29.08.06 - 3:55 p.m.

i realized partway through our conversation that, really, i was paying for those compliments. lesson learned: don't show things you've written to your therapist even if she asks.

if we were eight or ten or thirteen, we could have two parties involving travel and electricity. do you think, i want to ask you, that those years taught us improvisation? we found ways to cheat. a cake baked at my house despite pangs of symapthy guilt. flashlights with batteries; no technical fire. the time we went to the arcade because it involved no literal exchanging of money. when, i wonder, was the last time that forgiveness fell squarely between each of our birthdays?