magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

Today's theme is space. As in astronomy.

But first brunch at Life with Dan. Our old regular waitress, Molly, who had quit, as I found out through craigslist missed connections, was filling in for a day to make a few extra bucks for a (holiday?) trip. She's been teaching. And seems happy. 'I see your friend, the bike kid, with the long braid, around all the time,' she said.

'Where is Chris?' Dan asked.

'He works on Sundays.'

'Well, I see him everywhere,' Molly says. 'And it's weird, because I recognize him from waiting on him, but really don't know him at all.'

Daniel calls and I don't answer my phone.

Marie calls. 'Would you happen to be at home?'

No, Dan and I would happen to be at Life Cafe.'

Ellen calls. I walk outside. 'Are you outside.'

'I just stepped out from brunch. It's noisy in there.'

'I don't want to interrupt your food. Call me back when you're done.'

Back inside. 'I'm just Mr Popular today.'

At home I call Ellen back. Today we were planning a second attempt at a sober date. The planetarium, although figuring out their schedule was a handful. 'Or I'm always up to see a movie,' she suggested. 'Or go to the Met.'

None of the movies playing sounded great. 'I'm kind of interested in the planetarium, if for no other reason than to see the building. It was written up in all the architecture magazines a few years ago.'

'Okay. Let's meet there at three. At the main entrance.'

I called Daniel back. 'So you probably think I've been ignoring you all weekend. It's largely just that we don't have internet access at home right now. And more has been going on than I expected.' We talked for about fifteen minutes before I had to run again.

The subway.

My phone rings. Ellen. 'So it just occurred to me that you might be waiting at an entirely different place than I am. I'm at the main entrance to the Natural History Museum, not the entrance to the Rose Center.'

'I'm making my way there now from the subway. I'm sure I'll figure it out.'

'I'm sitting underneath the statue of Benjamin Franklin. If that helps.'

The planetarium was cool. But it wasn't the sort of experience that we remember (or imagine that we remember) from our childhoods. There are shows every half hour in the big spherical theatre, and they are about space and stars and things, but they are more like slick documentaries than a recreation of the night sky.

Plus, it was Sunday afternoon, and so the place was teeming with little kids. 'It just reinforces my desire not to have any,' Ellen says.

'I just totally tune them out. It makes me wonder what sort of a parent I would be, if I can just ignore screaming kids.'

We did get to learn about the history of the universe. Quasars and pulsars and nebulae. 'My very first PA job,' Ellen tells me, 'was on a documentary for the Discovery Channel called Cathedrals of the Sky. I spent a lot of time looking for pictures like that. At one point I could have told you without looking at the caption that that is the Eagle Nebula.' And during the intro to the show we saw, The Search for Life, 'That guy was in the documentary I worked on.'

The planetarium itself is relatively small, and so afterward we headed into the Natural History Museum proper. Mammals of North America. American Indians. 'Let's find the dinosaurs,' I said.

I was probably six or seven the last time I was in this museum. It was when they still had the tyrannosaurus rex standing upright. It's one of those few images that's stuck in my head from that age of things that I've come back to that have been totally different. Like looking at jellyfish off the pier in Providence when I was five and the river was still paved over.

When they kicked us out of the museum (because it was closing, not because we were making trouble), Ellen asked, 'So, do we continue on from here together? Or do we go out separate ways.'

'I'm not opposed to continuing to hang out with you. But it would be nice if it involved food at some point.'

'How does Indian sound?' We took the train downtown to her favourite Indian restaurant, not so much for the food as for the ambiance, one of the crazy gaudy places on East 6th Street. The food was okay. I've found 6th Street very hit or miss in the past. Visually it was all a little overwhelming, but not in an altogether bad way.

Afterward, at the 1st Ave L station, 'This is Brooklyn bound, the 8th Ave entrance is across the street. I guess this is another point of decision.'

'Well, is it really only ten of eight?'

'It is. We ate early. Plus, entering the museum in the daytime and leaving when it was dark makes things a little disorienting. The afternoon kind of gets swallowed up.'

'So what do people do in a situation like this when they're not drinking? You're welcome to come and hang out at my place. We could watch Cathedrals of the Sky. Although I do have to warn you that it's bad. It put my whole family to sleep when I showed it to them. I had to wake them up to see my name in the credits.

And truthfully, it was pretty bad. Although, it did contain such gems as the fact that George Hale was visited by 'a little elf' who offered him advise and criticism about the 100 inch reflector telescope he set out to build at the Mount Wilson Observatory. And the fact that the Catholic church could 'silence one old man' but not the progression of scientific discovery.

We then watched half of The Man Who Fell to Earth to cap off the space themed day. It's an amazing film. It offers no explanations for the fractured unfolding narrative that jumps and jerks forward at what you can only assume to be years at a time. I'm curious how it all ends up, but it was getting late, and we decided to call it a night before the film ran its course.

The minor supporting theme of the day, also recurring, was Native American jewelery.