I'm sad.. and I have to move on..

I was at the reading today. John's reading.. He read only a few pages and that's why kinda disappointed me. I was just drawn into the story and he stopped. I think, he thinks if he reads long excerpts, people will get bored. Well, this is the biggest handicap with readings, they can be boring sometimes. But John shouldn't be worried about it. His writing has such a soft voice (even with tough characters) that you don't want him to stop but read more. Two more guys read after him too, one read from his short stories collection.. all of the stories he read from the perspective of a female narrator, which I liked. First story was about an Egyptian woman, and the guy could actually pronounce the words like "Inshallah, Hamdolillah.." very well :) I was surprised, heh. The last one had such an American attitude on him that I felt a bit irritated. He seemed like he was from one of those 80's soap opera tv shows. He read a funny piece and brought everyone back to the room anyway. And John loves him.

J. and I left a little bit early, when the fourth guy came on the mic we thought it's time. It was a nice place where they had the reading. A good-looking Park Slope restaurant. Just as I stepped out from the place, I saw John wrapping his cigarette in front of the door. J. and I stopped, he hugged us, and J. told him what he thought of his reading. I told him that I was disappointed because it was too short and he said: "yea, I don't like reading too long, Handan.." I said: "well, but you should.." he smiled. he then started smoking that strange cigarette, it smelled sooo good that i felt like asking him where he got it from. He was very shy about his work, I mean you should see him while he was listening to J. ...as if he wasn't some guy, whose books got published and received awards or something. That's what I like about him, he is good, very good but he still seems genuinely vulnerable..

He also introduced me to his girlfriend, A., tonight:
John: A. this is Handan, Handan A.
We shook hands and I said "I heard a lot about you!" well, thought she might like it. and then she went, with a certain intonation: "I heard a lot about you too!" .. John smiled.. and I smiled too.

P.S. And I saw the sweetest Cafe on earth while wandering around the streets of Park Slope.