I've had a great day today. I slept late. No surprise there. I didn't get to bed until around 3:00 a.m. Got up and returned phone calls that I owed people from last week. One of those calls was to M.G. the director of my show. I wanted to find out if I did anything I needed to apologize for last Friday night when I was drunk. Did I mention that I got way more than a little tipsy on Friday. I don't remember all of the evening. Therefore, I wanted to make sure I didn't do anything to embarrass myself. He said I did not. Just that I was drunk. Whew, that's good.

I showered and headed downtown to run some errands. I started at K-mart. I wanted to pick up a couple of extra sets of white christmas tree lights. It's been five years since I used mine so I assumed that there would be a couple sets that didn't work. Then I was off to Macy's. There's nothing worse than having to go to Macy's during the holidays. Between the tourists who act as if they have never been in a department store before and the actual customers shopping, it's a zoo to say the least. I went there to look for a Christmas stocking for my roommate. I believe everyone should have a stocking if you are decorating for Christmast and I didn't think C.Z. would have one, so I made it my responsibility to correct that.

When I finally got to the 9th floor, the zoo was intensified. Seemed everyone was shopping for X-mas decorations today. I found a stocking I thought he would like and then decided to get him an ornament in honor of our first Christmas together. I wanted to have one that said "Our First Christmas, 2006" but couldn't find one. I asked if they had any but the sales help looked at me as if I was crazy. They pointed me in the direction of the Baby's First Christmas. Ugh! I finally decided on a Christmas 2006 ornament with Santa on it and headed for the line. I stood in line for almost 30 minutes before I could give them my money and get the hell out of there.

From there, I headed to 14th Street to see my psychiatrist. I see him once a month and today was the day. It went well. I always like seeing him and today was even better than normal. He seemed to think that I was doing okay. None of my meds needed to be adjusted and life was good.

From his office I wandered back to the subway, where I just missed the train. I have yet to understand why people walking down the stairs to the train go as slow as possible completely blocking the stairs when it's not their train. I tried to get around said couple but of course their defense was better than my offense. It didn't help that the train was smashed full and I decided it wasn't worth trying to push my way on. Ah, but what a day. In less than two minutes another A train arrived and because it was so close behind the last one, it was empty all the way to my house. Yippee.

Of course the only real bad part of my day occurred once I arrived home. My job tonight was to put the lights on the Christmas tree. I had pulled out all of the boxes of decorations today and put them in the living room so that I'd be ready when I got home. My friend M.M. called just as I was opening the door and as I talked to her I began opening the boxes looking for the lights. I opened the first box, and then another, and another, and another. Soon all the boxes were open and there were no lights. How could that be. I own at least 30 strands of white christmas tree lights. I have a box dedicated to just those. Where could they be. I searched and searched to no avail. They could not be found. I have no idea where they are but they aren't in my apartment.

Now I was in a dilemma. I had to put lights on the tree so C.Z and I could decorate it tomorrow night, but I have no lights. Then an idea occurred. There's a Target store only 3 stops north of me in the Bronx. Perhaps it stayed open late. I looked the store up and in fact they were open until 11:00. I could make it. So I threw my clothes back on and ran to the train. Or rather shivered to the train. It's cold here tonight. Got to Target to find the worst selection of Christmas lights ever. I have never seen products so picked over. In took almost 30 minutes of searching through every pile of lights they had to piece together 10 boxes of different brands of white Christmas lights. I found my way back to the store, paid and was back on the subway. In all it took 75 minutes to get there and back. Not bad for NYC.

And so, the day is over. I gave my roommate his gifts. We watched Studio 60 together. He went to bed and I put the lights on the tree. All in all it's been a wonderful day. Here's a couple of pictures of the tree. It will look better tomorrow when it's finished. Now I must take my leave so that I don't sleep until 2:00 p.m. again tomorrow.