today was superb, all around. I woke up around 11, and April and I sat around and watched movies on TV till around 2, when I got in the shower. then we ordered tasty tofu stir-fry for lunch and ate that all up. after that, we walked to the bank so April could deposit her earnings from last night and afterwards hopped on a bus to go to the movies. we saw About A Boy, which was much nicer than I'd expected. and it only cost $4! the boy in that film was just great and when he sang Killing Me Softly with Toni Collete I thought I was going to shrivel up from horrified amuseument.

after the film we took a nice, long walk up Clark and then west on Fullerton, past all the charming-looking houses, then up a side street and then east towards Clark again. it was such a gorgeous day out. we decided to go for dinner at this excellent Italian place and the food there was absolutely amazing. I'd never been there before, but April and I had always been meaning to go and it was as good as I could have hoped. I had a wonderful pasta puttanesca and we split a salad rustica that had strawberries, onions, tomatoes, olives, and capers in it. it was so, so good. and a bottle of shiraz interspersed with the odd cigarette complemented the meal perfectly.

we finished dinner and then skipped over to an ice cream parlor to get a cup of something sweet. after a lovely walk down a few streets, I'm back home, semi-drunk, and very content. it's been a perfect day.

whenever the weather gets like this in the city, I always have flashbacks to my days in Paris a few summers ago. I'll smell certain smells that remind me of that city, and I'll see a certain type of stone in a building's skin that is reminiscent of the Hausmann-era appartements in the city of lights. it's kind of nice, but at the same time it makes me very wistful. I'll go back someday.

the rest of tonight will be spent unwinding, slowly emerging from drunkenness, and then falling into bed. how lovely.