Workshopped my story in progress in class today and realized I need to rethink the structure and point of view. Oh man, I really want this one to be solid- need to spend some more time organizing. I also realized I need to be able to offer critique on the spot better. I was embarrassed that I didn’t offer anything to the older gentleman who went before me. Partly, it’s a focus (ADD?) problem. My mind wanders while the story is being read aloud, miss part of the story, then feel insecure about commenting because I know that I didn’t get the whole story. Ughh. In this case, part of the problem was that I was anxious about my own turn, but if he had gone after me, then I would have been distracted by my nervous reflection on how my critique session had just gone.

So, the big notifications are taken care of. I mean, I gave my notice at work and to my roommates (getting a bit nervous in the process) with a manageable amount of awkwardness. I still haven’t booked a flight because I am hoping to speak with Matt, the roommate prospect, to see if it matters what time of day I arrive. I wonder if he’s going to respond to my message. I need reassurance, not elusiveness! I would like to take the early flight, so I can have the afternoon to get adjusted in Austin, but I’m not sure if I’ll have a way of getting in the apartment if he’s not home (or if he would want me to arrive without him there).

Two bizarrely zealous African-American men encountered tonight: As I waited on the lawn in front of a municipal building on Mass Ave in Central Square for Steven so that we could walk down to Kendall Square together (to see Linklater’s new one, “Bernie”, which Bob gave me passes for), A wiry man lay near me, on one point facing me. I looked over, and, in the evening light, it seemed he was gleaming rather sinisterly at me. Then I noticed he was chomping grass vigorously. I mean, he had a long piece/bunch of some kind of grassy weed in his mouth, moving it around (it dangling) as he lay there. Then, on the orange line coming home an early 20’s guy in a baseball cap was convulsing and making odd and vigorous utterances in his seat as he played some game on his cell phone. Also, he kept shifting his gaze around compulsively to the passengers around him. I glimpsed cautiously lest I be discovered and attacked by him. I mean, he didn’t see hostile necessarily, but he did seem a bit deranged in his exclamations and little thrashings.

Speaking of trains, Gina wants to make a day trip to NYC while she visits, and the thought of gallivanting around Manhattan with Gina- and catching up on the bus or train there- thrills me. But it’s also complicated because it would eat into my little time in Ptown. Hmmm….