Breakthrough!!!

I did it!

I've broken into Doylestown Cafe Society! At Starbucks, that is.

I am so thrilled!

Yesterday, I was sitting at Starbucks, smoking my cigar, and a young woman took an empty chair at my table. She introduced herself, and it turned out that she was the recent ex of one of my sanding table boys. So that sort of broke the ice, and we chatted up a storm. About a half hour later, she was joined by... Irish Guy. He's another Starbucks regular after whom I've pined for awhile. (Straight. Nachullee.) Recent Ex made a departure, and Irish Guy and I talked for a while.

So then today, I'm sitting enjoying the latte and the cigar, and out comes Irish Guy. He joins me. We talk. Interestingly, we were joined by a few young women--way narcistic teenager young women, the only interesting feature in one of them was that she works in an animal testing lab, as in the place where they test those personal hygiene items none of us buy on animals. I didn't think such places still existed? Does PETA know about this? But Irish Guy and I continued our conversation all but independent of the young women, other than shivering when she mentioned that she was working with a lot of 'puppies and bunnies' lately.

(Eeeeeeew!>

Anyway. So we were quite the table of bon vivants, Irish Guy and I talking about Ireland (he's a big fan of the Burren, too, and agrees that a bicycle tour of the Emerald Isle is a really bad idea, although it sounds great if you haven't been there).

And then I hit paydirt. Along came the guy who is absolutely the hottest of all the guys who hang at Starbucks. Several weeks ago I wrote enviously about his Tarzan-worthy pecs.

And didn't he just sit down at our table.

And didn't Irish Guy and the Young Women head out, leaving me to get acquainted with this hot man.

And guess what! We totally bonded! He's great! He works doing framing for a construction crew, and both of us love our work, the strenuousness of it, the cameraderie, the satisfaction we get out of it. All that stuff I wrote here back in November and December about the World of Men Who Work With Their Hands? He's totally on the same page.

And, he heads up to Baruch every weekend to take acting classes, so I guess he's not totally oblivious to the fact that he's hot. And, he's a big fan of Southern California, although he's never been, and listened rapt with attention as I told him why I was, too. But then came the clincher: we talked about our dogs. I think after we talked about our dogs we would have signed the papers to donate our kidneys to one another. Serious bonding. He was also interested when I mentioned that I had run a needle exchange, as he's been previously 'messed up on drugs.'

So there we go. I know their names, they know mine, no more sitting and watching. Now it'll be warm welcomes and passing the time of day.

This will all cause my father to seriously despair, since it means I'm gonna be getting home even later on weekdays.

Could it be that in time I'll have people to go to the movies with? Could 'so doing anything for dinner?' be too far in the offing?

I'm sooooo happy.

And this topped off a great day at work. I effortlessly prepped the cabinets in the hardware department. On with the hinges. In with the shelves. Er... Hung with the doors... ummm... Mounted with the drawerfronts. (Funny thing about prose, when you just turn down the wrong path and run right into a briar patch, huh?)

And at lunch, we had both a catered affair to celebrate One Year Without a Work Related Mishap That Caused Lost Time (Yahooo! Yippee!), followed by a ceremony where all of us who are participating in the Apprenticeship Program received our Certificates. And, we got lovely parting gifts! I received a set of chisels, a set of screwdrivers, and a tape measure. Our new tools came in these really cool holographic gold gift bags with tissue paper coming out the top. When I went up to take mine from She Who Must Be Obeyed (the big boss), I greeted the bag in her outstretched hand with, "Why the package alone!" She Who Must Be Obeyed got a look on her face as though she just realized something. Wonder what that could be?

And, they called in our instructor to hand out the certificates, something they probably won't be doing again, because he took his old sweet time about doing it. So we were all getting paid for sitting around, eating cookies, and applauding one another. It took forever. It was 1:15 before we all got back to work. Unheard of!

Good day all 'round.

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