day 2 of halloweekend in nyc

after a night alone, i had a few invitations to different things tonight. one in williamsburg, invited by a designer friend of mine. the second, to join an acquaintance and her friend on their party-hopping adventure. the third, to a party of college students my age.

i opted for the first.

it was great to be around people who have interesting jobs and a bit of a life story to go behind it. i had no costume, which was only a topic of conversation for about 30 seconds at a time during each conversation. i can't imagine myself dressing up. it's off brand.

i met a sarah, jon, jasper, natacha, joey, perry, morgan, larry, melissa, maddie, whitney, stone-cold-steve-austin, ashtan, and a few others.

all solid people.

is it city life that makes some people too good for everything? stand-offish? aloof? i'm not sure. but it was strong in a few characters, like a defense mechanism against who-knows-what. this was a very relaxed get-together. what's so worrisome? looking silly?

i looked silly. felt like it, too. perry asked if i was a comedian, and i laughed, and said no, i'm in design. that's the funny part. it doesn't exactly make sense.

after that, o.f. brought me to a party with a bunch of people our age.

just a few minutes ago, i was having a conversation with a film teacher, and now i'm here with a bunch of film and drama students. i am in purgatory between two age groups.

there was nobody of note at the second party — not because they're not notable, but because the entire point of the party seemed to be for this room of people to not be alone. you either knew someone, or you didn't. friends with friends. partners with partners. music too loud to hear how quiet most people were.

o.f. and i then walked around the neighborhood. with a shot of alcohol in her, her enthusiasm in the world really pipes up. it's funny. she's not so quiet anymore.

we decided to start dating, officially, whatever that means. i feel good about that. we'll be okay. we'll make it work. we seem to want to.

though, i must say, it's the most hesitant any relationship has ever been for me.

all the other ones fizzled out quickly, so maybe that's not a bad thing.

the braves won.