Blah

I think some of it has to do with reading Sean McMullen's Souls in the Great Machine, which is a dark novel about characters manipulating each other, and particularly involves some rather tangled sexual and emotional relations. It's fairly powerful stuff. And of course it also underscores my own relationship situation, or lack thereof.

Yeah, I've been feeling rather lonely this weekend, and also rather horny. (I rarely talk about sex or my feelings about sex in my journal. Not that there's a lot to talk about. It's like those rare occasions when I swear in e-mail; people will respond and say, "Wow, you never say 'fuck' in your e-mails.") Anyway, when I wake up on a Saturday morning feeling like this, and don't have any particular plans for the day, this doesn't make me feel much like getting out of bed.

The time of the year also doesn't help. When it gets grayer and chillier in the fall, it always makes me feel a little more down. There's just something about October-through-December that really doesn't work for me. Even in Wisconsin, where the trees would change to pretty colors, I still didn't much care for this time of year. It's just... blah. And on weekends like this, it reinforces my wish that I had a significant other to be with.

I felt better once I actually did get up (I usually do), and even better once I started doing some chores around the house: I cleaned my car, and sorted a whole bunch of mail and newspapers which had accumulated on my tables. Doing useful stuff takes my mind off my worries and of course also makes me feel good about accomplishing something.

Spent the latter part of the day watching TV: An episode of Brother Cadfael from Mystery!, the premiere episode of Grosse Pointe (cute, but fluffy and cliched; probably not worth my time after the second episode, which I also have on tape), and the first episode of Static Shock (which is not bad, but I'll wait and see how it shapes up in the coming weeks).

Did some shopping at used bookstores tonight before spending some time reading at Borrone. I'd hoped to have Chinese for dinner at my favorite Chinese place in the area, but they were pretty full with a long waiting line when I got there. So pasta salad at Borrone it was.

Lucy had left me a nice message on my answering machine when I got back. She and John have a guest from out of town this weekend, and it seems that they've been having fun. Haven't seen her in a while, though some of that, as she said, is because we live "a zillion miles apart".

Baseball Update: The Cardinals eliminated the Braves and the Mariners took out the White Sox to earn spots in the ALCS and NLCS, respectively. I'd expected each contest to come out differently, actually.

Sadly, the Mets beat the Giants, 3-2, in 13 innings today, putting them up 2-1 in the series. The Giants have lost two games they could have won, and are in trouble, sheerly mathematically. If they can pull it out, then they will surely be fired up to face the Cardinals. I think they have a good chance to win tomorrow's game if Mark Gardner pitches well, and then they'll have an excellent chance to win Game 5 back in San Francisco. But it all hinges on tomorrow's match-up.

The good news is the Athletics rocked the Hated Yankees, 11-1 to force a Game 5 in their Division Series, in Oakland. 22-year-old rookie Barry Zito held the Yorkies down for nearly 6 innings. On the down side, the Yankees will be sending Andy Pettitte to the mound, and he's manhandled the hapless A's hitter all season, including in Game 2 of this series. Then again, he's pitching on only 3 days rest. Somewhat overrated A's hurler Gil Heredia will oppose him, which isn't very encouraging, although he did pitch well in Game 1. Could be exciting...