ril's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Life is a Cabaret Life is a Cabaret Sing with me: �Put down the knitting, the book, and the broom� time for a holiday. Life is a cabaret old chum, come to the cabaret.� This entry is my life in microcosm. Really� I couldn�t make this stuff up if I tried. I went on a pretty good date this weekend� but getting there was a heck of a ride. It started when I asked out a woman I�d been out with only once before (let�s call her �L�). The first �date� (if you can call it that) was more like what the kids these days call �hanging out.� Hanging out is sort of like dating, only the rules (which there are apparently plenty of) require that neither party acknowledge�even though they showed up together and expect to leave together�that they have any interest in each other whatsoever. My three daughters have all confirmed that this is how it�s done now� I get so confused� (have I mentioned that I learned my system of values from �Leave it to Beaver?�). Anyway� I enjoyed �hanging out� with L and so decided to try a �date.� She agreed and so we made plans for the traditional �show and a dinner� in the city. *sidebar* For those of you that haven�t done this lately, even the simplest of �show and a dinner� dates up here the Center of the Known Universe is a substantial deal (say just under $200 for the tickets, another $200 for dinner, add train and cab fare, and you�re looking at just a bit over $400)� so make sure you�re serious about wanting to go before you ask someone. *end sidebar* Then, from out of nowhere, a mutual friend of ours (which is how we met in the first place) calls me and tells me that L has been diagnosed with female-type cancer (you know what I mean). Damn� what do you say to that� and sure enough, L calls me up and�without saying a word about cancer (which I�m not supposed to know about)�tells me that she�s got to have some surgery the week before our date and is not sure she�ll be up for a full day in the city. And, she�d rather wait until she was feeling better before making any other plans. Not too much to day about that except� well, except that there�s nothing I can say about that. I, not having any other ideas (and I�ve been told that it�s because I suffer from testosterone poisoning), decided to ask someone else to go. I asked someone I�ve been out with a few times now, but whom I am decidedly not interested in �that way� (we�ll call her �M�). I mean M is smart, funny, and fun to be with, but it is (painfully) obvious that we come from completely different worlds (which, in my opinion, makes for great friends but poor relationships). In other words, we were just going to be hanging out together� Then (and you saw this coming, didn�t you?)� L calls back and tells me that she�s talked it over with her doctor and has decided to postpone the surgery for a week or so� and that he (and she) thought it would be a great idea for her to go out and have a good time� Now, I�m not always the sharpest tool in the shed, but I�ve got enough �Southern� in me that�as badly as I may have wanted to�I would never break the date I�d already made with M so that I could go out with someone else. I also decided that it would be in my long-term best interest to tell L the reason I couldn�t take her� which I did� and which (surprisingly) turned out to be a good thing (I�ve had a hard time with this �theory� vs. �reality� thing before� but I won�t go into that now). Then two days later (and I swear that I am not making this up), M called to tell me that her father was in the hospital. He�s been having some problems and so this didn�t really come as a surprise to anyone� ***serious sidebar*** It is not really a part of this story, but I will mention that her father actually passed away this past week. She and I have spent many hours on the phone discussing this, both before and after it happened� she�s held up surprisingly well so far but there is a very major crash coming� so if anyone can think of something worthwhile to say when the time comes I�m willing to listen, because I sure can�t think of anything. *** end serious sidebar*** By then, of course, L had made other plans for the weekend and couldn�t go either. So I ended up taking out the wife of a friend of mine who was out of town (with his permission, of course)� and we had a great time� the show was fantastic� I became reacquainted with the evils of alcohol (which is to say that I drank waaaay too much)� and, with there being no pressure of any kind on either of us, we both relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed each other�s company in a way that I haven�t experienced in a long, long time� I mean, when is the last time you spent three delightful hours talking (and did I mention drinking?) over dinner? Quite possibly the most fun I�ve ever had just �hanging out�� And can I just add that, although I shouldn�t have to, I feel the need to reassure you that nothing �untoward� happened�. and it never will� in fact, it wasn�t anything like that at all� and, now that I think about it, I think that is exactly why it was so much fun� I guess you either get that or you don�t� Anyway� now that the weekend is over I suppose I have to go back and face the �real� world� which is a crying shame because I was very much enjoying the cabaret. 9:49 p.m. - 2002-04-07 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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