5.19.99

    Maybe you're wondering where I've been. I've been hiding. Well, that's only partially true. Last weekend I was in Seattle for my friend Sonia's bachelorette. Monday, I started a new temp job. And, frankly, I've been avoiding my computer and email. It's been nice. Especially since email has been particularly annoying lately. I don't like getting things in email that people wouldn't say to my face. I don't like have people tell me that my designs are "horrible" especially when the design in question looks stellar. This isn't a rampant ego talking, this is honesty. If it was Lynda Weinmann saying this to me I might buy it. Maybe if it was David Siegel. But, it isn't. It really isn't.

    And, while I'm venting, T. and I just got half of our deposit back from our L.A. apartment. Half. Our deposit was $800 and they took $60 for carpet cleaning and $267 for painting. They claimed that the $267 is one third of the actual total that it's costing them to repaint. You remember the amazingly detailed paint job that we had in our one bedroom hovel, don't you? Their claim makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. They are simply screwing us and they know it. It's been really hard to keep myself from bursting into a white, hot ball of flaming fury. I'm gonna get an ulcer if this crap keeps happening.

    On top of that, we got a call from the LAPD to let us know that some crackhead (no, really, they said he was a crackhead) stole T.'s ATM card either from our mailbox or off of our front porch. T. had lost his card about a week before the move and had called to get a replacement. Wells Fargo said they'd send it next-day air. But, since Hells Fargo are a pack of liars they didn't send it next-day. So, it came after we left and a crackhead wandered by (as they are wont to do through our beautiful, upscale, $800-a-pop-paint-job, apartment complex) and picked it up. Luckily, we closed our account shortly after we arrived here so no apparent damage has been done. Crackheads, apartment owners and Chuck — oh my! Someone, somewhere is laughing at us.

Friday

    Headed out of town at 4 p.m. with Byrne and Remi and the rest of the girls to go to Seattle. We played a version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon where one person names two actors and then you have to connect them together through a string of movies. Remi kicked our asses which shocked the hell out of me. I thought that I was a movie buff but this girl watches movies. She might not actually call herself a "buff" but I think she's seen every movie made in the last ten years. Every movie.

    We got into Seattle around seven and then met Skwon (Sonia) and her sister to go out to dinner. Circumstances and looking for a parking spot and waiting in line outside of the restaurant put us at 9:30 with our dinner. I was about to gnaw my right hand off I was so hungry. We didn't get to our hotel room until around 12 and then I stayed awake listening to Remi and Byrne snore and Magoo be frustrated. I wasn't that irked that I couldn't sleep because it felt so nice to just lie down and be quiet. I finally got a few hours of sleep and it's reported that I, too, am a bit of a snorer. Oh well.

Saturday morning

    We went golfing. Well, the girls went golfing — I don't know what the hell I was doing. You know, I even have golf shoes now. I picked up a pair of seconds at the Foot Locker outlet in L.A. of, get this, DKNY golf shoes. Isn't that hilarious? The kicker is that out of all of the girls that played that morning I was the only one wearing freaking golf shoes. And, boy did I stink. I have to say that I only missed the ball three times. That's pretty good. However, every ball I hit was a grounder, a grass burner. I just couldn't get it into the air.

Saturday afternoon, the shower and bachelorette.

    The shower was a lot of fun. There ended up being a fairly small group of us and we just sat outside and drank beers and had barbecue and watched Skwon open her presents. I played photographer and hopefully got lots of good pics of the whole thing. Of course, that means that I won't be in any pictures. I do get kind of sick of seeing so many photos at my friends' houses of each other and I wonder where I am and realize I took the shot. Serves me right, I suppose.

    After we ate and drank and talked and laughed and played "Pin the Macho on the Man" (you figure it out) we headed out towards the nightlife. Skwon wore the infamous pink veil that has now come full circle in our group and carried a toyboy blow-up doll who was a demure foot high.

    Originally, we had intended to take in a comedy club before the bar scene but for some reason or another that was nixed. So, we went to this very scary hole-in-the-wall bar notorious for cheap, stiff drinks. Unfortunately, according to Sarah, the drinks at Frontiers were also "diiiiisguuusting!"

    After that we tromped blocks and blocks to a burned-out building which was apparently supposed to be place called The Vogue. While I suspect the building wasn't ever The Vogue in the first place we tromped blocks and blocks back the way we came to stand in line in front of some place called 218. We literally had to stand in line so that the club could make it look like they were really popular and totally packed. It was deserted when we got inside.

    I felt like the biggest dork in this place. It was a total meat market with body-builder guys and girls wearing stilettos and crotch-length dresses. It was Night at the Roxbury gone real. There were actual cage dancers. And, I was the only girl wearing glasses.

    When I was in college I used to go out dancing quite a bit. If it wasn't at a house party then it was at the town's only gay bar. I used to even have some outfits to go dancing in. Not much in the closet anymore. I'd like to take T. dancing again sometime soon. I miss it. I think I'll skip The Roxbury next time.

Sunday morning (praise the dawning)

    We got to bed pretty late but got to sleep in a little Sunday morning. Skwon made the best breakfast and we all shovelled. Her seamstress came over with one of the finished bridesmaids dresses. I am not a bridesmaid but everyone else there was. The sole maid missing was Chels who couldn't make it. It was really apparent that she was missing, too. All night it felt like someone was supposed to be there. It was kind of eerie.

    I keep going back and forth from being bummed at not being a bridesmaid to being glad at not having the hassle. None of my girlfriends have asked me and they're pretty much all married off now. Oh well. Sonia's dresses are really cute, though. It's going to be a great wedding.

    I helped drive us partway home slightly hungover and headachy. I had Byrne hold the wheel while I feigned being asleep as Weve and Sarah passed us. The ride was mostly shenanigan-free.

Monday

    Started a new temp job. Supposedly, there's a chance of going permanent but I'm not holding my breath. It's an interesting company. They have a few different divisions (CD-ROM, print, video, web) and there's seems to be quite a bit of potential for learning. I'm not quite sure what they had in mind for me when I started but at the moment I'm building a small website, basically doing production.

    The office space itself is huge and hip and highly-decorated. There's a pool table and pinball machine in the break room. There's four kinds of Starbuck's coffee always brewing. There's live music on Wednesdays! I found underwear in the freezer! Apparently, the former happens every other Wednesday and is broadcast somewhere on the web. The latter, I'm told, is uncommon but not unsurprising.

    We'll see how this part of my life spins itself out. I'm eager for good news. Any good news.