Salty

Today, my friend Spesh, who lives in Israel, sent me an invitation to a screening of The Salt of the Earth. He invited me because I sent him the DVD. I responded as follows:

Jamy: Sorry I can't make it.

Spesh: there is still time...

Jamy: But I have Spanish class on Thursday. You have no idea how busy I am :)

Spesh: we have a whole spanish mafia here. they run shit and speak in their secret language when they don't want the rest of us to understand. they can dance too. i hope that "salt" will ingratiate me with them.

Jamy: You seem to find mafias wherever you go. I think Salt will have the expected ingratiating effect. Say "hola" for me.

We rarely communicate, and never in such a rapid fire way on email. I enjoyed hearing from him, but wasn't surprised when he didn't respond to the last message. Then, at 11:45am, he called me at the office. I was surprised to say the least.

He said he'd been thinking about calling for me but for the wrong reasons so he hadn't. Spesh is all about what is "right" and what is "wrong." He has a lot of rules and he expects us all to live up to them. If he likes you, he decides you have lived up to the rules despite evidence to the contrary. I assumed he was calling me for romantic advice and I was right. I really should point him towards this blog and he would soon stop asking me for my opinion. My true incompetence would be revealed.

It was never entirely clear to me what he was asking. He told me that he had lunch with a woman and because afterwards they'd sat in a certain park in Tel Aviv that meant there was commitment. I told him he wasn't committed to anything. He didn't seem to believe me. I also told him to ask himself what he wanted. He said, "I know what she wants." I said, "That's great, but what do you want?" He said, "That's the hard part." I said, "I know. That's why I'm telling you to think about it." Then I said I had to run and we said goodbye. It was good to talk to him and not nearly long enough. I told him there was never a wrong reason to call me.

Any readers in need of romantic advice? Just ask Jamy! Those who can't do, teach :) I will answers all questions, no kidding.

Grateful for: long distance phone calls from far away friends.