"three weeks later"

the above is the subject line of an e-mail from le boy. it sits in my mailbox waiting for me to open it. i have not yet done so; my instinct was to fall on it like a starving animal, but i suppressed it. i've been thinking about various things it might say:

"sorry i haven't responded before now -- i've been waiting to hear back from my psychic advisor."

"the thing is, not only am i underage, but i'm also mormon, so i can't go out with you and i certainly can't drink beer."

"i completely tanked on the last morph assignment; think we can work together on the one she's handing out on thursday?"

"um ... what?"

(all this, of course, being in case it doesn't say "oh my god, i blew it, didn't i.")

am currently at work. will do some work for a while and let it mellow. after three weeks, what's a couple more hours? right? (though a good friend has already weighed in with "stop wondering what it says and open the damned thing!")

oh, *that's* helpful.

hey [given name] -

crawling back down my inbox now that the [process for deciding who gets to live in particular residence hall; essays, interviews, etc.] selections are over, ate up my entire waking life for a long time - there your email is. and I've been totally uncommunicative in general, late to ALL my classes (except the really good ones, of which I do not consider morphology to be one) etc.

you owe me money? seriously, from when? I hope it's been accruing interest. let me know when you're free, sometime this weekend perhaps, and I'll catch up on it.

sorry again for the impolite and rather characteristic delay -
[signed].

the thing is -- if i no longer gave a damn, i would no longer give a damn. but i do. damn it.

at any rate, i'm glad to be able to continue entertaining all of you.

for those of you following the drama --

> you owe me money? seriously, from when? I hope it's
> been accruing interest. let me know when you're free,
> sometime this weekend perhaps, and I'll catch up on it.

when: i seem to recall your lending me a card when i had copies to make before my typology presentation last semester.
interest: not when the delay in repayment is the fault of the lender. sorry. ;-)
this weekend: i'll be hitting the road around 3:00 on friday to head up to washington for curling, and i'll probably be up there through sunday; how's tomorrow evening?

the current sinking feeling is due almost entirely to a growing suspicion that the child doesn't understand what we (as linguists) might call the "deep structure" of the invitation, let's go get a beer.

in today's mail:

invitation from the groom's parents to the rehearsal dinner.

oh, my god, this thing is really happening. in twenty-three days. [dies]

because glasshouseslive asked me

yes, i sent the response. tomorrow le boy has a dinner engagement. some time next week. stay tuned.