Taterville

First: through human contact. Fernando came over in the morning and mentioned he'd read that I was bummed out. Well, Fernando always reads this, so I expected he'd know. Then Darin and I went over to the Boys' house and when we walked in, Al said, "Are you still in your funk?" For half a second, I was angry at Darin for having said something like that to him; then I realized that Al must have read my page and was asking how I was.

Second: I got some really nice e-mail, not only about my anniversary but about being bummed out. Lucy Huntzinger sent me this:

Do not wallow in bummage too long, for that way lies madness and short sentences with one-syllable words. Think not of expectations but of faith: the faith to keep going despite an emotional reality that screams failure, liar, faker. Cut back on coffee, take up meditation, ogle young men in tight swimsuits, do whatever it takes to relax between the bouts of writing and the bouts of not-writing. Rejoice in the knowledge that you don't have to pay me for this advice!

Lucy la therapiste Huntzinger

Which is nice, you know? People you've never even met asking how you're doing.

Yesterday wasn't great, which is why I didn't write. Darin and I played computer games -- he played Heroes of Might and Magic II and I played Diablo. Fernando came over and we went to lunch, having decided not to see a movie. We came back home and Fernando took off.

The phone rang and it was Therese, asking if we were coming over to the Boys for steaks. This led to a disagreement between me and Darin: I thought he had known about this and forgotten to tell me; Darin thought Harry had mentioned it the other day when Harry and Brent showed up to go to lunch with Darin. Certainly neither of us were prepared for dinner. We got up and went.

I played Masters of Orion 2 all night. I got lots of assistance from Darin, Al, and Harry, all of whom had played it a lot. I kept getting frustrated and restarting the game.

Brent and Therese's daughter Bunchkin ran around a great deal. Therese and I went in the backyard and played with her for a while. We played with clay of many colors, grating it, shaving it, making pizza out it. I never played with clay when I was little, or with crayons either. My mother thought they'd make a mess, and she was right -- they do make a mess. Bunchkin feared the ants would get into the clay, when she wasn't squishing them.

At dinner Harry told Bunchkin that she could have a popsicle when she was finished with dinner. Bunchkin, no fool she, immediately dropped her fork and said, "I'm done." Brent (who probably wasn't too pleased with Harry promising her dessert) said, "You have to eat a few more bites." Bunchkin (who wasn't too pleased with Daddy telling her when she was actually done) grudgingly ate a few more bites before digging into a couple of popsicles. Ah, kids.

Today, though...today was a waste of space. I woke up at noon, and that was a struggle. I woke up and was completely numb, like my brain had woken up and the rest of me hadn't. Not quite the paralysis of a hypnogogic experience, but close. I had just had a dream in which I was visiting the new digs of my friend Renee, who was covering the walls with a jigsaw puzzle. At first I thought it was a trompe l'oeil painting of a jigsaw puzzle on the walls, but it turned out to be a huge puzzle. For some reason Kyle Secor was there too, but I don't question why Kyle Secor is ever there.

I flopped out of bed and ate a bowl of cereal while reading the screenplay to Scream in the current Scenario magazine. Then I went back downstairs and played Diablo while Darin continued playing Heroes of Might and Magic II.

We probably would have continued doing that all day (what was left of it) when Mj called. Mj had wanted to scan some drawings he'd made a while ago into the computer, and while we don't have a scanner, the Boys do. He came over to our house and the three of us went over to the Boys'. I played Master of Orion 2 while Mike, Darin, and Mj scanned in the pix. Then we headed out and got some dinner.

Came home. Mj left. Darin and I have been like taters ever since.

The only things I've learned this weekend are that people read The Paperwork and take note of what I've read in it, and that using Windows 95 (Master of Orion 2) and Windows NT (Diablo) is a HUGE pain in the butt.

People, it's not just like a Macintosh, okay?