Grace Haven: Day 6

Friday morning while I slept, my lettuce plant became harvestable, which gained me 1,000 Lifetime Happiness points! This got my total back up to 4,088 points.

Upon arising, I went to the gym to shower and use the toilet. You never know whom you're going to meet, or when, so you should always be well groomed!

But, there were no single men there, so I returned to my lot to harvest my garden.

I replaced my Nice lettuce plant with a Great specimen that I had just harvested,

and spun a wish to grow the ingredients for ratatouille.

Although I'd learned the recipe for ratatouille just the night before, the dish contains a lot of ingredients, and I wasn't sure to which particular ingredients the wish referred. Maybe I had been too distracted by the neurotic guy at the library? I resolved to head to the grocery (where one could look up the ingredients to any dish).

But before I left my lot, I paid my bills,

and was cleaning up the newspapers,

when an intriguing-looking guy jogged past my lot and glanced back over his shoulder.

I called out a greeting. The jogger stopped, a bit out of breath, and I ran over to him. I must have looked like a desperate loser--galloping after some guy I don't even know!

I caught up with him and introduced myself. His name was Jon Lessen. I explained to him (trying to sound nonchalant) that I had just moved to Riverview and was trying to meet lots of new people.

I quickly found out that Jon was Artistic, Charismatic, and a Hopeless Romantic.

Those are all good traits (I think--I'm not sure what "Hopeless Romantic" actually means).

I also learned that Jon was single,

and that he was not involved with anyone.

(I've already figured out that sometimes when a guy says he's "single", that doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't have a girlfriend--or even a fiancee. So now I always check for "Partner".)

I thought Jon had nice eyes (even though he might have been wearing eyeliner, like that "Richard Alpert" guy from "Lost").

[For his part, Jon thought that Grace was naturally pretty. "But, man, those eyebrows! They look like 2 dead caterpillars!! Girl, get thee to the day spa." But he kept this thought to himself.]

We continued talking. I found out that Jon was a Virtuoso who was employed in the music industry,

specifically as a lead guitarist.

Although the only kind of music I really like or know anything at all about is my favorite classical music, I was able to sustain a conversation with Jon about music for quite a while.

We also had a long talk about books.

Surprisingly (as far as I was concerned), trying to talk to Jon about art--given that he's Artistic--

drew not much of a response from him.

Searching for another of his traits, I tentatively broached the subject of family.

This, too, brought no particular response from Jon, though he still seemed to be happy to be talking to me.

We talked for so long that I started getting seriously hungry.

I scarfed down a tomato, and decided to throw caution to the wind and compliment Jon's appearance. This pleased him.

I also complimented his personality, which he also seemed to like.

I flirted, and this did not go unnoticed by Jon.

(Well, at least he didn't walk away, though I wondered how a lead guitarist's reaction to overt flirting could be so placid.)

As I had become quite tired, and wanted to end my meeting with Jon on a good note, I said goodbye to him, and immediately went to sleep for a few hours.

When I got up at dusk, I went across the river from my lot to fish. It sure was a beautiful sunset, and it would have been nice to have someone to share it with.

I caught one new type of fish, a Siamese Catfish (I've lost track of how many more new types I still need in order to satisfy the "Catch 5 New Types of Fish" wish),

then packed up, and headed for the grocery, where I found out that the ingredient I had to grow in order to satisfy the "Grow Ingredients for Ratatouille" wish was tomato.

That shouldn't be too hard, since I've already grown some Great tomatoes.

Restless, I returned to the fish hatchery, and caught a Tragic Clownfish,

and a Mood-Lite Candle (which I promptly sold for $65),

and reached Fishing Level 5 (which enabled me finally to use live bait!).

Almost as important, I figured out that the fish hatchery had a public bathroom....

It was mid-morning Saturday before I got back home to sleep.

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NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Join us next time, when Grace meets 5 new guys at the gym, avoids one guy she's already met, and improves her skills.