Well, even though yesterday was wretched, it turned out OK in the end.

I got a phone call from a net.friend last night. After asking “are you naked?”, he wished me a happy anniversary.

I smacked myself in the forehead. How could I have forgotten??

The first time I had contact with this person was on Election Night last year. I was hanging out with my roommate and a couple of friends, hoping that by drinking too much I’d wake up and find that Bill Clinton *hadn’t* been re-elected, when my pager went off. This guy had sent me a cyberPAGE asking if I knew the election results. I left him a message on the VM number he left for me, cause I’m just “an Internet sort of gal,” and thus began one of the strangest friendships I currently hold dear to my heart.

I’ve seen this person exactly once: He came to my 25th birthday party last year. I recognized him before he even spoke. Nice guy. But we’ve both been too busy (and I harbor a sense that he doesn’t think I’m good enough for a ride in his convertible) to meet ever since then. So instead, we have these amazingly personal (No, not erotic, not intimate, but personal) telephone conversations.

Very odd.

So he called me last night, and was so surprised that I answered on the first ring that he blurted out, “Are you naked?” I immediately knew who it was. He always calls me after I’ve had a couple of beers, don’t know how he always knows when I’ve been drinking but maybe he’s one of those Psychic Friends Dionne Warwick is always talking about.

I was on the other line when he called so I asked him to call me back in 10 minutes. Once 13 minutes passed I found his number in my Franklin Planner and was reaching for the telephone to call him and say “Nice ability to call me back in 10 minutes” when the phone rang.

Pretty funny. So I told him about my trip to France with Kevin (yikes, I haven’t even told *you* about that yet. A story will happen soon, I promise!), and after a few conversation tangents we hung up the phone, me feeling much happier than I had when, say, I wrote yesterday’s column.