As usual, I'm completely unable to keep this thing up to date. I don't even really have links to post; I send them all to Nina. So.
The Rase moved out, giving me less than a week's notice, which kind of sucked. A friend of hers from Greece offered her a place nearer her office. I'll never understand the impulse to gravitate towards work. Depressing. Also, though, she was living in a closet and having to feed my cat all the time. Now no one is going to feed Kitty. Requiem for Kitty. Also, while I was cleaning up in Sophie's room, I unplugged the router, and now neither the router nor the DSL modem will give me an IP address. I've been relying on unsecured local networks for my fix, but I don't know how long I can last. Update: Yeah, so I bought myself a new router, and things seem to be working okay. R.I.P. Goethe; long live Flute Loop.
I signed up for Netflix, which is great. Are any of you 'flixers? Add me! I'm watching Night Watch right now, though, which is a mess.
As we did last year, a few weeks ago we all went apple picking -- me, Ted, Tom, Nina, Emma, and Katie. It was hotter and muggier than last time, and I don't think I picked as many apples -- and I was certainly down some after spilling a bunch all over the floor of the Gowanus Yacht Club, where we went in the evening to celebrate Katharine's 25th. I did, however, buy a bunch of preserves, including a jar of "dilly beans," which you all should probably try at some point before you die. Okay, I'm just kidding. They're basically pickles. Update: Nina and I used some of the apples she picked to bake a pie, which turned out okay, if a bit bitter. I ended up throwing most of mine away -- they got rotten.
Ted and Aanie threw a dinner party on Saturday night. They made, among other good things, roasted dates wrapped in bacon. That is actually something you guys should eat. They just taste right together.
I've got another road test on Wednesday. (Update: failed again.) Past two lessons with Lester have been good, parking-wise, but, you know, I have no idea why I'm good or bad at it, ever. Here's some Lester porn for you: "My mom came to stay with me last weekend. It was fucking torture. I think she's getting a bit of the, what do you call it, dementia. She says everything twice. She goes, 'Lester, when are you going to give me back my gun?' I'm like, 'Ma, you asked me that three hours ago, and I said no!'"
Also: "Yeah, I don't go to the movies any more. I like to rent movies. I like the darker stuff. Here, I've been trying to remember the name of this one movie I saw a long time ago -- it might be a book or a song or something, I'm not sure. I think it's called something like 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home' or 'Johnny Comes Home' or something. But it's about a guy who goes off to Vietnam, and, you know, he gets his arms and legs blown off, he's nothing but a torso, right, and he's in this hospital bed. And he can't see -- the screen is black the whole time -- and he can't talk, but what he really wants is for the nurse to give him a blowjob."
Me: "So what happens?"
"Yeah... yeah, she helps him out. She gives him a blowjob."