i'm becoming sort of a loner. i think i might like it.

tonight i went to this bar called le 10 near st. germain by myself. i think today was the first time i ever drank alone at a bar and i did it twice. do we see an alcoholic emerging? perhaps. anyway, the bar was nice and small and plastered with old french posters, and had a juke box with a nice selection (i put some velvet underground on).

i got a beer, sat alone and was kinda bored. i started reading my lonely planet guide and staring at the only other person alone in the bar--a guy smoking cigarettes incessantly. midway through my second beer, when i was starting to lose faith in the idea of drinking alone, two girls (about 30) are seated at the table next to mine, which is basically on top of mine, and some guy starts chatting them up. eventually, he sits across from me to talk to them and he (dominic) involves me in the conversation. they begin debating feminism, what it is, whether the guy should pay, etc. it was sometimes hard for me to follow, so i sort of shut my mouth, but it was nice to listen to. then he left and the two girls, sandra from holland and irene from mexico continued talking to me. they were very nice and when the ordered another pot of sangria, the house specialty, they got me a glass which was very nice. sandra, the more outspoken one whose english was much better (we eventually had to regress to english because my french is impossible. i know i need to force myself), told me she wanted to move to new york to do her post-doc at the new school in sociology. interesting. it seems like everyone wants to get the hell out of france.

all in all, a lovely evening, and i think i'll email sandra, who said she'd invite me to parties or whatever. let's hear it for making friends!