Monday, May. 03, 2004 - 7:12 p.m.
Such a day it�s been. This morning I took a proofreading test at a local academic publishing house � if I did well, I�ll have about a month of freelance work there. This evening I won an award (hooray for me!) In between, I administered a final and graded a bunch of papers. Goodness.
It will continue to be busy for several days, and then I will be at least mostly unemployed. Updates will no doubt pick up again around that time.
L and I were invited to a neighborhood party yesterday afternoon � he moved into his house last September but has met only a few of his neighbors. He made some hummus, I toasted pita bread, and we went timidly across the street to the house with cement bunnies all over the lawn. We went in. I looked around the room at all the sober suburban grownups, took in the cheese dip and the baby and the wide khakied asses sprouting from below polo shirts, and felt mildly panicked. However, about thirty seconds later I realized half the adults were lesbian couples, and the panic subsided. Funny, that. Probably I�m not statistically more likely to have something more in common with a middle-aged lesbian than a middle-aged hetero woman, but I feel as though I am. Paradoxically, sexuality is way more of an issue for heterosexuals. I didn�t have to talk about babies or weddings even once. I got to hear instead about past neighborhood scandals and county council meetings .
So we are not all Best Friends now, the garrulous postman and the forensic psychologist and the preteen daughter with the nasal voice and translucent Lolita arms, but we are a neighborhood. Except I don�t live there.