Around two years ago I went on a date. It's nothing I make a habit of doing, but the critical elements aligned and I found myself heading to one of Brooklyn's many brunch districts to meet a man. The date was job interview format, and he asked me when I was last in a relationship. The answer was "seven years ago," and he was shocked. He was also shocked that I ordered a Coke (as opposed to a Diet Coke) and admitted to watching "Madam Secretary" (which, fair), so obviously this did not blossom into a relationship. My answer to his question remained seven until it became eight, and now nine.

This past fall I fired up my OK Cupid account and lined myself up a few disappointments, among them a guy with whom I almost had a date a few times, but we just kept missing each other. When it seemed like we were belaboring the point, we just stopped texting each other and I went back to my baseline of not dating.

This past Saturday, I got a text that said, "Hey there! I have your phone number in my phone but I can't remember how we met :-/". I scrolled up to see the text history and it turned out to be OK Cupid guy (not judgmental brunch guy, of course, who will not feature again in this story). I explained to him who I was and how we almost met last year, and he seemed keen to try to meet up again. So far, we haven't gotten any closer to meeting than we did last time, but now I feel like I'm doing more than nothing toward the vague goal of not dying alone.

To be continued.

First quarter media/art consumption

So far in 2018, I've read:

• It's All Relative, by A.J. Jacobs
• The Lady in the Tower, by Alison Weir
• The Uncollected David Rakoff
• A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle

I've watched:

• Downton Abbey (full series rewatch)
• Zach Morris is Trash (all)
• Will & Grace (season 9 episodes 8-15)
• Episodes (seasons 4-5)
• Black Mirror (season 4)
• The West Wing (season 4, episodes 12-20, rewatch along with The West Wing Weekly podcast)
• Shameless (season 3, season 4 episodes 1-8)
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (season 3)
• The Tudors (seasons 1-2 rewatch)
• Mary Tyler Moore (season 1 episodes 1-15 rewatch)
• Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (13 episodes from various seasons)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (a few random Alex Cabot episodes, rewatch inspired by jury duty)
• Queen Elizabeth's Secret Agents (episodes 1-3)
• The Windsors (episodes 1-3)
• Elizabeth I (episode 1 rewatch)
• Altered Carbon (episode 1)
• Mindhunter (episode 1)
• Wormwood (episode 1)
• Fred Armisen: Standup for Drummers
• My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman: Barack Obama

I've seen:

• Guster (College Street Music Hall in New Haven)
• Andrew Bird (Capitol Theater in Park Chester)
• The Stonewall Chorale (Church of the Holy Apostles in Manhattan)
• Neil deGrasse Tyson (BAM)
• Louisiana Philharmonic (Carnegie Hall)
• 54 Does 54 (54 Below)
• The Band's Visit (Ethel Barrymore Theater)
• Sweeney Todd (Barrow Street Theater)
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Part 1 (Lyric Theater)
• Kings (Public Theater)
• Or Current Resident (Theater for the New City, Squeaky Bicycle Productions)
• Modigliani Unmasked (Jewish Museum)
• Fraunces Tavern Museum
• A Wrinkle in Time

I've done:

• A trip to Utah & Wyoming to visit Lauren
• 2 trips to New Haven to visit Sara & Dan
• Jury Duty
• 2 QUO concerts
• 2 articles for my freelance job
• Duolingo Japanese full curriculum (started in September), started Spanish (49% fluency)
• Around 20 drawings I saw fit to post to Instagram