2001-12-07
Got a girl's number!, posted at 8:19 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Last night was a cool night.Jason cancelled out at the last minute for the Monument Lighting ceremony. I was pissed off at first, since I waited until 5:30 to wake him up from his nap, then he told me he had all this other stuff to do that night (why was he napping, then?). (Post note - wow, I sure can be critical) But my other roommate Mike still went with me, and I decided to bring Holden along. I dressed him up with his reindeer antlers, and he also wore his omnipresent pointsettia bandana. He was definitely in the Christmas spirit. I was, too, with my Santa tie still on from work. I was going to change, but then I figured that since I was going to a holiday event, that I should look the part.
The lighting ceremony was cool and all, but let's get to the real news: I got a girl's number. Her name is Sue, she works in a hospital as an ultrasound technician, she's from upstate New York, is fairly attractive but not intimidatingly so, and she loves my dog. She came over pretty early, petting Holden and chatting with me. Then, she just didn't leave. After a while, I got a clue that she might be interested. After the thing got over, an hour had passed, and finally I asked for her name, and then her number. She gave it to me.
I feel like Rico Suave.
What's cool about it is that it didn't really feel like a big deal. I wasn't all nervous or anything like that. It was just natural. Could this be... growth? Woah.
Jason, of course, immediately jumped into the role as my dating advisor upon my return home. I shouldn't call her for three days, he says. Maybe Saturday. Can't seem desperate. He's also a tad jealous, I think. Not only did I win our little "go on a date by 2002" bet by going out on that date on Tuesday night, now I have a different girl's phone number.
Anyhow, the monument lighting ceremony was awesome. I really enjoyed it - it was the type of event that one should participate in if living in a big city. Actually, it had a sort of small-town atmosphere while doing it. Our mayor spoke, with his two toddler-aged students, the school's choir performed, and there were festival stands set up.
Holden was a big hit - not only was he a "babe magnet" (pardon the derotatory comment - I'm only joking), but little kids hung off of him all night. These two cute little girls were petting him all night. One asked me what his name was like ten times. Then, she asked me to pick her up to watch the monument lighting ceremony. I wasn't sure who her parents were - they seemed to be sisters, and were Black, and the only adults talking to them were white. Maybe they were just being watched. I dunno. But I did pick her up. She was definitely a neat little kid. Probably 6 years old. She took a picture of me and Holden together, all decked out in our holiday gear.
Holden was wonderfully patient all night, just hanging out and laying down during the choir performances and the speeches. He didn't much like the fireworks at the end, but they were relatively short. I just held him tight, listening to his heart race as he tried to get away from the noise. It reminded me of the quote from the Ani DiFranco song "Independence Day" - "We drove the car / To the top of the parking ramp / 4th of July / Sat out on the hood / With a couple of warm beers / And watched the fireworks / Explode in the sky / There was an exodus of birds from the trees / Cuz they didn't know / We were only pretending / And the people all looked up and looked pleased / And the birds flew around / Like the whole world was ending." That's definitely one of my top five favorite Ani DiFranco songs.
Hmmm, what are the other ones? Independence Day, In or Out, Gravel, 32 Flavors, Untouchable Face. How cliche. Kelly is probably groaning right now. I'd probably include Every State Line in there. Maybe Fuel. Perhaps Pulse. Maybe Cradle and All. Definitely Both Hands. Maybe this should have been a top-ten list.
Speaking of Ani, I was thinking about bringing in her song "Both Hands" as a figurative language review for my kids - a little "drill," if you will. I love the following verse: "I am watching your chest / rise and fall / like the tides of my life / and the rest of it all / and your bones have been my bedframe / and your flesh has been my pillow / and I've been waiting for sleep / to offer up the deep / with both hands..." and it's got a simile and two metaphors right there. But I'm not sure if my kids would appreciate the song. Plus, I'm in a hating-freshmen stage. I called about six parents last night after 7th period. Hopefully today things will improve. I have seven kids who need to serve detention tonight if they want to avoid disciplinary referrals.
Some more news: Today is Friday, which is good. Today is also payday, and the first payday with my 5% raise. It's also the first payday where I'm having money deposited into my 401B, so I'm glad the 5% will be there to offset it. With the $129 New Years bill, the $150 I owe my parents, the $130 I just paid for car insurance (2 months worth, since I didn't pay it last month), the $80 I owe Jason for paying bills this week, and the holidays, all of this check is pretty much spent. What's that, $500 already? Woah. I still need to go grocery shopping, and plan on making a big holiday order at Amazon today. Shit.
Nate called last night. He spoke "off the record," meaning that he didn't want everything he said to show up at "epiphany dot com." Ha. To sum up the conversation without getting specific, here goes: he's excited about coming up despite the early freakout about what we're doing on New Years and Gale's cancellation, he just bought 13 CDs, and is looking forward to the vacation. And I'm looking forward to his (and Paul and Kelly's) arrival here in Baltimore. I'm going to love playing tour guide. I'm glad they're coming on the 27th, so we have a couple of days before the rest of the crew arrives.
Only ten more days of school until the break!