magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

so i had to have the muffler and tail-pipe replaced on my van. didn't end up costing as much as i was expecting though. one of the few pluses of owning an american built car i guess.

picked it up about three. packed up the little bit of stuff that i had brought with me on my trip (plus the two cheap, 100% undetermined fiber carpets that i picked up at home depot the other day), and headed east.

first stop: bristol. i was definitely long overdue for a visit with er!n. she had to bring a bunch of stuff to her boyfriend at school. and i have to admit that the thought of meeting her boyfriend caused me some anxiety. in part because it's always a little weird to think of someone who you were once in a relationship with (even a relationship as nebulous and undefined as ours was) with someone else. but mostly because when actually faced with the fact that people do seem to have successful, long-term relationships, i feel as if i'm still not really quite capable of that. and of course the two of those things together..

but, these were basically all the before feelings, and went away when i actually met erin.l. (yes, er!n's boyfriend has the same first name as her, spelled the same way.) i was just meeting someone who's really important to one of my really good friends, which is the most normal thing in world.

although, on the ride down to new haven er!n was sorta complaining that she hasn't really met any of my other friends (except bret, and that was only briefly). but she's kind of an oddball friend, in that i didn't meet her at nmh or risd. and by that reasoning, my other close oddball friend, george, who i've know forever, i think has only met sonali.

anyway, the three of us went for japanese food. talked about computers mostly, from what i remember. went back to erin.l's room for a bit. talked about music. and then er!n and i left.

we stayed up kinda late, but er!n had to work in the morning.