18: Larry Everman

The heat of midsummer.

My Thursday outing with Tony proceeded more or less expected. We wandered the path a while then sat at Fran's for lunch. I had ordered the loaded grilled cheese, but they only brought me a regular one, and I decided just to eat it instead of complaining because it still looked pretty good and was cheaper, and I was on the fence about whether I could handle the loaded-ness.

I caught him up on everything going on in my world, and he me in his. I had to admit that as of so far, I've had two job interviews, including one in our mutual industry. I was a little embarrassed about it, because he very memorably told me once that he had submitted something like 100 resumes without getting a hit. Not so much as a call. Personally I don't understand -- on paper, Tony is a very qualified candidate, and I've just done the one grownup job for about 8 years. At the very least, if he had wanted a plastic pipe job he should have had a shot.

Mysteries of the universe.

We had various other conversations, both personal and probing and philosophical. We talked politics and whether I had ever communicated with my MP (I have.) We talked about whether there were any circumstances under which I would k_ll a person -- I made a joke about how often I drive on the QEW, and also related the story of road rage. I also talked about the Netflix documentary about Amy Bradley that I just watched and how it seems like her captors may have kept her alive for the long term.

It was around this time I saw on a screen that Hulk Hogan had died.

We walked around some more, went to BMV books. I bought a copy of Dune in TP for $9, stating my ambition to finally read it. Then we doubled back to the Eaton Center so I could use the restroom, and proceeded to walk around the Toronto Metro University campus, then down Church and back near to where we started. We finished off at Dineen Coffee for cold beverages -- he a lemonade, I an iced Americano that I regretted not putting any cream and sugar in -- and the last leg of our conversation, finally parting ways sometime around 4. I then went to another cafe to get something sweeter and moved to Mel's building to meet her. While waiting, I wrote a blog post partly based on a conversation he and I had had, or more specifically a point I had thought of earlier that generated a conversation between us.

Mel came down -- later than she probably hoped but no later than I expected -- with some ice cream sandwiches, which were really the whole reason she came out (or at least, how she was convinced to.) She was jealous of my drink so I offered to go get her one, and we stopped off at % at Union for an Iced Mocha Something. We got on the train and read our books, happy with the way the day was going.

Around this time, Mel said her drink was too strong and stopped drinking it. So I, in a flash of genius, tossed it out on the way off the train. She asked where it was and I explained, and she said that she was hoping to add milk and keep enjoying it. This kind of put us into a bad vibe for the night -- I don't want to say she overreacted, but she definitely reacted strongly and I felt quite negatively. Eventually we got over it. It's one of those things where we just disconnect from time to time -- I'll do something thoughtlessly, and she'll feel upset about it and I'll sulk and feel bad about myself and eventually it passes.

Friday was (?) Like literally just a day. Actually, we finally got around to seeing Nonna, which we had put off all week because it was such a full week. Nonna seemed a little let down that we'd invited ourselves over for Friday night instead of taking her out on Saturday, but we explained we were busy on Saturday. She said she'd already eaten a big lunch and wouldn't have much for dinner, but we brought pizza and wouldn't you know, she ate as much as I did. We played three-handed cards, which Mel won.

Yesterday, our agenda item was to go see Namita for her birthday at some distillery in the, of course, distillery district. This was a bit of a trek, especially considering we had collectively been in the city multiple times that week. There was some discussion on how best to travel, and at one point we were going to take the bus from Union, but decided to grab an Uber instead. We also left a half-hour later than we'd hoped, grabbing Tim Hortons breakfast on the way. I think it worked out fine as there wasn't much going on when we arrived and we all stayed pretty late past the supposed end anyway. Had a few gin drinks, which were enjoyable (to me, a gin guy.) There were some good conversations, particularly with people around the fact that I was looking for work. Mel's friend Kim, for example, has a lot of thoughts on the subject, and I had a good chat with Steph's fiance Jemaine (Sp?) In general, people are pretty supportive when I tell them what I did and why.

Afterward, we decided to stop in at Jack Astors for nachos, somewhat impromptu. We had mentioned the nacho plan and Kim noted if we wanted nachos, there was "a really good punk bar at College and Bathurst... what was it called..." Sneaky Dee's. No, we were not going to Sneaky Dee's.

Anyway. We ate outside as rain clouds enclosed, and left for the train just as it started sprinkling. Not bad, but Mel did make use of the umbrella. Then there were some train issues getting home as our train was late and then, once we were aboard, we were told it would be stopping at Oakville, then skipping every station until West Harbour. No idea why. So we got off at Oakville and waited 13 minutes, which was fine. There were also some annoying people on our first train and somehow the yellow strip got pressed. Also, when we were at Union, a guy asked me how to get to the "cablecars" so he and his (I presume teenage daughters) could get to the Budweiser Stage. I winced, ooh, you're in the wrong place, but that's not helpful. I tried to direct him up to King St. but he bailed to find someone else who I guess would give him more favorable directions?? Honestly, I like helping people but I'm not great at giving directions. Anyway, the King Street streetcars aren't even running right now and the move would have been to get on a GO train back to Exihibition, and I hope someone told him that.

Eventually we got home and watched, of all things, Coyote Ugly, which Mel had heard someone mention on a reel and hadn't seen in many years.

This morning I did some writing -- I've recently been in contemplation of a novel I've had an idea for for a few years, and get a little bit of momentum every now and again. It feels good for what it is, but the more you develop something, oftentimes the more you think to yourself, "Oh, nobody's going to care about this." So it's kind of a downer, but I would like to give it a shot, you know? In this case today I sat down and wrote the entire plot that's been rattling around inside my head... and it almost makes sense. I also feel like I deserve to write a version with just the parts I want, without extra stuff that I feel is necessary to get peoples' interest, but... ho hum.

Once Mel got up, we went out for breakfast and shopping, then came home and flopped. We've got a bit to do before we go on vacation tomorrow, so we'll see what gets done.

Keep on rockin'

-Scotto