#you have no idea how badly i wanna delete that account some days. i figured out you can download a backup of the entire thing

[trifoliumaries]

I need to get back with it in learning and practicing html/css and eventually javascript. I love my little carrd alot (i worked very hard on it!!) but that site is so goddamn limiting in comparison to what you can do with the raw shit, and I wanna have my own little hub without any real limitations on what I can post and how I can present it

[newromanticsstory]

II

This will be the last post for a bit. I have things to do this weekend and will not have the time to edit or write anything until Sunday at the earliest. I will resume my regular posting schedule on Monday.

“Have a nice night,” the girl behind the counter of The Strand Bookstore said as she slid the bag across the counter. Garrett mustered a smile and took the bag and the receipt from her. “Thanks,” he said. “And you as well.” He headed toward the door and sighed. It was going to be a long, lonely weekend again and he wasn’t looking forward to it. When he first moved to NYC, mainly because of the fact that he was going to live rent free in a building that his aunt owned, he promised himself that he would make some friends, but that never happened. It wasn’t like New Jersey where your coworkers hung out with you after work, here everyone was in a rush to go back home or back to their apartments and meet up with their friends that they had for years. It was actually kind of sad in his opinion. Garrett actually felt small for the first time in his life and was ready to go back home and start commuting again. But, a free apartment was keeping him from doing so and he knew that he would never get that nice of a place again no matter how hard he tried. As he walked down the subway and boarded the L toward the west side of the island, he glanced down at the bag of books in his hand. He would finish them by Sunday and then he would repeat the cycle again next weekend. He wished that more of the people that he worked with were more opened to hanging out, but most of them have little circles that have room for no one new.

Garrett figured that he would wait one more year, giving his sister, Becks, a chance to come in and spend the weekend with him, and then pack up his life and head back home. While he didn’t want to that, it seemed that this was going to be his only option, at least he would have friends back home, but the only problem was that he would feel like a third wheel all the time. He was the only single one out of all his friends and it was hard to go out in a group and not feel alienated. While they did call him all the time when they were in the city, he never went to hang out with them because of the fact that they never talked to him. While he would go out with one couple by himself, in a large group, it wasn’t fun. He found himself most of the time sitting in a dark corner, scrolling through his phone while everyone else was having a good time. As he passed the local bar that was two buildings away, he saw that it was empty.

“Why not,” he said to himself. “I earned that drink after what Tristan in accounting had me do whatever that was this week.” Garrett then picked up the pace and headed toward his apartment. The rain that was supposed to come in later tonight had come earlier than expected, but that wasn’t going to stop him from going out. He was glad that he was only one building away from his apartment and not six like the last time that it rained and was soaked by the time that he got home. As he entered the lobby to his building, the doorman smiled.

“Got a package for you,” he said. “I had to sign for it too. It must be something important.” He then reached down behind the desk and handed a large square package. Garrett was puzzled at first, but the he realized what it was. It was the record that he had been waiting to arrive for the past week. The shipper sure took his or her sweet time getting it here. “Thanks,” Garrett said as he took the package and then headed up stairs. He was wondering why he hadn’t gotten this yet. He totally forgot that he had won this in an auction and had paid for it everything. He was eager to see if it was in good condition as the seller said it was.

As he opened the door to his apartment, dropped his books on the floor and started to tear the brown paper package apart. Between the books that he was buying every week and his vinyl record addiction, he was starting to wonder what was going to cause him go broke first. As he opened the paper, he saw the bubble wrap that was wrapped around it as well. He knew which record it was and started to smile. He had started tracking down a first pressing of Neil Young’s Harvest months ago and while most of the ones that he had come across weren’t actually first pressings, he finally managed to find one and at a good price too. As he opened it up, he smiled. Maybe it wasn’t going to be such a lonely weekend after all. The seller was right; the condition of it was perfect. The jacket and the record, which he carefully pulled out, was perfect, as if had never been played. He was happy that the seller didn’t lie to him. He then placed the record on the table and headed out. He would listen to it later, right now he want that drink more than anything. As he glanced out the window, he saw that the rain was coming to steady, meaning that the bar would be empty. Usually if it rained, the bridge and tunnel people stayed home and went to their local watering hole instead of driving or taking the train in, meaning that the bar would be empty. Garrett pulled his door closed and then exited the building.

As he walked back up the street, he felt his phone go off. “Probably Becks,” he said to himself. His sister wanted to come in so badly, but now wasn’t the time. He didn’t want to confront her when he was this down, so maybe in a few weeks. He sighed as he walked in and saw that Al, the bartender, was staring at the TV. “Slow night,” he asked as he sat down at the end of the bar. Al turned around and smiled. He was glad to see that someone was coming in.

“Not at all,” he said. “You know that it picks up post dinner rush.” Garrett smiled. He knew that it was still early, but this might be as busy as it got in here tonight. Al then placed a drink in front of him and he pulled out a $20. “First one’s on me,” Al told him. “Then you pay.” Garrett nodded as he focused on the TV screen and started to watch the baseball game that was already four innings in. As he sat there, his phone went off again, causing Al to look over at him.

“That fire starter app finally getting you matches,” Al asked him. “I thought that you were deleting that after a week.” As Garrett snapped out of his trance, which was fine since the Yankees were up 3-1, he realized that it might be a match from Tindr. One of his friends told him that he should try it to meet people and while it seemed like a good idea, he had little luck with it. While he had a few matches, most of them flaked on him right before their dates or were no shows, which gave him little hope. Today was supposed to be the last day for it and while at lunch, he scrolled through a few girls, mostly swiping left, but as he came across this one girl, he stopped. She looked vaguely familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before. He shrugged it off and read her profile.

Taylor Allison here, her profile started. I’m new to this and thought that I’d give it a shot. I like to sing and loudly at that. My friends say that I’m a bit of a goof ball, but I deny it. I like to travel and miss the beach house that my family had on the Jersey Shore that we had to sell when we moved to Nashville, but I now live here in NYC. I would like to go to the MoMA or the Met in NYC where I live, because every time I go, it’s either closed or too crowded. I like books and the stores that sell them. Oh and I can’t forget… I love cats.

Garrett couldn’t help but laugh. She was cute and probably way out of his league. He was sure that she would never see his request for a match, but he figured that he try anyway. But now it was different. They were actually matched and he didn’t know what to do. As he looked up at Al, he shrugged and then nodded.

“It’s a match,” Garrett told him. “But I think that she’s out of my league.” Al took his empty glass away and then refilled it just as a large group of people walked in. The dinner rush was ending and now they were looking for a place to drink.

“If you answer her,” Al said as he wiped his head, getting ready to go to work. “I’ll give you your drinks free from the rest of the night.” Garrett was shocked. There was a sign behind the bar that stated that no one would get a drink for free unless they just had a kid, but Al was the one who told him that he should be more adventurous when he first moved here and he was who told him that there are plenty of fish in the sea here, but this was crazy. Garrett glanced back down at his phone and took a deep breath.

Hey, he typed. Wanna grab dinner or a cup of coffee sometime. He hesitated for a second, but then looked at the beer and hit send. It seemed that that first pressing of Harvest and those books were going to have to wait till tomorrow