouring. The game was delayed 2 hours- enough time for Craig, George, and their friend to decide to leave. So I got to sit in their seats after the game re-started. Wow- being right next to the Orioles' dug-out!!! I got to see Surhoff, Brady Anderson, Eddie Murry, Scott Erickson, Bordick, Cal... and they were all so close. They beat Texas 10-1. Albert Belle hit a Gran Slam in the 8th inning.

Tonight I was going to see Queer Cafe but I don't feel too well tonight so I'll just go home and rest and Eytan and I can go see it tomorrow. I just won't go visit Mike tomorrow.

Wednesday night wasn't great. I managed to go food shopping and rent a couple movies only to get home and realise the VCR that they replaced wasn't working. So I got one of the tapes stuck inside. So much for having a nice movie night. I called the apartment people the next day and an hour later, the man called me here from the apartment telling me that he was watching it and it worked fine. So I guess I'll find out tonight when I get home. Tonight is the perfect night for movie watching. I love being home on Friday nights. I really want to get home. I'll write more tomorrow...

I ran into Jonothan from "Hair" yesterday in Towson. At 2:30 I had a sudden need to go take a walk. I was walking up the alley by the Elk's Lodge and there he was! It was so good seeing him again. He's one of the sweetest boys I've ever met. He's moving to New York in August for school. Hopefully he'll still be there when I move. Maybe we could get together for shows and stuff. I'm going to call him soon to see if he wants to get together next week.

Today is a day to catch up on email. I've really been needing to do that for a few days now. So I'll do that, go return my movies at Blockbuster, have a snowball (it's finally warm enough), and then go home to get ready for tonight (Queer Cafe).

I finally got to watch my movies last night. I watched "Cradle Will Rock" and "I Married a Strange Person". Bill Plympton's stuff is great once or twice but it starts to get old after that. It's all the same. I really liked "Cradle Will Rock"! It made me wish I lived during that time (as a wealthy man).

Tonight Eytan & I had dinner at Bombay Grill (they have great Indian food); then we saw "Queer Cafe". Nine Rooms' Worth was hilarious. The other 3 I didn't care for. Jesse's Head was poorly acted, Promenade was odd, and The End of Human Frailty I just didn't get. Tonight they had some "musical" entertainment after the show- Radiant Pig. It was... interesting. Personally, I REALLY didn't like it. The woman's voice was too "country/twill-y" for me and the band was just odd. We left that early and we to Brewers Art. We left after one drink and we were going to go home. I went to wait outside while Eytan paid and there was a guy walking by. It turned out to be Brian! What a bizzare coincidence! He was at a party and was running out to his car to grab some beer just as we were leaving Brewers Art. So we went to the party with him. We only stayed for a little while since we didn't know anyone and Eytan wasn't feeling well. Brian mentioned "The Celestine Prophecy" since our meeting was that kind of odd coincidence. He's the 2nd person to mention that book to me in 2 days. Jonothan mentioned it too! I love random meetings. Sometimes, when it's really bizzare, I think it's something beyond coincidence (I really needto come up with a word for that- if anyone knows one, please let me know). Like when I used to run into Andy every day around town- sometimes more than once a day. We'd meet driving on some road, in the drugstore, bookstore, laundrymat, etc. It couldn't just be because it was a small town since we met every day, always in a different place, and never at the same time. Plus, I never ran into anyone else I knew. It was just... one of those things.

"Side Show" was amazing!!! The only bad thing was that our seats were all the way on the side. It was theatre in the round so we could see some things but it was hard to see Daisy. Theatre in the round should be blocked so that the majority of the audience can see everything. When you have siamese twins in a show, it's harder to do that. Oh well. The cast was very talented, the costumes, set, and lights were awesome, and there was much emotion. I really need to buy the cast recording.

After the show, Eytan and I went to my parents' house for my father's birthday dinner. Neil, Maxine, Jay, and Sherry were there. It was an okay time.

Today I'm going to try to call Jonothan to see if he can get together some time today or later this week.

Happy birthday Harvey!!

I've been feeling lonely ever since I saw "Side Show". I don't know why or what to do about it. And here I'm around a lot of people. What am I going to do once I get back to Phoenix? I'm sure these feelings will be gone by then. And I don't know if I'm ready to go down to Virginia. Can I handle all that emotion while in this state? And I've had two bad nights in a row. Two nights ago I slept on and off from 1-3 and had nightmares about snakes and fighting with my father. Last night I slept a full night but again had horrible dreams about fighting with my parents and fighting with the Dales while on vacation. I woke up crying this morning. The last time I did that was when I had that dream about Eytan dying (and the next night dreaming about me dying).

At least I snapped out of my mood long enough to have a pleasant evening with Brian and Rebecca. I met then at Hunan Manor in Columbia.

Tonight I'm going to try to go to One World since I've been wanting to do that since I've been here but haven't made it yet.

I don't have much to say today. Last night I finally went to One World Cafe. I wound up going by myself and finding no one interesting (or uninteresting for that matter) to talk to. So I left and went back to the apartment to read. Today I had lunch at Frisco Burito with Caroline. It was good seeing her again. Tonight I'm going to dye my hair and read.

THEY'RE DOING "NOISES OFF" AT TOWSON THIS MONTH!!!!! I'll probably go this Saturday if I can get a good seat. If not I'll go the next Saturday after I get back from Virginia. I've been dying to see this live for so long.

I ran into Jonothan today! I was walking in Towson and there he was! This is getting wacky :) It made my day!!! I'm in the best mood now.

Tonight I'm going to help Eytan pack. Maybe I can convince him that we should go do something fun after. But he'll probably say he's too tired and since we have to get up early, he wants to go to bed early.

I got a role of film developed yesterday. They make me look like I have a life! There are tons of people pictures- at bars, baseball games, theatres, parties with George, Mike, Eytan, Jeff...

Last night Eytan and I went to Paolo's for dinner and then went to his apartment to move his couch, etc. out back in hopes that it will be donated to the Bolton Hill charity (neighbourhood thugs). Then I went back to my apartment and read before bed. Another nice quiet evening with Bill Bryson's "Made in America : An Informal History of the English Language in the United States".

I had a weird dream last night. First, I was hitting on Terry's fiancee, Dena. She looked very different in the dream. Then Eytan and I were at the Hunt Valley Marriot which had changed for the worse. It looked like Chicago's south side. We were running around the inside and outside of the hotel, trying not to get attacked. I don't remember anything after that but I remember being happy.

Tonight is "Noises Off"! I hope it's good. If not, I'll just have to find it playing somewhere again. I'm not getting my hopes up since it is Towson, but we'll see...

I'm SO tired! I want to go to Starbucks and get a Caramel Machiato (or however you spell it) but I'm too tired to go there. I don't even drink that crap but Lisa & Bev make it look so good. Maybe I'll go soon. I want to be awake for Noises Off. What else am I going to do between now and 8:00? Maybe I'll go there and find some interesting book, lose track of time and then it'll be 8:00 and I'll be late for Noises Off and then I'll lose the $20 I paid for the ticket and be pissed off. That's ridiculous, I can't believe I just wrote that. I don't know why I'm so tired. I'm getting plenty of sleep. I don't even know why I'm writing here. I think I'm also in a lousy mood for basically no reason. I just feel icky today. I'm tired of being overlooked. Every time someone has a question that I know the answer to, I'll give an answer and then I'll hear them asking someone else two minutes later. That's happened 10 times in the past two days. Why do people either pay no attention to me or think I have no clue about anything? I'm probably 5 times smarter than they are. I really feel like bitching today.

I did go to Barnes & Noble and had a caramel macchiato and it was good! Question: When did Barnes & Noble stop carrying books? I thought it was a bookstore. I saw greeting cards, CDs, magazines, and a few books scattered here and there. Oh well, at least there's still:

Search: All Products Books Popular Music Classical Music Video Toys & Games Electronics Software Tools & Hardware Lawn & Patio Kitchen Keywords:

Noises Off was great! It was the Maryland Arts Festival; I should have known the City Paper would screw up the listing. Anyway, I swear it is the funniest show I've ever seen. The actors weren't all that great, but the show is funny enough and their timing was good enough that it came off great. It just seemed like the actors didn't have good chemistry and Noises Off is a show where that's SO important. The audience was a typical Baltimore audience. I sat next to these two annoying women who were trying to impress me with their theatre knowledge. The one sitting right next to me was bragging about all the Broadway shows she's seen.

I'm looking forward to going to Virginia. I think it'll be fun plus it'll be nice to finally relax for 2 days. People keep asking me how my vacation is. I'm like, "Vacation? What vacation?" I've been working double my normal amount for the past month or so.

What's with waking up from nightmares? This morning I woke up crying at 6:15 because I was dreaming that my mother told me she wanted to be left alone to die. So now I'm awake! So much for sleeping in one day.

Last night I was looking forward to going to Anchy's (where I used to work) to have a nice dinner with good wine. I called up to make sure they were open (don't know why I did that) and they were closed for vacation! Story of my life. So I had crappy Italian instead. I don't know what I'm going to do in Blacksburg this early. Maybe I'll go take a drive in the rain. When the bookstore (Volume Two) opens, I'm going to buy a sweatshirt- it's freezing!

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