Transplanted Life
Friday, September 24, 2004
 
No more waiting tables
No more waitressing! At lesat, not any time soon. I've got the weekend off, the Star Wars movies on DVD, and a job with benefits and regular hours starting on Monday. Life's pretty good.

(Well, except for Francona pulling a Grady during the ballgame. Stupid, stupid, stupid...)

I wish it hadn't been an evening shift, so that Doug and I could have done something to celebrate. He's just not a guy for starting a date at ten, though, and I think it is kind of tacky to celebrate not having a job even more, even when you're talking about a specific job.

Carter and Maureen are out again tonight. Is it catty of me to say that I don't quite see what they see in each other? I mean, I know the whole opposites attract thing, but I sometimes wonder what they talk about when they're together. Maybe it's just physical.

-Martina
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
 
Kid's going to have a confusing family tree
Got more pictures from Nat today. She's in her third trimester, which she described as the point of no return. Kind of a weird thing for her to say, since she hasn't mentioned abortion in months. Not that she ever mentioned it much, but, well, it creeps me out. On multiple levels. And most of that comes from the guy part of me, the part that still thinks of Nat's unborn child as being mine, sort of, because of the DNA it has. And even if I put the whole idea of me having any claim or connection to the kid off, the very idea creeps me out. Politically, I've always been sort of a conservative libertarian in that area. I don't like the very idea of abortion, but sort of felt like I was unqualified to have an opinion on the subject. Even having had a womb for the past fourteen months, I still don't give it much thought. I tend to think it should be legal inasmuch as it should be regulated like any other medical procedure, but only used as a medical procedure, when carrying a fetus to term would be a danger to the mother's health.

I think I articulated it even worse while IMing Nat, but she seemed to get it. She thinks it's nice that I'm taking an interest; her parents are evidently being downright schizophrenic about it. On the one hand, they're terribly disappointed that their little girl has been scandalized like this, and she probably won't be the first female president after all, but on the other hand... they intend to spoil their first grandchild rotten.

Mom's even more unsure. She kind of wants grandchildren, too, but she's coming around to how "Alexei" isn't Martin, so while she's the source of roughly a quarter of the baby's genetic material, her son isn't really the father. She wishes it could be simpler. If I ever have kids, she says, what will they be to her? It's not going to happen anytime soon, I tell her - I haven't had unprotected sex yet and I've slowed down over the past year.

Okay, I'm going to finish watching this game and head to bed. I think I'm getting old or something; I used to look at extra innings as "bonus baseball", and you'd think being physically five years younger would get me back in that frame of mind.

-Martina
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
 
Takes a little bit of the sting out of a loss
One thing about it being one's last week on a job that's kind of nice is that the little things that people disapprove of doesn't phase you any more. Like, yesterday afternoon, you could just see the look on my manager's face when he told me I had a message from my roommate. I know he wanted to talk down to me about how I should handle my personal business on my own time, but I would be gone at the end of the week, so what was the point? Instead, I think he just took satisfaction in my having to use my break to go find a pay phone to call Maureen back at work.

Fortunately, she was at the front desk and answered the phone herself. Turns out she wound up "stuck" with three Red Sox tickets when the guests who had requested them opted to go see "The Lion King" instead. So, was I up for it?

Well, yeah. There aren't any more tickets available from the team, and I'm not going to give the parasites who line the way between Kenmore station and Fenway Park the money they want - I can't afford it even if I didn't object to it on principle; they add no value or convenience to their merchandise. Unless I get drawn for a chance to buy postseason tickets I can't afford, it was probably my last chance to see the Sox in person this year. And, hey, it's the Orioles, so there's a good chance to see a victory, right?

Ah, but I hadn't reckoned with Tim Wakefield's ability to just suddenly have nothing. Knuckleballers do that; they'll just be cruising along and then, suddenly, wham!, out comes the suck. Then, after they've given up five runs in the time it takes you to buy a hot dog, everything's back to normal. It's like a baseball flash flood.

So, anyway, it got ugly, go to ESPN for the details. What was cool was that the Farrelly Brothers are filming Fever Pitch in and around Fenway Park this month, and so we all got to stay and be extras. I did a complete girly squeal upon hearing that; I'm not the biggest fan of the brothers (it's kind of been downhill since There's Something About Mary), but, still, getting to watch a movie being filmed is pretty cool. Took about twenty minutes after the game, but it was fun. Also, it made me like Johnny Damon even more - he was one of the few players who stuck around, and you could tell he liked being able to lead the fans in a "Yankees Suck" chant while psyching up the crowd. You just can't do that during the game.

Anyway, the movie comes out next summer. It was the last scene, and I'm the brunette in the navy Red Sox t-shirt, next to the two girls kissing. (I guess Maureen's going to have to come out by then, unless they opt not to use that angle, though why wouldn't they?)

Only downside is that I had to tell Doug that I couldn't make it to the movie over the phone, leaving a message with his assistant. That always feels awkward.

-Martina
Sunday, September 19, 2004
 
Couples
Kind of a weird weekend. Not in the sense of anything strange happening, but just in terms of completely conventional things being a bit off-kilter.

Like, Friday, I get off work and go out for some drinks and dancing with Doug, go back to his place, et cetera. It was exactly what we'd been planning to do, but after he found out I'd gotten the job it was like "what we'd planned to do" wasn't quite good enough. It's stupid, because what better way is there to celebrate good news than going out and having fun? We people are silly.

But, to make up for it, he took me out to breakfast. Expensive Algerian place, the one right in Harvard Square. Nice effort, but I'm not sure how sophisticated one should try to make breakfast. I'm not sure where the cutoff point is, but I think it's before lamb sausage. Fortunately, Doug was happy to eat mine.

Then work, and now that the next schedule's been posted without me, it's like all the people there who aren't students seem to resent me finding a better job or something. And then when I describe the job after they ask, it's, oh, she must have slept with someone. Nobody actually says that, but you can get the idea from "oh, going from waitress to office manager... I wonder how someone does that!" Well, at least I won't miss the place now.

Today was an off day, so Kate, Jen and I went to see a movie at the film festival during the afternoon. It was a kind of weird chick flick, Duane Incarnate, which basically seemed to revolve around women being catty and lousy friends. It was pretty funny, but it made me super-paranoid about how Kate and Jen talk about me behind my back.

The weird part was tonight, when Doug and I went to dinner with Wei and Jim. I mean, most of the time when my/Martin's friends got married, we just sort of drifted apart, and you'd think that with me not totally being Martin, it would be easier for Wei and Jim to do that, but they're making an effort to keep me in their lives. Weird. Although, already, they're looking at us and saying, so, when are you two going to take your relationship to the next level? And I'm like, not for a while, that I like having my independence and autonomy while I try to figure out just who I am. And, yeah, I know it's been over a year, but there's been so much upheaval during that time...

And everyone made understanding noises, but I could kind of tell that wasn't what they wanted to hear. Married people want the rest of the world married, Doug probably wants something more akin to a normal relationship, and even if he doesn't, well, probably not the best place to air that out.

Ah well. Tired; must sleep.

-Martina

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Note: This blog is a work of fantasy; all characters are either ficticious or used ficticiously. The author may be contacted at JaySeaver@comcast.net