Another day at class, and a better day for once - the first interesting, well-taught class all week. The instructor was goddamn cute, which helped - kind of like a dark-haird Matthew Mconaughy. Like most of the men here, though, he dresses in frumpy, shapeless clothes as if he distrusts his body.

I'm certainly not the same person I was six years ago, I'm realizing more and more. Back then, if I'd been the newcomer in a class, I'd have gone to lunch and hummed and hawed about whether or not to sit with the others, all of whom already know each other after weeks of classes. Back then, if I'd sat with them, I'd have felt like they really didn't want me there, and if I hadn't sat with them I'd have worried they thought me a loner. Now I've gotten to know myself a bit better, I know what I want to do - to sit alone with my book and read - and am totally comfortable doing it. So let's here it for us loners!

The afternoon wore on, and we got two new instructors - one a mellow Westerner from Denver with long, golden locks, and the other a young, avuncular nerd, who was literally breathless with excitement at what our software can do (and I must admit, I was pretty impressed myself!) Both lovely guys, obviously, but by this time I was starting to fight the desire to curl up and sleep. The coffee didn't help - it's a poor, thin brew they drink down here - doesn't cause a solitary neuron to fire.

Finally, the day was over, and I came home to snooze a while, easily giving up on my daily work out and the idea of a run. The hotel is actually quite a comfortable place to return to. It's nice to sit in the lounge and listen to the waterfall, simple-minded as it sounds.

The verdant lounge of my hotel

In the hotel room, where I'd forgotten to run the A/C, I stripped naked and lay down on the couch. But as soon as I closed my eyes, there was a knock at the door, just feet away, and a guy outside called out that he was returning my laundry. I shouted at him to wait a second, but then, to my astonishment, the door opened and he walked in! I was completely embarrassed and extremely angry - these guys obviously get zero training. It wasn't until quite a bit later that I could laugh about it.

Later on that evening, I took the elevator down to the lobby and walked a little sheepishly past the reception desk (they're such a gossipy lot here that I know they all knew what had happened), and ordered dinner next to the waterfall. My date for the evening, Taylor, was to meet me there around 8.00. It was a blind date - a guy I'd met, where else, on the Internet. He'd sounded too good to be true in the ad, by email, in his photo and on the phone.

But my eyes lit up when I met him - he was sooooo cute, and so masculine, but in a very boyish way. And he had a big smile, and a thoroughly charming, lilting accent. He looked a bit like George Eads (an actor from a short-lived TV series called "Savannah"). I was totally taken with him.

Things went a little astray when we were unexpectedly joined by my blond-haired John Denver instructor from the afternoon! He appeared from nowhere and was all "buddy" this and "buddy" that. I felt a little rude, but after we'd chatted about client server approaches to enterprise computing for long enough, I bought him a beer and said that Taylor and I had some personal matters to discuss. He gracefully took the hint - well the kick :), and said goodnight. I felt kind of sorry as I watched him go up in the elevator, as being by yourself in a strange city can be lonely.

Well Taylor and I did eventually end up in my bedroom and we made out quite passionately for a while, but our clothes stayed on, and we set a date for early next week. My heart was going bu-dum-dum when the door closed behind him :)

So now to bed, but I'm loving my bed right now! Part of it is that I'm in that stage of deep absorption in the book I'm reading where I look forward each evening with great anticipation to resuming it.

I've read many novels by Trollope, but this one, "Can You Forgive Her?", is truly exceptional - an order of magnitude greater in depth than his others. There's no sentimentality, and there's urbane, sophisticated relationships. The characters are alive and completely understood by the author, and have worked themselves into complex, awkward situations through the inescapable interactions of fate and their own drives, situations from which there is no escape except by letting destiny to play itself out. I love it!