Goddamn you, Texas!!
Alright, maybe I started that in the wrong place.
Let's try this again.
I. Heart. Noders.
Everyone who knows noders knows that internoder relations stretch from nate's first few lines of code to the first title on the New Writeups list. There's something about us- the "noder spark," as dann later dubbed it. Everything is a Community. Everything is a Family. And that's part of what makes so many nodermeets so amazing... there's a strange charm in getting to know someone through their words and then deciphering them face to face. A cosmic connection, perhaps... but it's a rare occasion to meet a noder that you truly, in every respect, dislike. In the case of this particular pile of kittens, exactly the opposite turned out to be.
I'll give ya To Be Continued...
...When it became apparent that there was no way we were going to make it back to NYC at an hour early enough to get pint to work or Dann and Siobhan back on the road with any hope of substantial progress in their cross-country trip, we offered them our hospitality and raucous company for the night (and why not? They's kickass folk!). They accepted, and we clamored down the highway and through the ridiculously congested turnpike traffic in Dann's Honda, Harvey.
(/me would like to mention that being behind the wheel again after living car-less for a year in New York City was... AWESOME.)
It's quite difficult to expound upon the weekend's subsequent events without seriously exceeding the acceptable length of a daylog, playing the +4 Rod of Infinite Sap, and frankly, giving out Too damn Much Information... but let's just say that pint and I were more than overjoyed when they decided to stay another night.
After another day of impeccable company, singing at the top of our lungs, ubergeeking (as in, all four of our computers networked, sitting within inches of one another shooting IM's three ways, and more than occasionally cracking up and simultaneously typing LOL), cheap Mexican food, late-night drives and later-night diners, too many cigarettes and never enough snuggling, the time came for them to leave. Damn responsibility and what not.
This was painful. Toting their bags, we walked a block to the car. Waiting on the windshield were three parking tickets- I guess we lost track of time. (Dann later totaled them to almost three hundred dollars... and he didn't mind as much as he probably should have.)
We pointed them in the direction of the Holland Tunnel and said our goodbyes. Hugs and kisses and two deliciously unfortunate couples on Second Avenue. Dann and Siobhan drove off. Pint went to work. And I was left at home alone.
I walked up the stairs to our tiny apartment, sat down at the computer, lit a cigarette and logged into E2. At the top of the C! list was Sleeping with someone. Ouch.
Pint called me over his break; I answered with a rather harried:
"What the FUCK happened this weekend?!?"
Pint: "Dude, you stole my line!"
Me: "So you say mine!"
Pint: "I have nooooo idea..."
We stammered at each other for a few minutes, and then...
Pint:"... but i think everyone in our apartment... just fell head-over-heels in love."
Me: "Yeah... I think that's exactly what happened."
*stuttering*
*whimpering*
Me: "Hot damn."
So now we're back to where I started. Texas.
He lives in Texas, and that... is awfully far from here. Far from home. I'm not sure when I'll see him again, but I'm very much looking forward to that moment.
She is coming back to New York in a week or so to spend the rest of her time in the States with pint.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I. Heart. Noders.
We have no idea how this is going to work out... but we've got a good feeling.
Wish us luck.