friday night Son Volt was good and I woke up kinda late saturday a.m., washed up and had an early lunch. a sub. then I went back home and took a nap. then I put sunblock on my feet, put my sandals on, put Leaves of Grass, Red Shift, Breathalyzer and my medium sized green notebook in my backpack and went and got an iced coffee from Jacob’s. I went to the park and sat on a bench in the sun. it was very, very toasty and good in the sun. I thought about toastiness.

eventually it was a little too hot so I went to the shade and sat on the grass. lied down. looked up at the tree. read Leaves of Grass and wrote a bit at times. watched people. a woman came and sat on the grass about 30 feet away. she looked awfully good. I read, sort of, and probably even wrote, but I was a bit multiple about things by then. I think I was there on the grass about an hour, tho I really don’t know.

I had a game at 4:30 and was wondering if I needed to head home. I thought about asking her what time it was and then I did. first I thought about the significance of not having any device with me that could tell time. she could know from my question that I didn’t have a phone with me, and I thought about how it’s probably rare in DC for someone to ask someone else what time it is, because everyone either has a watch, phone or ipod on them at all times. now that I think of it I may have had an ipod with me but I forgot about that at the time. she said it was about 3:00. she was sitting up and facing me at that point. most of the time she was lying down and reading a magazine or not reading anything. the magazine had pictures and big blocks of color. the way she told me what time it was seemed polite and a bit deliberate, but not a slow kind of deliberate. she looked up at me before saying it. I thought about how we heard each others’ voices. I started to have more of a vague feeling that I might make some kind of advance. time passed during which I was multiple including reading, people watching, maybe writing a little. I decided it was about time to leave. I took out a busin/ess card and crossed out the busin/essy parts, and I wrote

single sane (mainly)

and I put a dot between single and sane, like the dots between the busin/essy things I crossed out. also I wrote my phone number on the back and drew an arrow from my name to the right edge of the card, which I intended (I’m laughing) to indicate that there was more on the back. I thought about how the left parenthesis around mainly was a little flat. I gathered up my stuff. I decided to leave my sandals off and walk home barefoot. I walked over and handed her the card and said if you want. I was carrying my sandals. she was a little startled and took the card, looked at it and said oh. then she looked up in the same way she looked up when she said it was about 3:00. she said thank you. I might have nodded. I didn’t say anything. I turned and continued home.

I got my frisbee stuff ready and rode my bike to the game at the polo grounds near the mall. we lost. I felt good tho because I could tell that I was in better shape than I’ve been in in a while. I got faster as the game went on, like I used to. in the first half I went back for the dump way, way too much and eventually a teammate said something to me about it. our team played badly in the first half, as did I. I thought about how we don’t have enough egotists on the team. we’re too unselfish. in the second half I did much better and my team did better and we had a good time.

I went home and thought about dinner. I decided I wanted to make something easy but first I ate a snack so I wouldn’t be hungry, then I walked to the Yes Market and bought two veggie pot pies and some fig bars. I came home and cooked and ate a pot pie. I thought about calling my friend Pat to see if he wanted to go to a bar. later I called him and left a message. (much later, around 3:30 a.m. when I was having trouble sleeping, I heard my phone make a beep and went and got the phone and there was a text message from him saying he was in germany but we should grab a beer when he gets back.) also I took a picture of myself making a ridiculous face and sent it to my friend Rich. then I took a picture of the inside of my mouth and sent that to Mike and then I took a picture of my nostrils and sent that to Scott. this was the first time I had ever sent pictures with my cell phone. those three people live in Maryland and I know them from way back but I don’t see Rich or Mike often. I felt restless and wanted to go out and try hitting on someone else while I had momentum. it was raining and that made me feel a little better about not going out.

I thought about the girl at the park. I thought about how I could have said a little more. it might not have been good to say a lot more, but I could have said a little more. for example I could have said you’re welcome. I thought about whether I seemed endearingly shy or maybe even overly nonchalant and detached, or even that it may have seemed (this is hilarious) like I changed my mind at the last second after she said thank you and that’s why I walked away without saying anything. I don’t have anguished critical thoughts. I just think about things in a mild way.

today I woke up kinda late. I did things like clean my bathroom, nap, read about the redskins draft, type up a poem I wrote late last night, eat, take walks in the gloom. today was rainy, very different than yesterday.

yesterday after I was at the park I felt good. it’s rare that I make an advance and I forgot about how it changes my relationship with the day and the public. it makes it feel like there isn’t a 12-foot-high fence with barbed wire between me and people. I suppose it’s possible I’ll hear from her or she’ll read this but I guess I assume not. I figure that’s how it goes, usually. I remember someone I saw a few weeks ago who I might have talked to if I had seen her in the hours following the park experience. because the 12-foot fence wouldn’t have been there.

I was reminded that women sometimes don’t have as their first thought that I’m a weirdo. a lot of them seem to think, initially, that I’m just some kind of regular guy… actually I don’t even have vocabulary for it. what is the English word for regular guy? dude. that’s the word. not all of them.