Plan A

I'm in a pretty good mood today. It doesn't seem to matter that I'm running on only four hours of sleep. I like teaching the start of World War I. It's like watching some enormous vicious man-eating flower unfold, petal by petal.

The other day I got an email from another woman who studies voice with my voice teacher. She said that she knows me from Columbia-- that we sang together in the Opera Ensemble when we were undergrads. Her name was unfamiliar to me, but I went onto Facebook to look her up, and I sort of remember her. She's also listed as friends with my friend, NiS. But here's the weirder part-- she's friends with the Smolderer! That creepy guy who used to hit on me in Cheers! It is so completely random. Sometimes NY is such a small village.

Anyway, it's been a nice week (that is, if I ignore its undertones. But, I've got plenty of practice with that!). On Tuesday night after my long day and after AA, I ended up going back down to Narc's place. I didn't get there until 12:30 AM or so, as I was on the phone with my mom forever. She was telling me some story about how she and my stepfather just bought a winning lotto ticket on their trip to Puerto Rico and that she wants to give her winnings ($200 or so) to the woman who was cleaning the town square in whatever town they were visiting.

On Wednesday morning, Narc and I ate lunch at Mocca and then headed back to Chinatown to see if we could figure out what to do with my busted PS2. The guys in the shop said that they wouldn't be able to fix it, but they were selling used Playstation 2's for $95. That was way more than I wanted to spend, but since I already had AV cables and controllers, they said they'd bring it down to $60. Narc had some games he wanted to sell back, so he contributed them to my fund. I ended up walking out of there with a "new" used PS2 and a copy of Okami all for the cost of $37!!

From there he went off to do his martial arts class (I'm so proud of him for finally going!) and I went straight to therapy. I love therapy so much these days. I wish I could go every day! After that I had a voice lesson in which I worked endlessly to float that damn B-flat. It is right on my break. My voice kept wanting to flip up and sing a C.

"I've never met a voice that wanted to sing a high-C more than yours!" my voice teacher exclaimed.

I've got to practice this a million more times if I'm going to brave it on Sunday night. I can sing a B-flat at full volume, no problem. It's the floating it that's hard for me.

Anyway, after that, I originally planned to go to AA, but instead decided to come home to finish grading midterms. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I got side tracked by trying out God of War. It was awesome. Granted, I was playing on the "easy" level, but I defeated the three-headed Hydra and passed level-1 all by myself. I was very proud. But it was also an enormous waste of time. By the time I put the controller down, it was already 10:30 PM and I hadn't even started the grading.

I went down to NDN's place, had a couple of bites of old Chinese food for dinner, got a quick update on the happenings in his life, and then set about grading exams while he did whatever work he had to do. Narc texted me at around 11:00 PM. He said he wanted to come up to my place. (Twice in one week? Ok...) But while NDN was on the phone with American Express, I got another text from Narc that he was having a Guinness night-cap at Cheers. I dashed off to meet him.

He was a little bit tipsy when I got there, having just come from drinks with friends. But he was in a good mood-- a better mood than I've seen him in for a long time. And I loved it. I just love him. PumpedUp was there and thanked me for the birthday card. He greeted Narc; I felt a tinge of discomfort, remembering all of the tales he has heard about me and Narc over the years. But, whatever... Narc and I went outside to smoke. I was freezing, as I had run across the street with no coat. Narc gave me his. It was sweet.

Before long, NDN came down to join us. He and Narc debated the merits of Full Metal Jacket and the origins of that new movie 21. Narc had a few more beers and then we headed back home. (Did I mention that I love him? I forgot what it was like to be out with him at a bar, with him in "public" mode. I miss it!). I picked up my exams at NDN's place and finished grading half while Narc played a little God of War. Who knows-- maybe he'll be more willing to come to my place more often now that I have the PS2.

Last night was just awesome. I loved being with him. I felt super close to him when we were intimate. It was just beautiful and perfect.

We didn't get to bed until around 4:00 AM, though. And this morning I had to wake up at 8:00 AM to resume grading. I promised my students their midterms back. Thankfully I got them done-- and in time to have some morning sex too. All is well with the world, except that I have to go get some Plan B.

What was Plan A again? Denial?

Anyway, that's it for now.

love,
h