Well, one event this summer is becoming less and less important to me. My class reunion in August will apparently not be attended by Sarah or Donna—the two girls I most wanted to see. I wouldn’t mind hanging out with Alexis and Jessica, but who knows if they’ll even be there? Aside from hanging out with those folks, I really have no desire to go. I can just imagine how dull and boring the evening will be—with me sitting off to the side, observing married classmates awkwardly moving from person to person saying hello and catching up. “It’s not like we were close friends or anything,” I’d say. It’s not like I even had close friends in high school. Maybe I’ll make a point of talking to folks I used to ignore. Maybe I’ll ignore the folks that used to ignore me. Or maybe I’ll be a social butterfly—the belle of the ball. It doesn’t matter. The romance is already gone.

Well, I had my first date in about two years today. By “date,” I mean a scheduled meeting between a single woman and myself for the sole purpose of initializing a friendship based on mutual attraction. The woman of whom I speak works at AOL and is someone I’ve wanted to get to know from day one. I finally had the nerve to cold e-mail her last week, and from there, we began a dialog that resulted in a scheduled face-to-face meeting in the bistro today. I almost thought it wasn’t going to happen. We had to keep rescheduling it, because meetings on both our calendars would pop up all the time.

We met for tea, because neither of us drank coffee. Mine was iced; hers was hot. At this point, I already knew she was leaving the company next week to go to law school. What I didn’t know was that the law school was in Arizona. Once I found that out, the stress of the whole moment evaporated, and we were able to continue talking for the simple pleasure of good conversation. We didn’t get into anything deep. I did bring up religion slightly, but she really had no frame of reference to engage the topic further. It turns out we really don’t have much in common. I later found out that she’s only 23 years old (thanks to my keen Internet skills), so a five-year mental difference is pretty significant. I remember what I was like right out of college—and things have definitely changed.

I could tell she liked me (or, at least, didn’t dislike me). She showed all the nonverbal signs of a girl who’s interested. …I won’t say what those signs are, since they’re top secret. She also left an opening for me to ask her out this weekend. Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll really put her to the test, and ask her to go see a midnight showing of Spider-Man 2 with me on Tuesday night. (Is there any better judge of character?)

Even though she’s leaving town, I wouldn’t mind experiencing a bit of her world in the time that she’s here. Maybe a non-committal movie is just the way to go. There’s really nothing there, except friend potential. But—you know what—that’s perfectly fine.

On Monday, I decided to register for the South Riding intermediate tennis class. I just didn’t realize the class started that day. No problem, though. The class is from 8–10 PM, four Mondays in a row. Very intensive. The class was really good. The instructor was a young man, gifted at teaching and encouragement (as opposed to the crotchety old Russian woman that teaches the Fairfax county classes at CHS on Sundays). The class was great, too. Everyone was better than me, which really motivates me to try harder. They were all really nice, and they’re all practically my neighbors! Taking a class right in my community is great. I wasn’t physically prepared for a two-hour class, though, and I started making lots of stupid mistakes the second hour. I hope to remedy this fatigue factor soon, since there are only three more classes left. I was soar the next morning, but I’m even more so this morning. I guess that’s good.

Last night was great. We had another Cheap Tuesday—that’s when we go to University Mall in Fairfax for ½-price burgers at Brion’s Grille and a $2 movie at the second-run theater. I met Stephanie and Deanne for dinner, which was nice. Trish was our waitress, but for some reason, she seemed a lot younger than I remembered. Afterwards, Pete showed up, and we caroused outside TCBY and McDonalds for about an hour. Stephanie left, and the rest of us went to see Kill Bill 2. Apparently, the theme of the night was “drunk college boys,” because not only were we seated beside two boys drinking beer in the theater (and cracking peanut shells throughout the movie—wtf?), but afterwards, we were accosted in the parking lot by a young man completely wasted or high or something. He ran from car to car (which scared me, because he went to mine twice), looking for his car. He took a little nap in the grass (all that running tuckered him out), then eventually went running off into the night.

Since we didn’t seem to be tired, Deanne, Pete and I went to Ned Divine’s next. I didn’t remember it at the time, but Tuesdays are karaoke night at Ned Divine’s. They opened up a downstairs level to the bar, which was more seedy and dark than upstairs, which is more of a classy restaurant. They moved the karaoke stage downstairs, too—much to everyone’s delight. The place was packed with kids (when did college students start looking so young to me?) and hillbillies. It must have been someone’s birthday party, or something, because there were tons of girls and guys in cowboy hats. They seemed to dominate the karaoke line-up with country/western songs. By the time we showed up, the karaoke sign-up sheet was full & closed. So, we had a few drinks and made fun of everyone for about an hour and a half—‘til closing time.

All-in-all, this Cheap Tuesday was one of the best. Three distinct events crammed into one night. Good people, good times.

Man, I’ve got tons of stuff to talk about, but hardly the time or patience to do so. I suppose now is as good a time as any…

AO[hel]L

This week was filled with highs and lows. The lowest coming on Thursday and Friday, when I had to help put out a major fire at AOL, which had something to do with my work. Basically, about a hundred of the Instant Greetings weren’t working (I’m responsible for Instant Greetings and Smileys)—and these errors were LIVE. If one theory was true (that they broke when I uploaded over top of them), then that meant they’d been down for over 3 weeks. Not good. As I helped resolve the problem, I spent a large amount of time doing damage control, explaining to my superiors why—even if the theory was correct—that it still wasn’t ultimately my fault (it’s complicated to explain, but 100% true). They believed me, which was a big relief. But I also don’t want them coming down hard on the person whose fault it really was—he’s a nice guy, but sometimes absent-minded. Tomorrow—Monday—we will be having a big “post-mortem” meeting to discuss why it happened (e.g. who’s responsible) and how we can prevent it in the future. I’m concerned with how heated the discussion might get, and am hoping it will be light and brief. My back is covered, so I’m not stressing too much. But conflict and confrontation always sucks.

In other AOL news, just as I had expected, word of my recent job search & employment concerns reached my manager’s ears (people can be so predictable). She talked to her boss and told him not to let me get away. He came by my cube to chat for the first time ever and made several gestures throughout the week to make me feel more welcome in his team. My manager later reassured me that she had talked to her boss & he said my contract would be extended in July. I suppose this is good news. I’m not in a rush to buy a new computer or learn new skills. I’d still like to work at AOL Radio, or do something involving video or audio production—but I guess I can wait.

Viva la PC!

Speaking of new computers, I think I’ve finally narrowed my search down to two machines—and neither of them are Apples. Yes, it’s true. I’ve decided against getting an Apple for a variety of reasons. 1) Cost of software – I already have all the software I could possibly want for PC, and none for Mac. 2) My HP Jornada won’t synch with a Mac. 3) For the price of a G5 desktop, I can get a PC twice as powerful with more features. At this point, I’ve pretty much decided on a fully loaded Dell Dimension XPS. It’s made for video production and is one of the fasted machines out there. I’m also considering getting an Alienware machine, but they’re more expensive and less well known (I’m not sure how good their service is). Since both are PCs, the only software I’d need to purchase is the Adobe Video Collection and Pro Tools.

Getting into Shape

I was a consultant for the SHAPE workshop this past Saturday at McLean Bible Church. Basically, that means I led the discussion at one of the six tables. Since this was my first time, I was paired up with a veteran consultant—Heather. I had actually participated in the last SHAPE workshop, so this time around, I was kinda bored with the speakers & the workbook exercises. But when it came to leading the discussions, I felt pretty comfortable. Heather left midway through it, so I became solely responsible for leading the table. A trial by fire, I guess. Once the workshop was over, I spent about twenty minutes talking to two of the girls, who both happened to be very new to MBC. One had doubts about coming back, because Ken mentioned how the church doesn’t believe the spiritual gifts of speaking in tongues or prophecy are active in the church today. (I took it she came from a charismatic background.) I had to assure her that issue of speaking in tongues wasn’t an essential truth of the Christian faith, and that it shouldn’t keep her from coming to church. I told her how I, myself, probably disagreed with MBC on several doctrines. But when it came to the essentials, MBC and I were totally aligned. I encouraged her to stay and to contact me, if she needed further explanation of any other doctrines.

The other girl had a different dilemma. She had just recently converted from Catholicism and didn’t know much about Protestant theology at all—or even what all the church denominations meant. I explained to her that there are basically two groups in Christendom—the Roman Catholics and the Protestants, who split from the church in the 1500’s. Protestants can be further broken down to different denominations, like Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc. But those denominations usually represent differences in styles of worship or methods of implementing the sacraments—but rarely represented a deviation from believing & teaching the essential truths. I also encouraged her to keep coming to church and to contact me, if she wanted more information on the Reformation or the differences between Catholic and Protestant theology. All I can hope for is that I had a positive influence on both girls.

Last, but Not Least

I canceled my tennis class. Just in time to still get a full refund. I figured, if I started volunteering for the video team at MBC, I’d likely need to be there most Sunday mornings. So, goodbye 10 AM Sunday tennis. …And hello 8 PM Monday tennis? Apparently, South Riding is offering tennis classes this summer. I’m going to sign up for their Monday evening classes tomorrow.

Velvet Revolver has the #1 album in America. I bought their new album a couple weeks ago, and it rocks. There are three or four really good songs—well worth the nine bucks at Best Buy.

I’m really looking forward to the upcoming Batman Begins movie. It’s an origin story, similar to the Year One comic storyline. Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne/Batman (brilliant!). Gary Oldman plays Jim Gordon. Cillian Murphy (Jim from 28 Days Later) plays the Scarecrow. Ken Watanabe (Last Samurai) plays Ra’s Al Ghul. Michael Cain is Alfred. And Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Rutger Hauer, and Katie Holmes also appear. The movie is directed by Chris Nolan (Memento). Some of the early promo work looks really dark and cool. This is definitely NOT going to be hokey and cheesy, like the previous two Bat-films.

Time to sleep…

I’m introducing myself to some girls I’ve wanted to meet & get to know for a while now. I guess it started with the whole online thing, but now the initiative is making its way into my “real life.” I e-mailed a girl at work I’ve been interested in, and now we’re going to meet for lunch or coffee sometime next week. It’s a good thing I contacted her, too, because she’s leaving the company at the end of this month. I also made some inroads with Trish “the Dish,” who works at Brion’s Grille. I sat at the bar last night & ordered a ½-price burger. The bartender and I got to talking, and I mentioned how I was a little interested in Trish. She (the bartender) was giddy about it and—just after handing me my bill—went over to talk to Trish. I quickly paid, got up and left. Not that I didn’t want to talk to her—I’m sure it would have been a little awkward, but worth it in the end. I just wanted the thought to kind of linger in her mind—like, who was that guy? I’ll talk to her the next time I’m there. (Is this the equivalent to playing women’s mind games?) On the drive home, I decided I would talk to Laurel (a different one) the next time I was at Red Robin. These aren’t huge deals, or anything. It’s not like I know anything about these girls, other than they’re cute. I’m just in the current mindset of ‘why not talk to them?’ I’m perfectly secure with myself. If these girls aren’t interested, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. I just want to meet new people and make new friends. And, in order to do that, I’ve got to take the first step.

————-

In other news…

I went to the doctor yesterday, and she diagnosed me with a migraine headache and an ocular migraine. She said it’s possibly hereditary & that I’ll start having them often, or I may never have another one again. Good to know. She prescribed me some migraine medicine, which I didn’t get filled, because I’m going to wait and see if it happens again. She also gave me a prescription for Allegra (the strong kind), which I was really happy about. My previous health insurer—Kaiser—switched my prescription over to Claritin, which sucks in comparison.

I’ve been doing some major research on Apple computers. I think I’ve decided to get an Apple 15” G4 Powerbook totally loaded with 1.5GHz, 2GB RAM, 128MB video, 80GB hard drive, and DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive. I can get roughly a $500 discount through AOL. And my co-worker has all the software I’d need (Office 2004, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Creative Suite, etc.). I would just need the PC emulator (so I can run some Windows programs, if I need to) and a light version of ProTools. I want to hurry up and learn some video and audio software, so I can move over to another department in AOL (like AOL Radio), if my contract is not extended in July for the Expressions team.

I also looked into going back to school. I wish there was a film school in the area, but I guess D.C. isn’t really a Mecca for film production. If I do decide to take night/weekend classes, I’ll more than likely go to ITT Tech in Chantilly and get the IT – Multimedia degree. I’m also looking at The Art Institute of Washington, but if I have to commute to Rosslyn from Herndon every night, I may have to shoot myself.