2003-08-05 - 11:00 p.m.

So busy I have been. So busy working and then coming home and working. I�m a mediocre workaholic. My 28-year-old stepsister is a hotshot lawyer and works 70 to 80 hours a week. Her life is all about work, and she recently told me she sometimes spends the night at the office. I can�t relate to that. I mean, I guess I could be persuaded to try to relate to that if I was offered her salary.

Anyway, no talk of work! I had Myra-Lee Day of Beauty on Saturday. It was a thrill. I was in need of maintenance. Then I dragged my dear pal Branderslice along on a visit to my old high school friend (of the ninth-grade goth/stealing the minivan/driving to Club Post Nuclear era) whom I recently ran into via�you guessed it: Friendster. She�s a Mac girl, and she did me right: smoky eyes, frosty lips. She spend an hour on this application - about 59 more minutes than I usually devote to beautification. When it was over, we hugged and she said, "You�re going to be the belle of the ball!" And all the Mac counter peoples in their black attire waved adieu.

Saturday night was the music listening/b-day party, and it was a blast. The people who had the party - Andrea and Kyriakos - are so kind-hearted and so brilliant (she's a full-time media career lady and an entrepreneurial bag designer; he's an architect and some sort of Jedi/Kung Fu instructor). And they have been good, good friends to me. And I cannot gush enough about their loft! Brick walls. Three levels. A 40-foot-high ceiling. A rooftop patio/balcony with lovely plants overlooking the splendor of Long Beach. I love it. And they're such gracious hosts - a significant quality, if you ask me.

Too many people showed up for everyone to get to play their three favorites, which was a relief for me. I�m a den of indecision, and I�d burned a CD with 10 favorite songs. When we realized there was only time for each person to play one song, I couldn�t decide between "Moon River" (a version by The Innocence Mission) or "Fly" by Nick Drake. A little roshambo solved the dilemma, and Nick Drake it was. Because nothing says PARTY like Nick Drake.

The crowd was varied in the most wonderful way (I spent an hour talking to Olivier, the nicest, tiniest, flamboyant French optometrist/window dresser; I have a crush on Olivier), which made for an eclectic mix of music. Andrea (the b-day girl and super-talented bag designer) went first with a song from In the Name of the Father. Apparently it�s the song that�s playing as a building is being blown up - a nice curtain raiser. One girl got up and sweetly explained how The Pixies had shaped her entire high school experience. A guy got up and said, "My name is Matt, and I like singer-songwriters." And the room responded, "Hi Matt." Branderslice chose "There Is a Light that Never Goes Out." Because someone had to do it. Andrea�s mom played "Unchained Melody." My wonderful, amazing boyfriend chose "If Not for You" by George Harrison and said some thoughtful, regretful words about his death. And then he said the song always reminds him of "what he and his girlfriend have." And I cried, and the smoky/frosty ensemble was ruined. But anyway, it�s all right to cry; crying takes the sad out of you. And anyway, I wasn�t sad. I was touched and happy.

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