Seven o'clock, Wednesday.
The weather is fantastic. Jenny and I gather the bonfire gear from my room and start setting up the scene in the backyard. The projector, the screen, the computer, the speakers, the music. We string a new set of multi-colored lights across the yard and attach it to another, unused strand of white lights already draped through the tree branches near the fence. Then I fill a bucket with ice for the beer, snatch the extension cord from Old Soul, and finish the prep work while Jenny talks to her mom on the phone. We're listening to Wax Tailor. I start the fire in the pit. Eight o'clock rolls around and the sky is still bright blue, so people are slow to arrive, and for most of the first hour it's only Jenny and I. Then Iven gets there, we leave to buy more beer and firewood, and when we get back Jenny says she's having her own Bloggergate moment. She's fairly bothered by this, but hides it for the time being. I put on an episode of Blue Planet in the background. Guests start trickling in. Juj and Murphy, Max, Drew, Daniel, Liz, Luke, Brian, Dave, Machu and her dog, Max, and Zoe and Jessica and Ryan and some Japanese woman, a friend of Liz's whose name has escaped me, and her little dog who didn't get along so well with the two other bigger canines darting around the yard. A healthy showing, enough to occupy all the chairs around the fire. We drank all the beer and ate all the Kettle chips and shared a baguette and two joints, which got everyone talkative and smiley. I remember a conversation about gutting a chicken that was entirely too confusing to come into halfway-through, and talk of eating bugs and Fear Factor. I told a couple people about the fourteen cavities I discovered earlier at the dentist and some, Liz and Machu, had advice to share. Drew talked about his military experience and girlfriend woes and this intense dream he had about a ghost in our house. I remember stopping for a moment and looking at everyone while everyone was busy in conversation and looking over at Jenny while she was doing the same thing until we looked at each other and I sensed this confirming pride between us for having created this event, being a part of all these peoples' lives. Also, I got to see how adorable she looks with her hair pulled back, so accustomed to her wearing her hair over her ears. She said later that she realized how much I look like my mom. I always thought I looked more like my dad. Luke, a new face, friend of Brian's, who is Liz's boyfriend, was recently back from military service of some kind and I told him about the Peace Corps and he said he'd considered it, but it would seem strange to do after being in the military. He's got teaching ambition, too. A fellow English major. Zoe said she's leaving for Bainbridge Island in two weeks, which is sad to hear, but it'll be good for her. Jessica disappeared to be with her new "boyfriend" and didn't come back, I realized later, because Max is her ex-boyfriend. Ryan was moping about some issue with his ex-girlfriend, Katrina, who seems like a completely normal person when she gets her iced coffee at Old Soul, but apparently she's a little emotionally unsteady. It was neat of him to come by, nonetheless, though it feels strange to be friends with the guy I'm aiming to kick out of Jessica's apartment this August. Always good to have new faces at the bonfire. Everyone had a good time and the event went an hour later than usual. We were asked to turn the music down by the same guy who asked us to turn the music down three weeks ago. Afterward, Iven dropped Jenny and I off at Safeway for buffalo wings and peanut-butter cookies.
Eleven-thirty, Thursday.
The new Bows and Arrows (and Fat Face) opened across the street from Safeway a few days ago, so Jenny and I head there for lunch and to say hello to Daniel, who works there. En route, we see Max ride by on his bike and, moments later, we're bumping into him inside the new shop because he's there to see Daniel, too, and maybe score an interview with the Fat Face owner. We order lunch and eat in the patio in the back, despite the mid-day heat, enjoying the eclectic seating and plethora of plant-life and decorations and ambient instrumental beats on the radio. I order, with apprehension, the eggplant meatball sandwich, but discover it to be one of the tastiest things I've put in my mouth in a while. We dine and peruse the clothes and trinkets and see Daniel and drink bottled soda. Then it's time for me to go to work and Jenny walks with me across Midtown to Old Soul, where she borrows my laptop to blog for a while in the shop while I use the Nook to listen to Pandora and discover a bunch of new music. Later, Joe's the baker and we chat about the doomed state of California. "We're laying off all the cops while we're releasing all the prisoners," Joe says, and I reply, "This is how superhero movies start." It's a slow shift and a pretty quick close with decent tips and afterward I go home to change and wait for Jenny to pick me up for a trip down to Davis. There, we're trying to hang out with Arielle but she's got an essay to write, so instead we split a serving of Dan Dan at Noodle City and talk about the disconnect we feel from politics and government, not only as individuals, but as a society. Next we check in on Arielle at Mishka's, consider seeing a movie, find all the showtimes have passed, grab a mocha and a peppermint tea, wander down to UC Davis, sit outside of the auditorium where students are graduating, talk about life philosophy, then come up with a plan to see Super 8 at midnight, heading over to Delta for beer to pass the time and admire the art and we pretend to play Scrabble until Arielle finishes working, arrives, gets a beer, and invites us over for more beer, pot, and we forget the movie plan and lounge in her room watching SNL, snacking on baby carrots and ranting about life until we find out we're too buzzed to drive home and all three of us fall asleep on Arielle's bed.
We balance time and happiness
on the pedestal our parents fed to us.
One o'clock, Friday.
I've spent the morning trying to figure out how I'm going to pay for my dental work, and it doesn't look pretty any way I spin it, so I'm more than willing to go with Jenny to see her family in Roseville, since they're just arriving from Montana, and I'll figure out the dental stuff later. Basically it's a gamble between finding cheap insurance or taking out a CareCredit credit-card. So we drive out to a hotel near Sunsplash and I meet Jenny's lovely mother and her two little brothers and we spend time at the indoor swimming pool and Jenny's so happy to see them and everyone's happy to see Jenny and all the hugging and smiling warms my heart and I wish Jenny's work schedule was better because I can tell she doesn't want to leave them, but she and her mom try to make plans for the weekend before we head back to Sacramento. I marvel over how fun it used to be to swim in a swimming pool. Her little brothers, Jake and Zach, are neat little guys fresh on summer vacation. Her mom, a little travel-flustered but a total sweetheart, beaming at the sight of her young-adult daughter. Jenny says she's happy I came out to meet them, that she can just be herself and be comfortable and I feel the same way, comfortable with myself, meeting her family, and I say, "I don't know how this happened, but it's perfect." Then there's a little traffic and a Chipotle mishap and Jenny drops me off and goes to work and I head home to write this blog and procrastinate my dental insurance research, but here I am at the end of my entry and now I've got responsibilities to tackle.
Damn you, teeth! Damn you!
Damn you, teeth! Damn you!
- Left to Fry
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