Weekend Journal

As I boarded the bus, two tea bag tags hanging out of my Starbucks cup were whipped around by the cold March wind.

I had strep again. The doctor talked about taking out my tonsils. 24 hours of antibiotics, and I was theoretically well enough to go to shopping in the city.

I’m so sick of freakin’ Pottery Barn and the Gap. I was jonesing for hip t-shirt shops and cheap Chinese knockoffs.

I met up with Suze at the Pottery Barn at Houston and Broadway. That God damn store is everywhere. But it’s a convenient place to meet up, since it is right next to the subway. Then we had to walk downtown for a few blocks to get past the other mall stores — 9 West, Old Navy, Aldo, the Banana. Though I couldn’t resist H & M, since they have better stuff in the city.

I got some silly t-shirts for Steve. And a kimono sash at the Pearl River Mart.

At the Excellent Dumpling House, we ate dumplings and talked about how the former city people that we knew spent most of their spare moments trying to hatch a plot to return to New York. Jersey has been getting me down lately. I’m sure that my mood will change, when it warms up enough to start planting things in the ground.

Maybe it was all that warm tea in our bellies, but when we came out of the restaurant, it felt colder than when we went in. Shopping was over, so it was time for a beer. We walked over to Spring Street, checked to see if Patty was bartending at the Spring Street Lounge (she wasn’t), and had a pint at Gatsby’s, the dive across the street.

Susan told me about her adventures with on-line dating. In one week, she has rejected the profiles of 180 men. A good many for typos. Some for cliches — “I will treat you like a Queen.” Some for questionable, old fashioned language — “lady” is a bad word. Some for obvious reasons — “I am a loner and I like to drink a lot.”

I got home eventually. Spent too much time on a subway that was halted because some asshole pulled the emergency brake.

This week — there is yet another article on the paucity of women in the top positions in law firms. I might write a post on that. I’m not sure what else. Open to suggestions.