Didn't help my brain out

This post is all about replacing that air-brushed image of Richard Simmons with some nice blocks of text.

Today was about meeting Chris for coffee at Benny's, in Kits, and then chickening out on the actual coffee and having a chai tea latte instead, and really enjoying that chai tea latte. I hadn't seen Chris since I was seventeen, and hadn't really had a conversation with him since I was fifteen. I can't remember the last time I was in Benny's, either, so the sense of nostalgia was doubled.

The thing is, I keep a mental list of people I'd like to re-connect with, people I liked once. Or still do. I have a bad habit of losing touch with friends over time. I know that's a thing that happens naturally, but I tend to expedite the process by flaking out and not calling people back. Ever. Then they become fictional people in my head, these magical types I COULD be connected with, in some nice, un-intense way. Like: let's go for a walk, or have non-coffee. Which gets me obsessing about the fact that we CAN'T, because of ME, and I kick myself in the ass. You know, for letting them think I didn't care.

Lately I've been going over the list a lot, trying to make it shorter. For example: Lori Archer.

Lori. Google yourself and find this post. I don't know where you are but if I did, I'd come over and say hi. I owe you a lot. A lot of calls, for example. Or the fact that I can ride a bike. Lori. Lori Archer. Hi.

Why am I such an asshole? I have to work on not being that.

When I left Benny's I was resolved to drive home and write for hours. I have this rewrite that's due on Monday, the usual thing, and always now I feel like I should be writing. On the way home, though, I had a sudden craving for pizza, so I drove to Nick's Pizzeria only to find a BBQ rib joint there in its place. Nick's is gone! I was - am - heartbroken about that. It doesn't help that the smell of ribs makes me want to hurl.

So I got two very mediocre slices of pizza and came home. Wrote a bit. Then I got a call from Shannon asking me if there was any possible way I could meet her, Scott, Rodney and Ivy at Modern Club for dinner.

Ivy's going through a phase now where she's obsessed with me. It is, I have to say, one of her more gratifying phases, though it makes trouble for Shannon and Scott. I've watched Ivy obsess over lots of people/things since I've been looking after her, and I know it doesn't last. Still, I'm the bribe now, when the critter has to go somewhere she doesn't want to, and that's just... swell!

At Modern Club, I taught Ivy not to fear Pocky, but to cherish it. I also ate most of her avocado roll. There was a bunch of Doraemon manga under the bench we were sitting on, and she kept asking me to read it to her. It was in Japanese, so I just showed her each cover and said "DORAEMON: CAT TYPE ROBOT" in a bad Japanese accent. She seemed to like that.