Three Women

I got home tonight and had a message on my machine from my friend and former cow-orker Tracy, who's still in Madison. I'd sent her a copy of Edward Gorey's Amphigorey from her Amazon wish list for her birthday, and she was calling to think me. I phoned her back as soon as the cats were fed. It seems she had the same reaction to when CJ sent me a book a few months ago: "Did I place an order with Amazon and then forget about it?"

I like giving people gifts. I think I'm slightly damaged about giving them spontaneously, so I've got this habit of giving them to friends on their birthdays (which sometimes surprises them just because I remember their birthdays! Of course I cheat and put them in my Handspring). And the Amazon wish lists sure are convenient for figuring out what to get someone (assuming I don't already have an idea).

Anyway, Tracy really appreciated the gift, and we talked for somewhat over an hour, about how things are going at our respective workplaces, news about people I know in Madison (other than everyone going to Worldcon, it seems!), and about her cameo in the Dork Tower comic book (chortle-chortle).

Well, after we hang up, I spend about 20 minutes reading, and then the phone rings: It's Pat, another friend from Madison! She's calling mainly to get advice on buying a new computer. It sounds like she wants to get an iBook, which obviously I wholeheartedly support. So of course we talked for a while.

But, we finally had to get off the phone because Trish showed up so we could go to dinner. Today is her 25th birthday, and I bought her a book and took her out to dinner. She's I think feeling a bit stressed about turning 25, and I got the impression that not many other people were doing much for her birthday, so I figured I could at least take her to dinner. So we went to Max's, where we engaged in our usual dinner conversation of verbal fencing.

It sure was a busier evening than I had counted on! But I had fun. It's always nice to feel like I'm contributing something to other peoples' lives.