2006-02-14 - 4:23 p.m.

2/13/06

This was supposed to be a post about how the time is flying, but I got sidetracked by a photographer and spent the afternoon looking at his pictures, so I'll have to put that off for another day.

Earlier today, LJer LaBrat2 mentioned Capitola and had a wave of fierce nostalgia for it and for the Bay Area. It pains me. If I had it to do over again I would almost certainly still be living exactly where I am now, but I was so very happy while I was in San Jose and there were so many things I loved about the area. My current delirious love affair with Philadelphia doesn't negate that.

Capitola is an extremely cute little village alongside a river in a cove by the Pacific. As I mentioned to LaBrat2, I love the wooden train trestle spanning the river, and the little houses lining the river with a public path that winds through their backyards. Upon Googling I found a photograph that illustrated exactly what I was describing. Lookit:

(Click for a bigger version, although the biggest version is on the site mentioned below.)

That photo was taken by Hank Shiffman of disordered.org. It is from a set of INCREDIBLE desktop pictures that he has put up for public viewing here. Check them out!! If you take one, send him a note.

The Milford Sound photo on the second page is among my favorites. He's got some photos of sites from Lord of the Rings. Also check out his travelogues and his stock photography. The stock photography site (Hank's portfolio is here) was cool -- it allows you to search by keyword or color and then you can buy the high-resolution photos you turn up for $1-$5, if I'm understanding how the site works.

2/14/06

Yesterday I mailed a bunch of snow pictures to Poindexter's and my parents, and tacked on a picture of me in my red tweed jacket, just because. My mother IM'd me this morning and opened with, "Good morning, Miss Tweedy."

I dropped off Poindexter in the business district and on the way home, noticed a new street vendor who isn't usually at that spot. They were selling flowers. I thought, "What's with all the flowers in the dead of winter? Who's gonna buy those? They're all gonna die out there in the cold." Then I noticed the heart-shaped boxes of candy they were also selling. OH! Oops. Good thing Poindexter isn't expecting anything from me. This marks our 10th Valentine's Day together (out of 10) in which we pretty much failed to notice the holiday was happening.

But then, for me Valentine's Day is for everybody, not just for sweetheart lovers. So, a Happy Valentine's Day to you all[1]. *blows kisses*.

[1]Except you people who are griping about it. Don't want to offend.

I'm using my dirt bike icon because dirt biking is romantic.

So, I wrote Poindexter about me forgetting Valentine's Day, and then wrote, "So, um, Happy Valentine's Day". He wrote back:

"I figured you were trying to see if I remembered! I was going to hold out until I got home to say 'happy day.' That's funny! I remembered when I was updating [work crap] and was checking the date. So, since you said so... HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!"

When he got home (empty handed):

Poindexter: I was trying to think of things I could do for Valentine's Day and rejecting them...
Evelynne: They involved leaving the house or the office, didn't they.
Poindexter: Yeah. And I ended up deciding to do something practical for you, which was to call around and find somebody to fix your backlight [on my laptop] so it would be all taken care of.
Evelynne: Awwwwwwwwwwwwww. Thank you!! That's a great Valentine's Day present!
Poindexter: But the one number was busy for three hours and the others had answering machines. But that's what I thought of doing.
Evelynne: You're so sweet. But I didn't get you anything.
Poindexter: Good.

After all this discussion, I go out to pick up a few things at the market and pass a very busy restaurant and I'm all, "Wow, that place is really busy for a weeknight!" Five minutes later I pass another overloaded flower stand and realize: I FORGOT AGAIN. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!?

After that I didn't forget, though, and started seeing romance everywhere I looked. At the market I saw two men about the same age standing by the deli counter, but they did not seem to be together. I don't know if they were gay or straight or one of each. But in my imagination they were both gay, and I thought, "What a great story it would be, if they are both single and and lonely, picking up sandwich fixins alone on Valentine's Day, and then they met at the deli and lived happily ever after."

Then I got home and Poindexter had been on the phone with Dell for half an hour trying to get them to just send a freakin' box so I can have the laptop repaired. Unbelievable. I showered him with kisses and thanked him for my Valentine's Day present. It means a great deal to me that he will patiently deal with telephone issues for me. (I suspect that Dell will probably handle this kind of thing online, so I'll do that next time, but he beat me to the punch so let's not mention this to him.)

Later I asked what he'd considered doing that wasn't practical. He thought of getting a funny card, maybe a little mushy, but definitely funny. He thought of getting me flowers but said, "I always get the wrong kind." I told him there is no wrong kind of flowers.

It's the thought that counts, you know. I got as big a kick out of hearing his thought process as I would have if he actually showed up with gifts. Because what I have always wanted is for him to let me inside his head, and he does that.

And finally, Kit's adorable relationship graph reminded me of a conversation we had a few weekends ago. We were standing in the maydia room hugging (we do this a lot, stopping to hug for a while when we cross paths in the house as we go about our business), and I was marveling for the 379th time or so how we seem to fit together perfectly. It's been like this from the very beginning:

Evelynne: Do you remember, when I visited your family that December, how after dinner the first night, I hugged you and remarked on how skinny you were, and you said I was skinny too?
Poindexter: I thought that happened the next weekend.
Evelynne: No, it was that first night.
[Brief mock argument ensues about the time frame.]
Evelynne: Well, ANYWAY, when we hugged then I was amazed at how good it felt to hug you, it felt like we were ... like ... like you were the, uh, the enzyme to my protein, we fit, you know?
Poindexter: The WHAT!?
Evelynne: You know, like lactase/lactose, they're shaped so they fit together and bind?
Poindexter: [Deviling me.] Like beans and rice?
Evelynne: No, together they make a protein, that's different.
Poindexter: [Looks at me indulgently with an amused grin.]
Evelynne: Goddammit. Let go of me. [Gets pissed off and struggles to get away.]
Poindexter: [Laughs delightedly, holds me tight so I can't escape.] I know ... it's like you're missing an electron and I have an extra electron and we get close to each other and *SHOOOP* [makes vacuum sound effect]
Evelynne: Yeah! Like that! You knew exactly what I meant!
Poindexter: Of course I did.

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