Aug. 28th, 2019 04:29 pm
Crushed by context
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muckefuckFor today, something frivolous:
At the garden party Sunday, a man walked in and immediately became the Handsomest Man in the Room. (Well, we were on a deck, but "Handsomest Man on Deck" sounds like something else entirely.) I looked up from amidst a circle of friends, gazed across the room (bzw. deck), and said as if to myself, "Hello". Then I crossed over to strike up a conversation.
We'd hardly gotten past initial pleasantries when our host appeared and introduced him to me as a published author. I remembered then seeing him at Market Days, all alone in his booth, and wanting to approach but being too intimidated. "I work with books, too," I said. "I'm a librarian."
"Oh? Where do you work?"
"Fighting Methodist University."
"So do I. That's my day job."
Unfortunately, this is about when the event got underway and we didn't really have a chance to chat again after that. But I was drunk enough when I got home to go "What the hell!" and friend-request him. I woke up to find he'd accepted.
Yesterday evening--because there wasn't enough going on already what with trying to clean up the place and what not--I decided to message him. I kept wanting to leap to "Let's get lunch!" but I kept reining it in. So I contented myself with asking innocuous questions about his routine.
And then the penny dropped.
A while ago--maybe as long ago as last summer--I starting seeing this incredibly attractive guy in corporate work drag heading to the El. It was only on certain days, generally when I'd gotten to my bus stop earlier than usual. I would stand there cruising hard, but of course he was singlemindedly pursuing a course to the station and never looked my way.
"You hadn't put two and two together when you saw him at the party?" asked my buddy Well-Gayed. Eh, he was completely out of context. Why should I suddenly expect to see a mysterious dream man at a cheesemonger's gathering in Lakeview? But perusing his photos turned up picks of him wearing a tie and that was enough to jar loose the memory.
Something similar happened a few weeks ago. A couple years ago now, I met an interesting guy at a foaf's party. I invited him over for cocktails and he brought his better half. The latter had worked at UofC back in the day, so we played a game of "Do you know...?" but we couldn't remember ever having met. Then I saw a photo of him recently without a beard and immediately texted to ask, "Did you know so-and-so?" And that spurred a flood of memories of this one guy and his inseparable friend that I could now tie to him.
Of course now I'm in the the familiar dilemma of Don't Stalk the Handsome Man. I managed to work the conversation around to lunch hours--Do you leave the office? Do you walk around the lagoon?--but it petered out before I could close the deal with a "How about we meet up some day?" Ah, well; I won't be pushy. Pushy is what pushed away HB, right?
But I may be leaving work a few minutes early today.
At the garden party Sunday, a man walked in and immediately became the Handsomest Man in the Room. (Well, we were on a deck, but "Handsomest Man on Deck" sounds like something else entirely.) I looked up from amidst a circle of friends, gazed across the room (bzw. deck), and said as if to myself, "Hello". Then I crossed over to strike up a conversation.
We'd hardly gotten past initial pleasantries when our host appeared and introduced him to me as a published author. I remembered then seeing him at Market Days, all alone in his booth, and wanting to approach but being too intimidated. "I work with books, too," I said. "I'm a librarian."
"Oh? Where do you work?"
"Fighting Methodist University."
"So do I. That's my day job."
Unfortunately, this is about when the event got underway and we didn't really have a chance to chat again after that. But I was drunk enough when I got home to go "What the hell!" and friend-request him. I woke up to find he'd accepted.
Yesterday evening--because there wasn't enough going on already what with trying to clean up the place and what not--I decided to message him. I kept wanting to leap to "Let's get lunch!" but I kept reining it in. So I contented myself with asking innocuous questions about his routine.
And then the penny dropped.
A while ago--maybe as long ago as last summer--I starting seeing this incredibly attractive guy in corporate work drag heading to the El. It was only on certain days, generally when I'd gotten to my bus stop earlier than usual. I would stand there cruising hard, but of course he was singlemindedly pursuing a course to the station and never looked my way.
"You hadn't put two and two together when you saw him at the party?" asked my buddy Well-Gayed. Eh, he was completely out of context. Why should I suddenly expect to see a mysterious dream man at a cheesemonger's gathering in Lakeview? But perusing his photos turned up picks of him wearing a tie and that was enough to jar loose the memory.
Something similar happened a few weeks ago. A couple years ago now, I met an interesting guy at a foaf's party. I invited him over for cocktails and he brought his better half. The latter had worked at UofC back in the day, so we played a game of "Do you know...?" but we couldn't remember ever having met. Then I saw a photo of him recently without a beard and immediately texted to ask, "Did you know so-and-so?" And that spurred a flood of memories of this one guy and his inseparable friend that I could now tie to him.
Of course now I'm in the the familiar dilemma of Don't Stalk the Handsome Man. I managed to work the conversation around to lunch hours--Do you leave the office? Do you walk around the lagoon?--but it petered out before I could close the deal with a "How about we meet up some day?" Ah, well; I won't be pushy. Pushy is what pushed away HB, right?
But I may be leaving work a few minutes early today.
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