After spending a decent portion of the day drinking beer and watching The Office with a rotating set of people in my living room, I went to the Metropolitan with Ethan, and there I saw Matt by himself sitting at the bar. It was a rare chance to talk to him, and I ran up to the bar, sat next to him and asked him about his life. And within the first few sentences he uttered, I was totally transfixed. His manner of speech, which I don't know how to describe, except some perfect combination of petulant Daria, the sort of snorting way of talking of Butthead, and a slight faggy inflection. And because of his voice, I was giddy and excited. Minutes before I was talking to him, I could hardly muster the energy needed to participate in a conversation with Ethan because I was so tired, but as soon as I started talking to Matt, I could not stop, I did not want to.

I talked to him for a decent chunk of time, and did nothing to embarrass myself as I have done in past encounters. How about a high-five? When he was leaving, I asked him if he wanted to have pie, and he said no. And shortly after he left, I did the same, walking home totally and helplessly giddy, thinking about how I get so few people in this world, and how for whatever reasons, I think I get Matt. He is fascinated and enthralled by aspects of popular culture in a way that very few people are without the moralism attached to it. And so it is the things he is saying, but maybe even more so, the voice he says it in, and I really think he is one of the coolest people ever, although I shouldn't, and it just makes me sad that not everyone is this cool, that people don't laugh at the same things, that not everyone talks in that petulant manner, because it makes it so much harder to be interested in everyone else, in anyone else. But there are other petulant boys who like trashy television. I just need to find them.

Also, I called the payroll guy at the Strand today, and he was about as big an asshole as he possibly could have been. He had always been kind of nice to be before, but now because I quit, he talks to me like as asshole, and I wanted to cuss at him, but I thought that would my chance of collecting any pay, and even that seems like it may not happen. He told me I get one personal day, being assholish and sticking to the one personal day per month thing that they never stick to otherwise. I will see what my paycheck says on Friday. Fuck you, Strand! You have nothing over me anymore. I am going to work at the Princeton Review in a few hours and that will be awesome because it won't be that other place.