People Who Need People

[Still trying to decided how much of today's angst to include in this space. It was easy before: when I couldn't decide what to include from the present, I always had a diary entry from three years ago to type in and think about. Those entries were a great springboard to contemplate the changes I've made and haven't made since then. Now I just have today to go on.]

[John's and my new roommate, let's call him Howie, is moving in officially today. It's too soon to indulge in doubts, so I'll just describe his visits the last couple of days. Last weekend, we decided to invite him to live with us, and called him to tell him the news. He sounded thrilled, and said he'd move in Saturday (tomorrow). John and I planned to get the spare room all cleaned out by Thursday, so we could go out Friday (tonight) for Leah's birthday.]

[Tuesday I got home and managed to get the posters off the walls, but it was a two-hour Buffy/Angel "event", and we sank in front of the tube and couldn't escape! (Help! The WB's got me in its clutches!!!!) Wednesday, we had the best intentions, and I thought one bottle of wine might make the work a little more fun. I got some laundry done, and we got one of the bookshelves out, but, Leah came over, and one bottle turned into three. Then at 10:00, Howie came over unannounced, and we sat and chatted with him. Another night with the room not cleaned out.]

[Last night, we knew it was absolute drop-deadline, because Howie said he might like to move in a day early. Well, OK. I got home from an average day at work and the gym to find him there already (we'd given him keys the night before), again unannounced. He'd washed some dishes and was trying to start our broken vacuum cleaner. (I know! Our carpet is filthy! We're planning to buy a new vacuum, really! Any day now!) So, instead of getting to it, we sat and chatted until he was off to meet his friends at some gay basketball league at the Collingwood rec center. John got home, and we pushed it and finally got all our crap (the computer and accoutrements pertaining thereto, the other bookshelf, the shoes, the endless junk we shoved in the closet) out, but it wasn't fun, and we were crabby with each other the whole evening. John, of course, threw his back out again trying to move the computer, which just added to the festivities. Even an episode of "The Facts of Life" on Nick At Nite couldn't alleviate the mood, and we slept on separate sides of the bed, as it were.]

[Oh, we made up, there was nothing really wrong, but it was Howie's, shall we say, premature presence that got to me. He didn't call before coming over on Wednesday, changed his move-in day from Saturday to Friday, and was in the apartment last night (Thursday) before I got home. Not quite what I had in mind, but not so objectionable that I'm ready to kick him out. Just a little unsettling.]

[And tonight, Leah's being given a small dinner party to which John and I aren't invited, and may be going out to a work-related party afterward. So, we may not even get to participate in this birthday toward and around which I've been planning my whole week. Don't even get me started on John's reaction when I tentatively floated the idea of trying to meet the intriguing Tim at the bar he, Minerva, and group are known to frequent on Fridays. "People...who need people...have a damn annoying monkey on their backs..."]

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