j.f., part I

being at college has made me somewhat blase about meeting people i admire. other, more responsible people make the decisions and spend the money so that people i admire can come speak within several yards of me. when i stop to think about it, that's incredible.

just one of the many ways i'm lucky. also, this evening, one of my friends, who is effusive about me in the way i associate with younger sisters, thanked me for being her hero. after a long day in a rough semester, that's better than cocoa.

but! jonathan franzen. or, j.f., as i like to call him. aside from not having blonde hair, he is very much like the kind of guy i always expected to marry: witty, deadpan, tall, bespectacled, stubbled, erudite, and cute. i sat in the second row and no one sat in front of me so i had a clear view of him. there he was. saying things like, "don't mess with oprah." things i wrote down and which i will post here, along with my dan savage quotes, as soon as i get a chance. if everything goes as planned, i will see him twice more: this evening, when he gives a for-real lecture (this afternoon was a "conversation") and at the film studies fundraising gala in nyc to which i get to clap squeal and go.

oh, and he's not jewish. as they say in the classic independence day, nobody's perfect.