The Day I Saw A Play With Aly After Finding Out They Want To Raise My Rent

"It just sucks because I really, truly loved him. I saw our future. I wanted to have kids with him. I wanted to push him in a wheelchair when he was an old man. I wanted that. I saw that. And when that's no longer an option, now... It's bizarre. It's so bizarre. But it tells me something, you know? It tells me that I'm capable of that." - Meredith 

Today was an important day with some noteworthy plot developments, scattered here amongst memorable quotations plucked from the day's interactions. This was my first "Day Off" in a while, which I mostly spent at the laundry mat, the Starbucks in Carmichael, and the B Street Theatre when I wasn't playing videogames in my bedroom or making quick stops at Old Soul.

"Chris... I do like you, but as a friend." - Aly

I'd pushed my laundry to the brink. My final shirt. My final pair of socks. Today I lugged all of my wardrobe two blocks to City Suds for my third-ever Laundry In The City event. Wasn't so bad. Always good to have peanut mnm's from the vending machine for breakfast. 

"I have a weird favor to ask you. I have to open on Saturday and Sunday, and I don't want to have to drive all the way from my house--so I was wondering if I could crash at your house on Friday and Saturday night." - Kirsten

Hank made me the best turkey cranberry sandwich.

"That's a sharp haircut you got there." - Hank

"Have you tried online yet?" - Sean

Then I went out to Carmichael to meet AJ at Starbucks and get my half of the AT&T bill. She brought Banjo along and it's still hard to see that dog and not miss him like all hell. He was a great dog. I tried my damnedest not to get too attached to him while AJ and I were together, knowing we were doomed, and yet I've come to realize that I miss him a lot more than I expected. Seeing him was nice. Seeing AJ was nice, too, in knowing we have the potential to be honest friends, and much more so than when we were actually together.

"Maybe pay an extra fifty the next two months for the back-pay, and pay the 550 starting next month. I'm sure this isn't the best news to hear. I don't know how it happened. It was advertised at 550. So anyway, how's work? How's Old Soul? Still kickin' ass?" - Paul

Fuckers figured out that they'd been under-charging me 100 bucks for rent the past two months. I guess that extra 100 is for utilities. But the lease, which Paul and I both signed, says the rent is 450. It's a year-lease and I'm half-tempted to say "Fuck off." But the nicer part of me wants to barter, instead. They give me a price-hike on the rent and shorten my lease to 6 months. I might ask for a no-lease option, then see if they try to bargain for 6. That way, I figure I'll have the option to find cheaper rent, or fucking leave Sacramento altogether. Who knows? 

"One night I came home during break and she had, I kid you not, 10 people in the living room. And we had just talked about how I felt about unexpected guests like two nights earlier. It reminded me a lot of what would happen with you. Except, you know, she talked about it. But she's a woman; we're programed to be that way." - AJ

Meredith came by after she was done at Old Soul and we smoked a bowl. She talked about her break-up and I tried my best to be wise and comforting, which went well, for the most part. I'm happy she's become a bigger character in my life, more than just a coworker. That was the best part about Aromas in Santa Rosa because my coworkers became real friends, over time. I'm glad to see that happening again.

"You gonna be at tea training tomorrow?" - Jason

The day was rounded up with a few hours of Black Ops (the single-player campaign is intense and, as one reviewer said, "should be rated by IMDB, not IGN") and then a trip with Aly to the B Street Theatre. I'd gotten tickets for "Well" at 7pm. We grabbed a slice of pizza from Luigi's and ate quickly in the parking lot outside the theatre before the show. Got good seats. The show was great and complicated and emotional and well-acted. For the last twenty minutes, I had my arm around Aly's shoulders--partly because it was more comfortable, and partly as a litmus test. Turns out she's neutral: she's not interested in anything more than friends, which takes a lot of pressure off my chest, knowing where the boundaries are. Can't say it wasn't an uncomfortable moment in the car ride back to my house, but it passed, and it's gone, and so Aly is a friend. I guess now things just go on normally. 

"If someone handed me a burger and said, 'It's human,' I'd say, 'Just don't tell me where it came from,' and I'd eat it." - Anthony, the barber. 

- Left to Fry