I had a tremendously relaxing night, after a day filled with ups and downs (mostly ups), and I can't wait to slip into bed and melt completely.

I woke up agitated this morning, with no good reason. I slept later than I usually do, but I'd gone to bed later the night before, so I thought it would all even out. I guess I'm more of a creature of habit than I thought I was, or else it was just a bad morning.

I had a number of things to do today, and I didn't feel like doing any of them, so I sat and sulked and surfed the internet for awhile and thought, "Everybody in the world hates me right now."

It took me awhile to get out of that mindset. The first step was realizing that I was in that state at all. It was just a nagging at the back of my thoughts; something I'd gotten used to for a long time, and I didn't quite know where it was coming from.

I showered and dressed and had some lunch, and gradually brought myself up out of this mood on my own. Activity usually helps this, and I knew I had to get off-book for Act One of the play (it's not required, but I want to do the run-through without the script in my hand tomorrow night), so I set up the living room to an approximation of the set and ran through everything page-by-page, doing it with blocking and all.

The more I memorized, the stronger I felt the character got, and by the time I had the whole thing down (I'll most likely have to do the same thing tomorrow, since the first time memorizing an entire script never "sets" completely with me), I thought I had a hold on who this Peter fellow really was. Not surprisingly, he's very much like me (it helps that he's a neurotic writer), and I felt like my reactions worked much better without all that trying to "act" getting in the way.

It also dropped me out of my own head and with it, the terrible mood I was in. Even though I hadn't spoken with anyone or seen anyone, I felt like folks might possibly like me again.

I'm glad everyone changed their opinion about me while I was busy doing something else.

I got an e-mail from work saying that the art show, which was supposed to be up for the entire week, was required to be taken down today. The women on the morale committee agreed to meet at 4:30 to take down all the paintings, etc. Since I was meeting The Fabulous Robert for a trip to Northampton at 4:30, I figured I'd go into work early (before my meeting with my new co-workers) and do as much as I could by myself. The job only required someone to haul stuff from the club room upstairs to a storage room one floor down, and I figured I could do most of that in an hour, so I set out to arrive at the Consulting Company at 2:00.

When I got there, I went over to Bernice's cube. "Hey, Patrick," she said, "What are you doing here? I thought it was your day off?"

"I have a meeting with Jan and her crew," I said, "And I figured I might as well help out early, so that you guys aren't stuck doing everything yourselves."

"That's great," said Bernice, "But we were told this morning that the club room was needed for a meeting at 10:30am, so we all got together and took everything down already."

Sometimes, it's a good idea to call ahead.

I was left with an hour of nothing to do, so I bugged Laurie and Tamra, then got the phone numbers for the restaurant and the hot tub place in Northampton from the web, and then I sauntered over to the conference room for the meeting with Jan and the team.

I actually had something to contribute this time! It was a design-related issue, but I had something to report, which felt pretty good, considering all I've been doing is sitting in listening to their meetings for the past few weeks.

I really like this group of people. It's much smaller than the design department, but they're very nice and very welcoming, and they have taken me seriously since the day they met me, which is an incredibly good feeling. I don't feel like "the new guy" at all.

The meeting went by quickly, and at the end, Jan said, "Is everybody happy?" We all agreed that we were happy (I refrained from saying that I was ecstatic), and she said, "Good! I'm very happy too."

I'm not sure if all meetings go like this, but if they do, I'll be...well, happy.

The meeting got out at 4:20, and I was scheduled to pick up Robert at 4:30. Luckily, where he works and where I work are only blocks away from each other, so after a quick chat with Laurie, I headed out to pick him up.

I saw him walking briskly towards our meeting point just as I pulled the car to the curb. Perfect timing! He hopped in, we said our hellos and were on our way.

Sometimes a trip is worth it just for the ride, and the ride was very good. Robert and I lost touch so many years ago, but it feels like we've both started fresh and picked up where we left off at the same time. He's one of the few people I don't ever find a loss of something to talk about. Mostly, I think, because he actively listens, which is a good and somewhat rare trait in a person. I know that a lot of the time in conversation, I'm lost in my own head (Laurie can attest to that fact); I tend to drift, and I don't know why.

We took the Pike over to Western Mass. I gave Robert the number for the Goten, a Japanese restaurant I always liked when I lived out in the Pioneer Valley. He made reservations for 7:30.

I overestimated the amount of time it would take us to get into town, because it was just before seven when we pulled into the Goten's parking lot. I'd forgotten how pretty it was, and I had also forgotten that the door by the parking lot is the emergency exit and can't be opened from the outside. We walked around to the proper entrance, and asked if we could be seated early. Since it was slow (I suspect because it was a Tuesday night), we were seated immediately, across from a young couple (they looked like undergraduates from UMass).

The restaurant is the type where a chef prepares your food on the hot surface of the table. Robert chose scallops and I requested the steak (as I've never ordered beef there before). After our waiter took our orders, the courses started to come out.

One of the things I love about the Goten is that they serve exactly the right amount of food to satiate you, but not so much as to make you full. There are a number of courses (the only onion soup I like, a salad with ginger dressing, shrimp appetizers, noodles, whatever meat you choose, bean sprouts, rice and dessert), and they're served at precisely the right moment so that you never have any waiting time between them.

Our chef was fun and funny. He popped pieces of shrimp into the air for us to catch in our mouths (mine bounced off my face and into my water glass, which Robert, the chef, and the young couple at our table found very amusing), and then expertly prepared our meals.

As anticipated, by the time we were done with our ginger ice cream, both of us felt satisfied but not full, which is a good state to be in for hot-tubbing.

East Heaven Hot Tubs is a place I've been going to since someone introduced me to it back in college. There's nothing like it around Boston (at least that I've found), and that's a shame, because I really like the place.

It's set up in a very Japanese style, with lots of teak and rice paper and filtered light. I've gone with friends, I've taken boyfriends, and I've joined in with people I barely knew for hot tubbing. It's a very relaxing way to socialize.

Robert declared the room, the tub, and especially the jets near his sore neck to be "fabulous!" (what did you expect?), and I had to concur. He had looked at me funny when I requested the room for only a half-hour, but I knew that by the time 30 minutes was up, we'd be relaxed enough. I've gone for an hour before, and usually have to leave the room or take several cold showers before my time is up. I don't know how people can spend hours in hot tubs (when I went on the cruise, some folks stayed in the hot tubs all day long). By the time our half-hour was up, I was overheated and relaxed and in an incredibly good mood.

When I buy a house, I'm seriously going to purchase a hot tub. It's essential. Before a new hot water heater or a roof repair, the hot tub will go in. How can anyone live without one?

Robert looked just as happy and noodle-y as I felt, and asked me if I was awake enough to drive home. I assured him that I was relaxed, not sleepy, and we hopped back in the car for the drive home.

The drive home was relaxed and comfortable. I feel like Robert and I are already old friends (which I suppose we are) and that we're becoming brand-new friends all at once. We had some light conversation about movies and some heavier conversations about the past couple of years (not the best for either of us), and before I knew it, we were back at his house, and it was time for me to head home.

The evening was just what I needed, even though I didn't realize I needed it until it was over. I feel totally stress-free right now, and in an exceptionally good mood. Good food, some hot water, and a great friend will do that for you, I guess.

Tomorrow, I have to go over my lines again, purchase the materials to bind some books, pick up a plastic head to bake into a fake pie (theater has you doing the damndest things), and go to rehearsal.

I'm sure I'll be ready to tackle all that come morning. As of right now, it's going to be tough to get out of my chair.