Else what's a heaven for?

Last week was tough: I had 5 productive days in a row, taking my shiny streak to 7, but I whined whined whined the whole way through. My Friday plans fell through when we couldn't get confirmation that there'd be a hardpoint at that night's party. Instead, I had an unusually frank conversation with my mum about my love life and then had dinner with Jane to discuss her ex-husband. My Saturday plans fell through too, which was sort of okay bc I got some things done - I finished sorting my 1100 Himalayan expedition photos - but it was more like an unproductive weekday than a weekend.

Sat night was the second of what is turning out to be 3 goodbye parties for MLev. By the time I got there, the Guest of Honor had a glazed look. I still have no idea who paid for the open bar. I had assumed it would be a little lame and I'd be home around midnight; I barely did my makeup and wore that-shirt-I-wear-when-I-don't-plan-my-social-engagements. It was good to see GMac and all the other climbers: the party was a crush bc she is a good social connector and accepts everyone. GMac gave her a rock from Central Park to remember us by -- and an engraved, old skool climbing axe.

I thought I remembered most of the evening, but the next day someone posted a picture of me dancing on FB. When I am Queen, that guy is going up against the wall. I =do= remember a conversation with the GOH where she told me my climbing crush was interested, my poo-pooing that, and her telling me "No, he's outside and he wants to hang out." So we took a cab back to my place and, ah, hung out. This guy has a beautiful body the way climbers do - I felt like that picture of Psyche revealing Cupid's beauty watching him sleep - but hanging out with him reminded me how callow young men are, how poorly they hold their drink, that while I sometimes miss the stamina (and VO2max) of the young men I slept with in my college years, there's a lot to be said for my older, wiser, more experienced partners. I didn't think he heard me when I commented at one point that my cleaning lady was coming at 9:30am, but he was out the door and I started the laundry in time.

My sister and I had both signed up for a brunch with Eric Danko talking about the situation in Israel. I had low expectations, particularly after seeing the crufty school where they were holding the breakfast - they didn't even serve lox! - but Danko had many interesting insights. I hadn't thought about how Qaddafi's fall would spread better tech through the region. He claimed that Hamas is now targeting Israeli children to break their will to fight (since it's not like the international media are going to post pictures of dead Israeli children). He also drew connections between internal Palestinian politics, Hamas' attacks on Israel, and why Abbas pursued recognition at the UN, which led to an interesting question about ICC and ICJ funding. He had some convoluted explanation about why Iran is dragging its heels on getting the bomb. All in all, I walked away even more convinced Israel can never win, it can only hope to survive one more day at a time.

Bbro was having brunch 2 blocks away with his gf and when the four of us got together, we discovered all four of us were poorly. oops.

Then it was off to the NY Public Library for their annual holiday open house. I've never been before, bc it's mostly for children, but this year my boyfriend and I went with his daughter. Honestly, it was more crowded than I expected. We waited on a slow line to make origami penguins and we had punch and cookies. What made it worthwhile was seeing Junior playing in the reference room, looking at books and getting excited about all the knowledge in the world. If we could spark a love of reading in her, it would be worth everything I've ever donated to that library.

Then we headed to Little Italy for dessert at Ferrara's and dinner at Il Fornaio with Jane. It's hard to believe we've never hung out in Little Italy together, although Julian claims it's bc we eat a lot of Italian food in NJ and he's nervous about bringing me to restaurants with so many carbs.

Monday morning, I had to get up ridiculously early for a breakfast sponsored by the alumni organization of one of my former employers. My ex-boss' competitor was speaking and after 9 months away, I had a very different perspective on things. It's going to be a great talking point when I see my former colleagues. It was also interesting to see how they still firmly push their exceptionalism to alumni.

Then I went to my eye doctor. Turns out when I tried to take out my contact lenses while drunk, I'd ripped one, which had given me a "huge conjunctival abrasion". It continued to hurt, a lot, for the rest of the day, but on the other hand, my eye doctor offered me contacts to put in immediately, so apparently it wasn't a big deal.

Spider, her boy, and I had tea that afternoon at the Pierre, my current favorite hotel tea in NYC. Monday was a much better weekend day than Saturday had been. When I got home, Julian was waiting for me in my lobby. Even though I hadn't finished my tasks for the day - I'd only picked up one contact that day and I hadn't applied for any jobs - he still gave me the sexual rewards I wanted. (I think he might have wanted them too.) Then we dressed for a variety night in Brooklyn. Both Jon and Julian had been burbling about seeing Stoya (nsfw) perform aerial. She is in fact as pretty as they said and her second lyra number was quite skilled. I really enjoyed Reformed Whores' singing and Stormy Leather's burlesque, but some of the other performances were dull, trying for transgressive and failing on choreography. Unfortunately, I was less than impressed by puppy dog's new mistress' numbers, but said polite things. I'm sorry I missed chatting with Axe and Ai, but it got late and it was time for Julian and I to head home for bresola and ziti leftovers.