Okay, yesterday was a really good day. All spring long, the weather goes back, and forth, and sideways, and all of it perfect. I was waiting for an elevator, and when the door opened a mean looking man stepped out, pushing a baby in a stroller, and the baby looked up at me and said, "Hi," so I said,"Hi," and we all smiled at each other and everything was great. I was at the store and a woman buying milk told the clerk a joke in a language I didn't understand, and then she turned and nudged me, her whole face practically winking from how funny she thought she'd been. So, I laughed because the whole thing was nice, and she looked so happy, and the clerk laughed too, even though I'm not sure he knew what she'd said either. That is one of my favorite things about this place, the way people nudge and are familiar, the way I hear languages I don't understand all of the time and it all works out. The way the babies around here all say, "Hi."

Yesterday I took care of some things that had seemed too much or impossible, things that had been bothering me for months and months. Yesterday was one of the most optimistic, everything is going to be fantastic days of my life. I got an email from my father, and it's probably the first email he's ever sent me that didn't seem to contain any sort of creepy agenda or casually try to make me feel guilty for things beyond my control. It was just a simple, "Hello, you are my daughter and I've been wondering how you are, I might be in New York sometime soon, maybe we can see each other, and maybe it can be a pleasant time," kind of email. And I think it could be nice, to have dinner with him and see how he is, to hear about what he's been doing. I actually don't remember when I last saw him, but it's been a long time, and I'm not as snippy as I used to be.

Also, my mother informed me that she has a plant for me, and I can either take it now and repot it myself, or wait a while and let her do it for me. She said this as though she was worried I'd been getting impatient about it, even though there'd been no prior mention of the plant. My mother is just the sort of person who believes people should have plants, and she's probably right. It's like when my television stopped working, the television I'd had for years and years, since earlyish childhood when it was used as the monitor of my TRS-80. I let it slowly die, losing one channel at a time until all that was left was channel nine, and this was before the UPN had anything to offer. I was just going to quit television altogether, but then my mother unexpectedly gave me a television that looks sort of like a rocketship, or maybe a space helmet, but the point is, a person needs a television and a person needs plants, and sometimes a mother needs to step in.

Anyhow, anyhow, I was sleepy and content and excited about my new plant (a flowering plant!), and pleased that I'd cleared up so many worries, and just before going to bed I noticed I had a voicemail message. I shouldn't have listened to it. It was just early enough to ruin a whole night's sleep, and just late enough to prevent me from returning the call and figuring out what is going on. I thought it would just be my mother calling because she'd forgotten to tell me something earlier, or maybe Sam. Sam calls at odd hours to ask odd questions because he's under the impression that I know everything. It was neither, so now I'm anxiously horrible butterflies, waiting to find out whether I'll have to somehow pack up everything I own and move it out of here within the next day or two. It was never really my apartment, but I was led to believe I should feel like it was. I don't even know how to blame anyone, it's just a series of unfortunate circumstances, and no one is happy about it, but sometimes things just go wrong. It is a terrible time for it, but any time would be. I have too many things and not enough money, and obviously my plan to sell everything I own and run away was the best plan of my life. I owe it an apology.

Now I'm just sitting frantically still, letting my tea go cold and waiting for the telephone to ring. I feel like I'm wasting valuable packing time, but I don't even know yet if there's anything to pack for. I'm just sort of sad and furious, but at least I had a great day yesterday. And look! New Scandinavian Cooking is on to help me along. The space helmet television is doing its part.