magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

my dad called at nine this morning. they are off to sunny florida today. i was half asleep and didn't tell him about my new job news. i wasn't planning on getting up until ten, and ended up staying in bed until a bit past noon.

and then it was raining. after a fruitless trip into the center of williamsburg to try and get another set of keys for my apartment (i've got one now, but my roommates are trading off two sets between the three of them), i got back on the L going east, to the J, to what i thought was the jamaica station of the long island rail road. but, as it turns out, the lirr station is not at the last stop on the J/Z, jamaica center, but at the next to last stop which is named something else entirely. i did find it though, after wandering around in the rain in queens for a while, and got on the lirr heading further east, out to hicksville, long island.

you see, there's an ikea in hicksville. i was hoping to get hardware to build my loft bed. and maybe a shaving mirror. the last, and only other time that i've been in an ikea was with stef. we were buying furniture together. and we were having so much fun. i knew that this would dredge up a lot of that. but the showroom part of the store was even more painful than i was expecting. i made my way quickly to the info desk in the bedroom section. 'i was wondering if it was possible to buy just the hardware for one of the beds?' i asked.

the woman told me that it wasn't. that they came as a kit, and the hardware, while sometimes packaged separately, was part of the whole. 'but,' she went on after some more directed questions, 'the center beam and slats are available in the self service furniture section downstairs. they are separate from the kit because they are common to a number of beds.'

i was waylaid by the lighting section on my way to self service furniture. i bought three hanging lamps and red and white polka dotted shades.

i found the slats and center beam, but without the clips that the center beam attaches to, it's pretty worthless. i asked an employee if those were available as well. he said that he didn't think so, but i could try at customer service.

in the customer service section (or more accurately, 'returns and exchanges') there was a desk with a sign that said 'parts and hardware'. i walked up to it. 'what can i help you with?' the woman said.

'well, i was hoping to get some, or possibly all, of the hardware for the malm bed.'

'sure,' she said. 'what size?'

'um, full.' she headed to a filing cabinet and pulled out a set of directions, which includes a parts inventory. 'also, and i don't know if they count as part of the hardware, but i'm looking for the side-rails too.'

'that is something that i'm not sure if i can help with. but let me look.' she walked into the back room, and addressed someone working back there. 'are there any extra side-rails for the malm bed? returns or spare parts?'

and a voice, 'yeah, i think so.'

she came back out. 'i'm going to go try and find them, in the meantime you can look through the directions and see what you need from the rest of the hardware.' after a few minutes she came out with two six foot long, metal side-rails. 'and there's no charge on these,' she said.

'wow, thanks so much.' i pointed out the hardware that i needed, and headed back into the self service furniture section to pick up the center beam and slats. back at the desk i told her, 'the last time i put this bed together i stabbed myself in the hand with a screwdriver,' pointing at my palm, 'and cursed ikea. but this more than makes up for it. you've totally made my day.' she even made sure i had plastic wrapped around the wooden slats when she found out that i was planning on walking back to the lirr station in the rain.

'are you sure you can handle all that?'

'i'll figure it out. every day's an adventure.'

it proved to be considerably more difficult that i was expecting. but after much pain and concerted effort i made it to the station. then the F. then the L. and home.

i was supposed to meet becky for dinner at eight. i realized waiting on the platform at the hicksville lirr station, way out in long island, that i wasn't going to be back in time. i called her. pushed dinner back to nine.

showered when i got home and was back out the door. another few stops on the L. and dinner at another trendy but reasonably priced thai restaurant in williamsburg. dinner was nice. sort of typical first date, insofar as i've seen that sort of thing happen on tv shows and in movies. we went to the royal oak afterwards, for a few drinks.

but the night ended early. she's showing her apartment to some potential new roommates tomorrow and wanted to clean in the morning. i took the G with her to her stop, and walked home from there. the L isn't running all weekend, which started at midnight tonight, right about the time that we got to the subway station. it had stopped raining though, and the rain had brought some slightly warmer air in behind it.

walking home i felt weird about the whole evening. becky was nice enough, and kind of cute. but something was odd. and then i realized that it might be the fact that she's my age, and living life as someone who is my age is sort of expected to be living. she's worked at a job that she hates for a couple of years, but it keeps her financially stable. she's lived in the same apartment for the last three years. she semi-regularly goes on dates.

at the corner of evergreen and flushing, two blocks from my apartment, i ran into alex.l, who was leaving work at life cafe and headed home. he apologized about not getting back to me on superbowl sunday. his monster installation went much later than planned. i told him that i had gone on a date instead. and was actually coming back from another date now. 'not that i'm ready to be dating at all,' i said. 'i still only really want to be with stef. but i guess it's good to be getting out there and meeting people and all of that.'

our paths converged naturally for a block, and he invited me up to see his place. all the buildings in my neighborhood are converted loft spaces, except for the two or three that are sill active factory or warehouse buildings. his apartment is a little smaller than mine, i think, but they did a really cool job of building within the space. there's a room on either side, and a third room that is the second floor above them. they put in a darkroom, and have a silkscreening registration table. and old windows built into their walls. makes me awfully jealous, i wish i had been involved in the design and building of my space.