A Brief and Hopefully Reassuring Electronic-Mail Conversation with a Friend

**names changed to protect the loopy.

From: Friend
To: me
Date: Apr 15, 2005 2:10 PM
Subject: hey

Missed your call due to being out at Siegfried. That's a good one, if one may be so flip about something as, well, substantial as The Ring.

In other news, "B-boy" is provoking me with what he thinks are philosophically-based observations of my representation to the world, and what I think is insulting nagging about how I need to clean up my desk, get into work earlier, and lose more weight.

What I have learned from opera and life this week includes the fact that men (or gods, or dwarves or whatever) can be both stupid and evil. Actually I knew that already.

xxx

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From: Me
To: Friend
Date: Apr 15, 2005 3:00 PM
Subject: Re: hey

d'oh! I'm sorry I forgot about the Ring thing. Although it's entirely possible I have a block against Wagner at this point, vacillating with me sobbing over Tristan un Isolde on my iPod.

You, kind lady, are correct about the stupid and evil thing.

Although there is beauty and goodness in the world. I took Nietschze to heart the other night, in your honour. While waiting for the upstairs ladies room at the Village Lantern (my friend "E-girl" delightedly had shown me the leapord-printed-carpeted "secret back stairs" passage to the upstairs bathroom, which made the half empty bar look glorious, somehow, with the street lights shining in), a crazy guy (a lame comic, it turns out) standing near the requisite 80s cover band that plays upstairs from the comedy room caught my eye and saw me rocking to the music, He grabbed me and started swinging me around in the most wonderful way. Best. Dance. Ever. So wonderful in the moment. (Much better dancer than a comic.) And when a bunch of us ended up in the pub around the corner later, which was fairly well into Thursday morning, me, "D-boy" (the longhair), "D-guy" (who can solve a Rubik's Cube during a five-minute set), and "V-man" (who I'd be in love with if he weren't married), and "J-babe" the hot bartender all sang "Mercedez Benz" (Janis Joplin but you knew that) at the top of our lungs. While dancing, kinda. Well, drunkenly swaying. It counts. I told them that quote about dancing. These guys all can comment on Nietschze. I like them.

So, sometimes the world is OK. Even men.