31 May 07

Time:

?

Money:

$40, my own dinner and some small fraction of Professor Number Five’s, Otto.
And that’s all I remember, although I’m sure the usual place was involved there, too.

More interesting things:

Made reservations for 10 at Otto – well, Rebecca did – which was not as easy as it sounds. They had a spot for us at 6, but of course class didn’t technically get out until 7, so I headed upstairs to ask as nicely as I could whether Professor Number Five thought we’d be able to get out early. I stopped by Professor Number Four’s office, though, where he was quite talkative and asked how people’s “psychological states” were. I thought that was a pretty weird question until I got to Number Five’s office, where in trying not to come right out and detail the whole dinner plan I was apparently TOO indirect, with a “Just! Just! Just don’t obfuscate! Be straight with me today!” aimed at my head. Yikes – not that I could blame her. So I came out with it, got a sort-of “okay,” and headed back down to hide at my desk… detouring along the way to tell Number Four that I now understood his question and thought that maybe the psychological states at that end of the hall were not so good. Sadly, it seemed, he agreed.

Remembered after I had long since headed up to class that I had not, in fact, locked my cabinet, which contained Professor Alpha’s laptop and which I had promised heartily that I would lock. So… I texted him. This would have felt very, very weird except that desperate times really do call for desperate measures, and I was terrified he’d try opening the cabinet and discover that I’m a moron. I just let him know that I’d get to it on my way out and wished him a good trip; you can imagine my amazement when I got a “Thks” texted back.

Enjoyed dinner a LOT more than it had seemed we would based on my earlier interactions with Professor Number Five. She was talkative and funny and only got to her normal Number Five-style fake irritation when she told the waitress she would like it if she were permitted to pay for something and I followed up immediately with the observations that I would like it if she weren’t and that I am quite a lot bigger than her. Anyway, the conversation was great, the winks from across the table were amusing (or sickening, depending on whether you’re Rebecca or not!), and the wine was plentiful enough that I recounted my meeting-Professor-Number-Six story for Number Five, who cracked up appropriately. I think it’s good we didn’t just let her go home after class, and I also think it’s good we didn’t take her to that pub!

Went, with Anne, Rebecca, and Kevin, to V Bar. This was enjoyable for a variety of reasons – not least of which was that I was a little far gone by then – including the fact that after Anne and Kevin had gone, Rebecca started this lovely conversation with these two Irish lawyers, whose candle I had stolen earlier and which, to judge by their thank-you’s upon its return, they wished I hadn’t. They turned out to be lovely, though, buying us drinks and starting good conversations, and I ended up very glad to have stayed around.