magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

the plus of getting in so late last night was that i was able to sleep until about noon.

last night i asked chris, 'are we going to do brunch tomorrow?'

'call me when you get up, but i'm not making any promises.' i called him. left voicemail. took a shower. watched some more queer as folk. eventually a bit past two chris called back. 'i just got up. i need to take a shower.'

'call me when you're done. we'll figure something out.' and forty-five minutes later, 'i was thinking veg-city, since i haven't been there in a while.'

'half an hour?' he said. and half an hour later i'm outside of veg-city which is closed for two weeks for renovations. half an hour further on, chris rides up on his bike. 'sorry,' he says, 'the atm i stopped at wasn't working and i had to ride around looking for another one.'

'well, they're closed anyway. so i guess we've got to figure something else out. it is almost four now, but i'd still like something breakfast-like.'

'does kate's serve breakfast all day?'

'don't know. we can walk down that way, and there's another place on the way, a new vegetarian restaurant, that might.' the new place didn't seem to. we got to kate's about twenty minutes too late to order brunch. the walk was nice though, it was in the 50s today, and sunny. i got a vegan pizza. it wasn't what i had been craving, but was okay.

we sat and talked. about our respective social inadequacies. walked around manhattan for a while. 'i always feel weird about calling people and asking them what's going on.' this is what we were doing. 'i feel like i should have suggestions of things to do, instead of attempting to insinuate myself into their plans.'

'i feel the same way,' he said. 'but i never have any idea of what to do.'

er!n was going to a birthday for a friend in manhattan. 'you could come,' she said.

'maybe.'

'maybe? you just said that we should make plans to hang out, and i offered a suggestion of where i was going to be and that you could come, and it's just a maybe?'

'i'm still feeling out exactly what i'm going to be doing tonight.'

'well that's where i'm going to be at about 10.30, so if you want to come by, call me around then.'

'okay. i'll call you either way.'

as it happens, i ended up back in brooklyn. there was a note on my hand to call sonali (who is coming to visit next weekend), er!n, robin, and chris.

i stopped by paolo's on the way back home. we talked about comics and art in general and life and stuff. he worked on spiderman for a bit.

---

the woman who lives upstairs from them was having a birthday party too. she's a bit older, but had invited them to come up. so we went up there for a bit. drank mojitos.

robin called. she was going out dancing with a friend from home, and the french boy, and some other kids, and did i want to come along? i called er!n and left voicemail. called chris to tell him what was up. sonali called me back (i had left her a message a little earlier). we made more definite plans for her visit.

'i just want to let you know that i'm up for whatever you want to do,' she said. 'whether it's break things, get really drunk, or go out and pick up hookers.'

'i'll keep those options in mind.'

'and those are really just the first three that came into my head.' we talked for a bit. 'didn't you say you were going out somewhere?'

'yeah, actually i'm just about to get onto the subway, so my phone won't be working for much longer anyway.'

'email me the best way to get to your house from laguardia. and i'll see you soon.'

it was a couple of minutes past midnight. i called robin. 'i'm just about to get on the subway at the lorimer stop. so i'm about five or ten minutes away. are you still at home?'

she and her friend justin were stupid drunk. i was a little tipsy from the mojitos and was handed a 40 of colt 45 when i walked in the door. and with half of that in me too, we headed out to red and black to meet up with thibault and his roommate. but justin is underage, and we couldn't get in.

back at robin's place i was fading quickly. they were going to try to go back out somewhere else. 'i don't know if i can get off the couch,' i said.

'we'll probably be back in fifteen minutes anyway.' they were back in two. 'it's gotten way too cold outside.'

thibault and vulcan ('a strong name. like a straight dick.') showed up after a bit. and then robin's friend jamie and a friend of his who was really drunk and passed out with half a bottle of beer in his hand, to be spilled later all over his lap.

i had another beer, but was still far from the level of drunk that all the other kids were, and eventually got motivated enough to put my jacket on, head for the subway, and home.