It’s days like today that make me feel like everything always happens all at once. WHAM.
My day started off in Philadelphia taking the kittens to the vet, actually, it started off in Philadelphia saying goodnight to Theresa and Ben. I had a few people over for dinner and it was shockingly comfortable, in the end. I feel relief about this because it feels like proof that I can have a social life. I CAN!
Anyway. Then I packed, got on the bus, came home, celebrated the first night of Hanukah and saw my entire family, AND went to Brian’s winter-break kickoff birthday party extravaganza which was much smaller than expected. Partly because Aimee and I got there a few hours after it started and Joe Barbee and Danny B. had already left. I was pretty excited about seeing Joe so I called him when I got there and we talked about doing something on Saturday. That’s good; I haven’t seen him in a crazy long time. Davi and Sarah get back into town early next week and Dan might be here too… All in all it’s looking like it’s going to be a busy break. I’m excited.
Talking to Aimee in the car on the way to Brian’s felt so good. And then I called Chad and mouthed off to him for a few minutes, sharing a bit of the roll I was on, thought-wise. It was a really intense spilling of words and it felt really great, really complete to say it. The party was nice because Matt Lashoff was there, and Miranda, and they’re fun to talk to. AND EVERYONE WAS SOBER. This was so what I wanted. So so so what I wanted. Especially after my last experience with drunk people, to be written about later in this post? We’ll see how tired I get.
What I really want to remember is my conversation with Brian. I still feel a little shaky-sore about it but I think it’s going to be okay, too, so yeah. We started off by FINALLY admitting that we weren’t really attracted to each other, and that was GREAT because it so needed to be said and we both knew anyway. After that he started talking about stuff, I dunno, Sarah and stuff, and he was talking about it all like really excited and emphatic, but when I listened to the words he was saying I got really caught up in my own stories of what was happening with him. This in turn led me to argue with him because of my emotional investment in his well-being as my friend and love (even though it’s not romantic love it’s still incredibly strong) and… I don’t know. Protectiveness boiled up in me. The crazy part, which I saw and which Chad also pointed out when I called him to ask for some advice, was that I wasn’t being a good friend and loving him in my actions. He didn’t want to be argued with, or shown the way out of his suffering. He wanted to be loved. And I didn’t give him that.
Later on, after I came back from a brief walk to cool off and talk to Chad some more, I told Brian I was sorry I didn’t listen, and that I wanted to try and listen again if he wanted to talk. I’m scared that I fucked up, because that’s the second time I’ve reacted this way to his pain, but I can only be truthful and open and see what he chooses to do. I’m also scared I’ll give in to my fear again when he comes to me but knowing is half the battle, I suppose. (hah, battle. no battle…)
Two nights ago I went to a party next door, well, really, below us, but the next door over on the block. A guy named Steven lives there with a housemate Paulo or something like that. Theresa called me and told me to get my ass over there. I walked in the door completely sober and was confronted by thirty plus people, all my age, all drunk as hell. It was… it was interesting, I guess. I realized that I really don’t have a lot of a drive to get fucked up the way I used to. I like to be stoned, sometimes, although it seems like every time I am these days I have really difficult conversations that lead to some soreness for a few days afterwards due to the frank and instigatory feelings the erupt in me. Other than that… Well, that’s it, I guess. Drugs… I don’t know. Drugs don’t seem like too bad a thing in moderation to me, just because they can really show you things you didn’t know. But staying on drugs for weeks or months at a time forfeits your experience of life itself and that’s… Depressing, I guess.
I sound too mature to my own ears.
I guess I have to go fart in someone’s face now, or something.
Yeah… that’s better.
On top of all the goings on, I’ve held a lot of stress in me about other things. Some of these are good stresses, like the probability of seeing Keli and Hany so soon… I’m feeling trepidation and excitement at once, but Chad assuaged a lot of this fear by pointing something really obvious out to me. I started off talking about how it was really good to hang out with Keli and Hany last time and how satisfying it felt. I was trying to convey excitement towards the feelings of group camaraderie as well as the new found individual intimacy I felt with them both last time they visited, but I ended up with some statements about how I was also a little afraid of how it was hard it was to get comfortable in that situation at times. There were intensely uncomfortable feelings right along side the intensely good ones. What Chad pointed out was that it was like that last time. This clued me in to the fact that I was generalizing about any experience I have with Keli, Hany, and Chad through the one visit last time. Underneath this realization was the implication that it could be totally and utterly different this time and I felt a lot more free at that point, like… I could worry about it or not but whatever was going to happen wasn’t happening yet. This free feeling gave way to hope and a strong desire to be more open. I recognize my own intention to connect more with everyone and let these friendships blossom as they will.
Sleepnow.