Pastry & parties

Pastry and Parties cure many things

Last week, after I found out there would be no pay for a week and a half of hard labor, after I realized how bad things really were in Nashville, after I gave up on a lot of stuff I kept hoping would happen, after I popped some blood vessels in my right eye from stress, after I had recycled the sand in the sandblaster so many times that it was like working with confectioner's sugar - after all that -

I went out and had two days of incredible fun.

Thursday after noon I dropped what I was doing and called Dinan, who is also unemployed, broke, and verging on despair. We decided to have a good day, and walked from her house on Belmont down to the Village, where we got us some fancy-schmancy bakery lunch at Provance, our favorite place in Nashville. I had a squash tart with little leaves cut from pastry dough on the top. Dinan had a pasta dish and we both drank expensive hot tea and laughed and carried on because we crack each other up. We loafed around a shop or two and then sat down at Fido's coffee shop to read the Scene and wait for Winn to pick us up for a party.

By then it was already after 7, and the party was already going at Underdown's. A lot of my favorite people were there - Kati, Michael, Andrew, just to name a few - but the house was full, from top to bottom. I got hugged a lot. A lot of people said, "What happened to your eye!?!" and I laughed and told them it was stress, but I think people thought I was lying because I was in such a good mood. I wished Cairy and Skeet were there, but it was already getting late in the evening.

The party went on for a few hours, and a pagan circle was held to which Dinan and I were the atheist observers. Later, there was Waffle House and more laughing and Kati was practically glowing, she was so happy. And we were all - it was one of those nights - well, that defy proper description, I suppose. I was happy again. After a month of nearly having no hope at all -

Friday I slept past noon and then Dinan and I drove around Williamson County listening to mix CD's and looking at the countryside. It was winter suddenly. We made fun of the horrible McMansions going up everywhere and made fun of stupid landscaping decisions. Then we went to Lowe's and looked at Hardware, but didn't buy anything. Some girls go out for shoes, Dinan and I go out for lighting fixtures.

Later we picked up Ron and rented a subtitled French action movie and I stayed up way late. I woke up and read trashy science fiction and then researched a little about the Knights Templar, as they had been mentioned in the movie the night before. It was Saturday, and Winn took me out for a Chinese lunch, where I saw foods again I hadn't seen since Boston or DC. Pastries filled with lotus, Dim Sum. We both admitted we liked each other more than we should. The sun was shining. I managed to get back to Atlanta Saturday night, and I have an interview with Target Monday morning. It's OK. It's all right. Things will work out. For the life of me, I can't remember why I was pushing so hard. Stress does terrible things to your body. I'm nearly better now.

I apologise for the run-on sentences and fragmented thoughts. I should be collected again in a week or so.