Free and easy after class today, I hopped the 104 bus down Broadway to go find Ren a birthday present. (Eh, Ren, best stop reading now!) At Barneys Co-Op, there was Marc Jacobs in dress and shoe and jacket. There were candy-colored Adidas, and Puma Speed Cats in black and pink. There may well have been panic in my eyes. I said, “You don’t shop anymore. You. don’t. shop. anymore. Remember?” I got the girl her gift and hit the ejector button illico presto.

Oh, ha ha, that reminds me of the time Ryan and I were in San Francisco, and we were in a car, and I had an ice cream cone I was just about done with, and I had him drive up to a trash can so I could get rid of it. I rolled down the window half-way, stuck my arm out, and flung the cone in the direction of the bin, missing it completely. There was the car, the garbage can, and ice cream, melting, on the road in between. “Um,” I said. “Go! Go! Go!”