Thursday, December 29, 2005

Probably Temporary Breakthrough and Fake Mayo Evaluation

I'm on vacation from work this week and had decided to see six movies. So far I've seen The Dying Gaul (very good, but wrecked the rest of my day), Rumor Has It (because I love Mark Ruffalo) and Brokeback Mountain (wonderful; heartbreaking). Yet to come: Mrs. Henderson Presents, Transamerica, and Breakfast on Pluto.

I spoke to P. on the phone earlier this week, because I don't have the nerve not to call him at all, and, having elicited the information that I was off work this week, he asked if maybe we could do something. I said I thought not, but then I decided that I could drag him along to one movie; he likes Shirley MacLaine, so I took him to Rumor Has It.

I had come to feel so resentful of him that I could barely look at him. There were probably entire outings where I never once really took him in. That kind of aversion doesn't feel very good, so I made it a goal this week just to see him, if nothing else, and that seemed to have the paradoxical effect of putting my focus more on my own internal experience, and he seemed much less annoying. He was doing all the same stuff, but instead of getting wound up thinking that he was driving me crazy, I just felt, "Okay, here we are. He looks this way at this moment, he's doing such-and-such a thing, I'm sitting here on this bench."

When we were waiting for the cab, I noticed a glistening mound of spit on the sidewalk and cautioned him not to step in it, whereupon he stood up and walked right over to it and then obediently minced carefully over it. Then he turned around and did the same thing in the other direction.

After our outing, we were talking on the phone and he mentioned that I should probably marry him soon, as his money will probably last for only another couple of years. I suggested that he marry Marina, a woman in his house. He said plaintively, "But I want to marry you." I said, "Why do you want to marry someone who's so grumpy and angry?" He said, "You're beautiful." That had a rather softening effect on me, even if it was purely strategic.

Fake Mayo Evaluation

I've concluded that for tuna salad, Nayonaise is best; for egg salad, Lemonaise is best; and for sandwiches, Spectrum Organic Eggless Vegan Light Mayo is best. I've found that one of those citrus-fruit zesters that looks like a file is a handy thing for making egg salad with, using a pre-hard-boiled egg from the fridge. It's better to use the zester crosswise on the egg rather than going the long way, because the latter produces long strings of egg that are like having hairs in your mouth.

No comments: