March 03, 2003 : smoothing things over

I told you we would resolve it today. Eva got up from the couch, let the house, and by the time she was at the station we were both trying to call each other to mend the hairline fracture of last night.

At least the squabble was about something concrete. It's not something vague and shadowy, it's about something distant, important, and open-ended. Ordinarily we'd both say, "Cool...anything is a possibility." But I think we're past that already.

So today I got up when Eva got up and I took our 200 lbs. of laundry down to the laundrette around the corner. We salvaged one of those grocery pull-buggies (the sort that older people take to markets) and so I carried the loads down the stairs in three separate trips and strapped the two IKEA bags and one dufflebag to the buggy and proceeded to the laundrette.

I have come to the conclusion that doing laundry in the morning isn't so bad. No one is there there, and by the time I'm finished, I still have the entire day in front of me.

It was so much in front of me that by the time I got home, Eva was asking me to come to Mechelen to have lunch with her. It was one of those moments where I'd either make it or not, all based on the amount of time it took for me to tie my shoes. I road my bike to the station, locked it to a pole, and ran to the platform only to get there and realize that I had another 5 minutes to spare.

I rode the train to Mechelen, rapped on her window, waited for about 15 minutes, and then Jenneke and Eva both came out at the same time and the three of us had lunch at cafe De Vier Emmers that Eva once called 'poncy' but now she loves. (she has since sworn off labeling in such a way, as it is limiting and judgmental)

I dropped them back off at work and headed to my platform for the ride back. It wasn't a cold day in particular, but it wasn't altogether warm either. There's a lot of water in the air, like invisible mist, which makes it a lot colder than it would seem if you looked outside and saw the sun shining.

Basically, I'm not complaining.

I came back to Antwerp, puttered around the apartment and then rode my bike to the scooter place at break-neck speed in order to pick the scooter up. I get there with jelly legs only to have them say that it's not ready yet. (this after Eva had called and they had said that we could pick it up at 6)

After Eva got home, we headed to Tram 8 (not paying because we were only riding it two stops) and rode it to the stop by the Grill House only to find/be reminded that the Grill House isn't open on Monday nights. We returned Ghost World and since we couldn't decide on what/where we should eat, we went to a cafe, Lambik, across the street to talk it all over over a drink.

It was a great place, and the two of us thought (I'm taking the liberty to speak on Eva's behalf as well) that we came up with some pretty good ideas about Project Harvest/Autumn/Herfst/Fall. We left in good spirits and came home to frozen pizza and salad.

For the second night in a row, the hairline fracture raised it's head and Project Harvest/Autumn/Herfst/Fall made us wildly animated so much so that I went for a walk and 30 minutes later was outside of Tom and Ilse's asking them if I could come in and just sit on their couch.

It's the first time I have used/abused them as my 'own' friends and quite frankly I only have two more places I can think of where I could show up at 11 at night and just "hang out." I didn't spread any nasty rumors about Eva, they simply listened to me, Tom oohed over my cheap-o MP3 player, and then Ilse brought me home in her super-charged testosterone mobile. (car from work) Since the two of them know Eva pretty well, nothing seemed altogether new to them and I think they thought it was funny that I had only just realized the procrastination qualities in my beloved. I suppose that does mean that Eva and I are literally made for each other. I'm the sort of procrastinator that gets things done in the end. (tight-deadline) and Eva's the sort that just puts it off until tomorrow and tomorrow sometimes never comes.

But she's really pretty, smart, and fun to be around on top of the procrastination bit, so I think it'll all work out. :)

I came home and it was all over. We actually laughed about it. I think we got over our Project-Six-Months-From-Now and I doubt we'll be highly animated about it again. :)

IN THE NEWS:
Charlotte Beers, the former advertising executive who has been the Bush administration's point person in efforts to improve America's image among Muslims, is quitting her State Department job after 17 months of mixed reviews. Ms. Beers, a former chairwoman of J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather, was appointed undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs in September 2001, just after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Her task was to devise a multimillion-dollar public diplomacy campaign, complete with academic exchange programs and slick public service advertisements, to soften anti-American feelings.