Wednesday, April 22, 1998

This morning I felt the world was a little nicer.

On my way to work, I sometimes, rarely really, stop at this little coffee shop called CHATZ. This morning, as I stopped there for a quick bagel and morning mocha, I realized that I left my money in my jeans pockets, in my laundry, at home. I told the nice guy behind the counter (they're all young and nice-looking there, I don't know why I don't stop more often), "Let me make sure I have cash, first", checked, and said, "Nope, well, it's good I checked" and turned to go. The nice red-haired guy (don't you *love* guys with red-hair? I like them because I know they were probably as unpopular growing up as I was, which makes their perspective cool now), said, "You can pay us later, if you want". Pay them LATER??? And he meant it, too! I ordered my bagel and mocha, and he put the $4 tab on the wall, under my name! This on second street in San Francisco; it felt so small pioneer town, having a tab. It made me smile, amazed that people are that trusting in this big, impersonal world. I think it made my day (it definitely made my blood sugar level).



I forgot to mention that yesterday was Todd's birthday!! Whoops! He did his best not to tell anyone, but I'm usually *much* nosier than that. I didn't forget to celebrate it with him, but Happy belated 25th anyway, Todd!

I had a good time last night. Todd and I went to a BQ in someone's backyard. There were 3 adults (2 men and a woman) and 6 kids (me and Rachel were the only girls). There was wine and beer, and the wine was EXPENSIVE and, oh, there's a better word, maybe copious? ALOT of GOOD wine. Bill, who was tall, thin with gray hair and a british accent (just back from Moscow) told a story about riding his moped in Albany, wearing a hardhat, and getting a ticket. We all laughed alot, and it was nice to be so social. Rachel had gone on a strip club tour several years ago, and I got a list of places to check out (research on a story I want to write). We talked about "realdoll.com" where they sell silicone dolls (just like the real thing!) for $5000. It was a nice night, and Todd was happy, since I was grouching about "how long do we have to stay" before we got there.

What else? Ate leftover pizza at Todd's (I got drunk so fast because I thought we were going out to eat; we didn't and I didn't eat until around 10:30pm when we got to Todd's), then stumbled to BART (where I ran into Charles, from work), took a picture of a computer on a trash can, stumbled home (that MacArthur parking lot is very well lit), and went to sleep with my contacts in around midnight. I woke up at 6am (goddamnit). Why am I waking up early? I was so tired last night!



Today:
Well, I just checked Mary Anne's journal and she (finally ;-) mentioned this page! Omigoodness. I really can't get over my good luck in meeting her; I'm honored to be her friend, really. And as a professional contact, well, she's amazingly helpful and completely encouraging (not to mention flattering as all hell). This journal, hell, this whole page would never have happened without her influence. (I'm sure it makes Mom happy, as she doesn't have to keep bugging me to email her on the recent events of my life). Anyhow, thanks for the mention, Mary Anne. I'll make sure to start spell checking my pages.