The Last Dance

The Last Polka is now done. It's become too much to write this as well as write screenplays and work full-time. So this is the last post. Thank you all for reading. We all should get together like this again sometime real soon.

I'll write better soon

My friend (and little sister) Rebekah gave me a CD for my birthday. I can’t stop listening to it. It’s beautiful. Every song speaks to me. Rarely does that happen.
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Went on a second date with Betty (the hair stylist) last night. Good times. Went to Brooklyn Fish Camp, which is an offshoot of Mary’s Fish Camp. I’ve been a couple of times.
But never to this location. I wanted to introduce Betty to their lobster roll. It’s an item that runs out nightly because of its popularity. Luckily we went earlier on in the evening. She liked it. Things are going well and I find myself wanting to spend more time with her even though I can’t understand why.
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J and I, after a lengthy and heartfelt discussion, are going to move out of the apartment due to financial strain. This, I’m sure will come as a shock to a lot of you, but it’s for the best.

Quickie

I was offered a promotion at work last night. My current manager is stepping down because he’s going to school at the end of February, so I was asked by the owner to step in. I said no. Sorta.
I told her I enjoyed serving and would like to continue to do so, but I would be amenable to taking over the wine director duties and also host/maitre d a couple nights a week. She countered with a request for three nights a week of the latter and I told her I was willing to work six days a week.
“You want to work six days a week?”
“Yes.”
So we’re talking.
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My birthday was wonderful. Dinner was as delightful an experience as I’ve ever had. John chose the wines and I just sat back and enjoyed the multi-course dinner. (The high point for me was the foie gras dumplings, which Annisa is known for. They’re Shanghai style dumplings so they have a foie gras mousse inside with a steamed liquid and jicama. All that is topped off with a sliver of seared foie. Ridiculous.)
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Oh and I had a date the other night. With the hairdresser. I let her have another shot. (Her lie was, as it turns out, not a lie.) The date went well enough. (We have another coming up.) But she’s painfully quiet. She’s a sweet person even if she isn’t intellectual, and she does have the one thing I promised myself I’d put a premium on the next time out: kindness.
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And before I go I should mention that I had lunch with Em the few days back. (And coffee today.) “If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied…”

It's my birthday too, yeah

I turn 28 today. One might ask themselves, how I plan on spending my day. Well, there’s the basketball game I’ll be coaching at three and then I have dinner at Annisa with some friends (Jenni, Molly, Chris Monaco, his girlfriend Megan, John and his wife). I wanted to invite an eighth person to round out the numbers at our table (nothing irritates me more than an odd number of people dining…I must be a little OCD), but that proved more difficult than I planned. I had always intended to bring Em, but all of my friends have less than warm feelings toward her. Then there was the fleeting moment when I was going to invite the hairdresser but that was before I discovered that she lied to me. Next up was Laura, who I used to work with but find her mildly annoying, but as it turns out is working anyway. And then there was a moment there when Megan was going to bring a blind date for me. (Seriously.) Oh and then there’s the other Laura, who I have the crush on at work, but happens to have a party that she’s throwing at her apartment the same evening. Oh and then I lost my mind somewhere in the middle when I almost invited Chris’s little sister Sarah aka The Seabass, but decided against it because Chris is more than a little overprotective of her. A last minute Hail Mary involved my next door neighbor (and you guessed it, one of my many crushes) Nancy, but she answered the door with four sticks of butter and told me she had a dinner party. I’d invite Kerry, but her boyfriend cajoled her into coming along, which made the table too big so they’re sitting at a different table.
And then there’s after dinner, which I’ve left up to Jenni and Chris to decide. (Turns out that Jenni had to do all of the work. Chris is less than reliable when planning a party, which is surprising.) Rebekah, her boyfriend Colby, Young Nicholas, Michael Frederick, his wife Zabryna, Laura, Susie, Nathan, Demian and his girlfriend Jamie will all hopefully make an appearance by night’s end.

I'm getting greedy, that's the problem...

I’ve accomplished one thing that many people thought was impossible: I’ve dated a barista at the coffeehouse I frequent. It was a challenge and ended badly, but I did it and that’s what counts. I got scoreboard. Now I have a new challenge. And hopefully I’m not going too many times to the cookie jar, but I’d like to ask out a young woman I work with. How do I do that, without having to go away to a far far away place where it will never be talked about again if she says no? No seriously. I’m asking. HELP!

Implosion is the word I'm looking for right?

My love life has imploded. There was Em, who broke my heart, and now we’re friends (sort of). Then there was the hairdresser who John and his wife wanted me to date, but then she lied to me so that ended that. Now there’s the girl who I work with that I have a crush on. Given my terrible track record, I’ve been thinking about how I got here. Am I doing something wrong? Or maybe is it that I’m choosing the wrong women? Women don’t really go for guys like me. So I’ve jumped at the opportunity to be with women who show interest because, quite honestly, they are far and few between. This statement isn’t designed to make people feel sorry for me. I don’t care. It’s truthful based on experience. And that’s okay. I’m about to turn 28.

Moment of Clarity

I woke up and something was different. No hangover despite the copious amount of alcohol I drank the entire previous day. I pulled back the curtains and there was the sun. For the first time, in a long time, I wanted to feel better. And then I had a true moment of clarity. My misery stemmed from the way I cut Em out of my life. It was cold and unlike me. I needed to do it, yes, but it was a bad decision among even worse choices. I miss her and no bottle of wine or beer would cauterize that wound. So I did something that even surprised me. I went into the coffeehouse, knowing that I’d see her. I had to make things right. So we had lunch. And we talked. And it was good.