Livin' la Vie de Boheme

So I took a break in my new breakneck pace of posting (not sure why I've cranked it up, I just have), mainly because I was madly scrambling from one thing to another. I went out Wednesday night with the local skeptic's group, Thursday night was a gallery opening for my friend Todd, and Friday night was a concert at the Red Palace. (By the way, Hellblinki rocks.) Saturday I slept in and did some used-book shopping, but when evening rolled around I was too exhausted to do anything. And today was a total schlumpfest.

In the last few years I've managed to make friends with a lot of people in the arts and performance worlds around here, and it's made life a lot more interesting. And I've been happy for that; there were many nights I used to sit around feeling lonely and sorry for myself, and I barely have time for that these days. There are times when I'm almost grateful for a Friday or Saturday night at home alone.

Wait, someone's asking if I got anything good used-book shopping yesterday. Well, some decent stuff. A handful of paperbacks, including THE GHOST STORIES OF EDITH WHARTON and FAMOUS GHOST STORIES edited by Bennett Cerf. And a small stack of hardcovers, including Bill Pronzini's GUN IN CHEEK, a literary anthology called THE BACHELOR'S COMPANION (which I found out is a sort of "best-of" grouping from a defunct magazine called THE SMART SET), and my best find, another anthology, AND THE DARKNESS FALLS, edited by Boris Karloff! I got it for $2, and the cheapest copy I could find on abebooks is just over $40.

(Alas, the copy I found is missing its dust jacket...)

And tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Feh. More often than not, I'm single on V-day, and will be again this year (although I'm starting to get out a bit every now and then, meeting guys here and there, and had quite a bit of luck last month with a chap from Chicago...). However, I'm not torn up about it; I've actually got to a point where I no longer care if I'm single for the rest of my life or not, which is quite a change from years when V-day meant week-long spells of depression and self-loathing and crying jags and all that. BUT...it seems that a lot of people I know are dealing with divorces, or reeling from recent breakups, and one acquaintance is coping with how today would have been her late husband's 52nd birthday. One friend has a double dose of V-day and his own birthday tomorrow, and his wife moved out Friday, getting the divorce proceedings started. So instead of wallowing in my own pain, I worry about them. I wish I could bring them all together for a nice dinner or something, but the best I can do is let them know I'm thinking of them and hope the best for them, and raise a glass in their honor.

OK, just to end on a slightly goofy note, for some reason I looked up Wikipedia's entry on Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock, and have fallen in lust with his photo. If you look like this, drop me a message.

And be prepared to mix a mean martini.

OK, enough personal stuff...more fun on the way!