A day later, and I'm still tired from Tuesday night... when the dude that lives directly above Babe played his damn blasted unidentifiable music all night. That was the second night I couldn't sleep because the bass from his music was very audible through the walls. The first time, I tried unsuccessfully to sleep through it, and ended up staying up until around 5am. This time, I trudged upstairs to tell him to turn it down.

I knock on his door a bunch of times before I finally got a gruff "Who is it?" "A neighbor in this apartment complex." "Aw SHIT. Hold on..." I hold on for a couple of tense seconds... between 5 and 10. Then the dude swings the door wide open, and a dog immediately runs out into my legs. That takes me by surprise, and I bend down instinctively to give it a quick pet-pet on the head. It is short and whitish with brownish patches, and looks simultaneously like a pig and a fat pug. And there is the dude, standing in the doorway with nothing but boxers on, with coloring and form similar to his dog. Immediately, I imagine he'd just put those boxers on. I wonder, What on earth was he doing before I knocked?

My eyes are squinting, not yet adjusted to the hallway light. And the sight of the dude makes them squint further. His studio is dark, and the lighting seems really muted, as if from a flashlight inside of a tent or a small desk lamp with a think shade. No one else seems to be in the room. I smell nothing. But I see much flesh and hair. The dude is not slim, though in the dim lighting, and behind the abundant body hair, he appears heavy as opposed to fatty, solid as opposed to flabby. He and his animal do not look like the dude and dog that I'd met in the halls a couple of times, who I thought lived in that studio. I start to think he is a new neighbor, and feel a little less angry about the situation.

I say, "sorry to bother you," and ask him if he can turn his music down. He acts apologetic and says he'll turn it off, not down. He adds, "It's been a bad night." I'm still a bit thrown off by the dog and the skin and the light, so "it's been a bad night" just adds to the swirling curiosity. What exactly does he mean by that? Was it just an offhand remark? Or is he implying or trying to explain something? He asks if I live in the downstairs apartment. I say yes, though technically I don't and don't want to say that I do.

Within minutes after I get back into bed, I fall asleep. I have a dream that the upstairs guy is a hairy hippie who, after meeting me one time, tries to get me to ask me out on a date. I tell him about my boyfriend, and he gets really upset. He goes from upset to psycho, and chases Babe and me around the apartment complex with a gun in his hand with the intent to kill. Bullets are flying everywhere, and I am freaking out and trying dodge them.

When I wake up later, I'm convinced that my dream is influenced by a dinner I had on Monday, during which a guy I was having dinner with suddenly asked me out on a date. The purpose of the dinner was supposed to be to discuss some volunteer opportunities within a non-profit association of asian-am professionals, and I'd made that clear before the dinner. So his asking me out on a date really bothered me. I'd only seen him a couple of times in the past, at networking events, and once over lunch to discuss volunteering. I should've been suspicious then, when all he talked about during lunch was himself, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt... figuring he would be so unprofessional as to try to turn a business-y lunch meeting into something more.

He never asked if I had a boyfriend, and just assumed I was single. And, well, I didn't mention my boyfriend because I didn't think I needed to! How exactly does one gracefully broach that subject without seeming presumptive and suspicious? That one's had me stumped for years. I don't get out that much, and therefore, don't deal with these scenarios often.

After that, I came to terms with the fact that the mixers that I've gone to were fronts for meat markets. I wanted so much for that to not be true, and to be able to actually get some good business contacts out of them. But shit... I was asked out by just about every male contact I met at those networking events. I'm fucking disappointed. I feel gypped. I feel fooled... I'm just... well, a bit shellshocked... adding to the shellshock I'm still feeling from that last interview...

So where that does this all leave me? I'm not sure yet. But I sure am damn tired.