Hanging with Jon

Jon and I hung out.  We went to this courtyard where we use to brainstorm ideas and talked about things going on in our lives. 
Jon has recently gotten engaged, which was the big news.  He told me about how he and his fiancee are planning their wedding. 
He also showed me some art he's been working on.  Apparently something he and his fiancee do.  It actually looked like stuff similar to the stuff my Mom likes to make. 
While we were sitting there, Nate and Sam walked by.  Nate complained that I hadn't been by to spend time with him enough.  It was a surprising thing to say, because I don't usually feel needed by anyone, and sometimes I get the distinct feeling people want me to go away. 
Which is not to say I mind.  Years ago, I complained about boys being too needy, but I don't feel that way about Nate.  It might be because he's not a needy person, or it could be that I like the Nate's neediness.  It makes me feel needed but not like I'm under emotional siege.  (Which was the problem, back then.  That and he was never very giving, in all senses of the word.) 
Jon and I continued our talk, and I gave him a gift.  Jon's been complaining about having writer's block, so I collected some cool quotes from writers and gave them to him.  He thanked me. 
I also saw one of my favorite conversational friends, but he was on the phone and just waved at me. 
Jon and I went into one of the buildings nearby and dropped in on an art gallery party.  Just because.  They had these really bizarre mini rolls.  They were like spring rolls, but smaller, and covered in this clear, kind of squishy film.  It sort of made me imagine the larvae of some science fiction alien monster, which meant that I wasn't really into them.  I felt like they should have been trying to move out of my hand as I ate them. 
Afterward, the party ended and we dropped in on a poetry reading.  I was mostly going because I had some friends who were going to be there and two who were reading, so I wanted to go to see what would happen. 
Bobby and his girlfriend were there.  I've actually never met his girlfriend before.  Unfortunately, I didn't really get a chance to talk to her.  But Bobby seemed good. 
Bobby also formerly introduced me to his best friend, Cory.  I actually met Cory last year, though I don't think he remembered me. 
A couple of different teachers introduced the reading.  Lia read first.  She read poems mostly in the style of Mary Oliver, who, if I'm remembering correctly, she likes.  She had one poem about shopping the grocery store late at night.  There was something about it that was very calm, very dreamy.  If I was writing that poem, it would be more scary or, at the least, fraught with a sense of how strange being under florescent lights late at night in a desolate place. 
Then Cory read.  Cory was more formal in delivery.  He felt more like listening to a professor.  He talked about his girlfriend, and how they didn't get along right away.  The poem he read that sticks out the most in my mind was about a pistachio.  No kidding.  It made me brainstorm another poem for myself about a similar subject. 
This is one of the many things I like about poetry readings: they always manage to make me want to write more. 
There were more people reading, but Jon and I had to leave because we had to go to Virginia's concert. 
(Like I've said I've been super busy.  Three events in one night.)
Virginia plays harp.  The night before, I had proofread her list of songs.  I'm embarrassed to say that, since she was playing mostly classical songs, I didn't recognize much that was on there. 
The concert had a lot of friends that I hadn't seen in a while: Dean, Jane, Marguerite, Erin, and Amanda were all there.  Jon sat with his fiancee.  I think I briefly shook her hand.  Marguerite was reading a sample of poems I sent her and complained that I didn't need to send sixteen pages.
"Yeah, but there was only five poems," I said in reply, which made people laugh. 
Virginia's parents and old teachers were there, which was nice to see.  Virginia's Dad was older than I imagined and Virginia's Mom looked more like a typical Mom than I imagined.  I sort of imagined that Virginia's Mom would look more like a hippie than she did.  Her teacher there seemed like a sweet old lady. 
Despite knowing Virginia for years now, I had never seen her play.  It was really nice.  I've always had a soft spot for harps.  When I was little, my favorite instrument was a harp.  I had a computer encyclopedia program and I would play their samples of harp music all the time.  (I also played the violin, piano and guitar samples a lot, which I guess is pretty telling too, in terms of my musical tastes now.  I love violin, especially when it's used in with a heavy beat, since that's uncommon.) 
Harp is such an impressive instrument, partly because of its size but also because of the detailed finger work one has to use.  Virginia also had a piano player accompany her and then later on, another harp player.  Erin and Marguerite really wanted pictures of this. 
During the intermission, I turned to everyone and said "I don't mean to brag guys, but I'm going home tonight with the musician."  This got laughs from people.  Obviously, since I was living with Virginia, I was literally going home with her, but the implication I was making about sleeping with her was false.  Virginia luckily thought this was funny, and she laughed and put her arm around me. 

Politics Over Dinner

After getting home from all the fun last night, my Mom made some popcorn and then I took a shower.  I stayed up doing a bit of writing and then went to sleep. 
I actually did alright last night sleeping-wise.  It still took me awhile to sleep, but I don't think I woke up as fully as I usually do some nights. 
When I got up this morning, I could tell there was some kind of tension.  My Mom was clearly stressed out about something.  She swore at her computer.  She left soon after that. 
One of the neighbors called.  We did them a good deed in July, and they wanted to know if they could take us out to dinner.  We've kept telling them that, really, no big deal, but they insist. 
Us going to dinner depended on my Grandma, who is still in the hospital.  My Mom called to say that they gave her some drug to make her sleep (she hasn't been sleeping either, only she'll go days without sleeping, even though she is too tired to eat most of the time.)  My Mom said she was hoping she would stay in bed without incident, and that if so, we would go. 
My Dad went out for some errands, and I decided to use this time to get myself some food.  My Dad has this tendency to be in the kitchen whenever I am, and if he's not outright telling me what to eat, he's staring at me.  It's annoying and creepy. 
The problem with getting up with my computer is that it is so cold in our house I really don't want to get up.  I'll be in two layers of pajamas and with two blankets on and still be cold.  I really don't want to give up my blankets just to get food (even though I had been up for hours and hadn't had anything to eat.)
My sister and I complain about there not being enough food in the house.  This is sort of true.  There are lots of little snack things or things you could use to make a meal, if you had the other ingredients.  It's one of the many things I hate about it here.
But today I was excited because someone got rice cakes, which I really love and haven't had in ages.  They're delicious, though simple. 
After my meal, I sat down again and did some more writing and reading.  I put on some music and tried to sing.  I'm not much of a singer.  Then my sister came down.  I felt bad because I probably woke her up.  I didn't mean to, but I didn't think she was in the house. 
Madison sent me a message saying her uncle died last night.  I feel badly for her.  It seems like a lot of people, her family included, have seen a lot of unexpected deaths lately. 
Ashley is having a party tomorrow for New Year's, so I texted her asking if I could bring a date.  I had a certain someone in mind, but I wasn't sure if he'd be interested anyway, since he already told me he made plans. 
I didn't have to wait long for a reply from Ashley- it was almost instantaneous.  She said sure and asked who the lucky guy was. 
Er.  If he came I guess he was lucky. 
I made the call.  I got his voicemail, which didn't surprise me, since he usually didn't keep his phone around him all the time.  I left him a message. 
I have a love/hate relationship with leaving messages.  On one hand, it's nice sometimes to just do that, but I'm always so afraid of making a fool of myself on these messages and saying the wrong thing or just generally sounding stupid.  No one has ever mentioned that I sound funny on these messages, but it would be just my luck that one day I do mess up and then someone has another bit of proof that I'm an idiot.
I sat down and worked on my writing.  I had a bunch of editing to do on a piece I wrote last week.  It's a short piece, but it clearly needs a lot of work.  I worked on it for a while.
My Mom called and asked me to look up a phone number for her, which I did.  Then she asks me to tell my Dad (whenever he gets home) to talk to her about this dinner we may or may not be going to.  She said we would probably go.  My Mom thinks that they are watching their budget since they offered pizza.  I suspect she may be right too. 
I was not really excited to go.  Inevitably, there will be questions about what I am doing with my life.  When I explain what I'm interested in, it'll be tough because they are from a very different set of political views.  When I found out, I was vaguely disappointed with them.  I was hoping to avoid certain specific questions. 
It was actually not too bad.  When we got there, they gave me hugs.  We had salad and pizza.  My Mom was late, as usual, coming from the hospital. 
We had a mostly nice conversation.  Gary is working a lot, which surprised my parents because they thought he would be out of a job.  Rose has a sister who is really sick and in a nursing home, though not the same nursing home where her mom is. 
They updated us on their family.  Shannon just got married.  Kelly is dating someone named Chris.  Derek is working at a pizza place nearby.  There was some stories about how we wanted to die.  We didn't really have as much to update them on. 
I mean, I guess I could tell them about what I was up to, since so many people don't have beyond a high school education when it comes to my field, most people don't really have the background to understand what I'm doing with my life.  And it's been my experience people aren't always that interested. 
Which was fine, but then my Mom had to open her mouth and tell them what I was doing.  There was a quiet moment of disapproval, but it was brief.  I'm a little ticked at my Mom because everything was going so well, and it was so unnecessary for her to open her mouth.  My Mom just can't seem to help herself.  This is why I am always so hesitant to tell her things because I absolutely hate that my life gets thrown out there like that, especially when I try to get along with people. 
I guess that other thing that I really hate about this was the tone my Mom used.  I get it; she disapproves of my political beliefs.  Fine.  I'm happy to quietly roll my eyes and not fight.  She's always picking fights with me about it, and mocking it to her friends.  I particularly hate that. 

Fun Tonight

Went out tonight for some fun.
First Erin and John's place. Minori, Liza and Amanda were there. We went out and wandered around the city for awhile, then ended up at an apartment. Much drinking. Lots of talking and giggling. Mostly, Erin was entertaining people with her great stories of her Dad.
Next, we went to see Marguerite. Virginia happened to be there, and we talked a little. Said goodbye to Bailey, who will be leaving tomorrow.
Then I wandered over to see Josh. I hung out for a while with Shannon, Alex, Josh, Jeff, Kristina and Juicebox. Singing and dancing may or may not have been involved.
Next, downstairs, with Nate, Sam and Katie.
And then in the cafeteria with Matt, Maura and others. I mostly made sex jokes at poor Matt's expense.
Finally, I tried to see if Josie was around, but she seems to have gone to bed. Can't say I blame her.
'Twas a good night, obviously. I'm going to miss having my friends around.