Friday, September 23, 2005: A Farewell to Troy

Ok, so here's for making a quasi-metaphorical title way too literal.  The new semester's about to start.  And so today is our extern Troy's last day, before he goes back to class.  He's a "rising-2L" at UW Law School.  And a (part-time) pastor.  And a really nice guy.  And a huge help when it came to getting things done around the office.  Christ, talk about diligent.  The guy made me feel like a real piker sometimes, without even trying!  Anyway, Sylvia took the lot of us out to lunch at the Oyster House on the pier.  Which was really nice of her.  And the food was great.  I had an oyster basket (can't pass that sort of thing up here...).
Here's a close-up of Sylvia.  Which I thought came out rather nicely.  Everyone else had iced tea.  Which I'm pretty ok with.  But the whole seltzer thing is a big source of confusion for people out here.  I find it really hard to believe that its such an odd request.  But apparently this ain't jew central.  I'm starting to come to terms with that now.  Anyway, Sylvia brought Troy a decorated bag with a Washington SC-logoed thermos in it.  Pretty nice, actually.  I want one.  I promised Troy that I'd tried to fill it with bourbon, but it was against court policy.
Here's Troy opening the bag.  I rather like the action-effect bit.  He gave all of us really nice thank-you cards as well.  Frankly, I'm always really impressed by people who are as thoughtful and on top of things as that.  Wish I managed to get that sort of thing together.  Ever.
I asked Sylvia to drop me off at home on the way back to the office, because I'd forgotten a stack of cases I'd printed out and brought home to work with.  (But didn't actually use!)  And found someone still asleep.  At 1pm.  And oh my, is my apartment ever a mess.  I guess I can no longer credibly peddle the line about being tidy when I'm around. 
Regardless, Carrie was awfully cute sleeping there.  Anyway, I made her coffee, then walked back on up to the office.  That evening I went to the Manhattan Short Film Festival (billed as the "most creative shorts films in the world" -- I certainly hope not!) with my friend Moira.  The show was at the Capitol, and I really enjoyed going with her.  She was really excited about the show, which made it impossible to act jaded.  And I'm glad I didn't because it was good to see what people do, what's considered industry-ok, and what actually works from that crowd.  I did enjoy a few of the films, even though none of them were really good.  Moira ate garlic popcorn, and I had 3 suckers.  It was a real pleasure.  Afterward, we went to the going-away party of one of Moira's friends.  And I met Jason, who Carrie is working with on a creative project right now.  Sorry, no pictures.  The camera battery dies because I left it on all afternoon!
Later that night, Carrie stole my glasses.  They don't really work on her.  But it's still a cute photo, I think.