Scarlett wrote me a message to tell me she was meeting her brother in "the city," i.e., San Francisco, and as I read it I felt the familiar sweeping flames of jealousy at her proximity to the city I love so much (i.e., again, San Francisco, for those of you suffering from ADD).

So, just as I was writing back a long and self-serving e-mail about my jealousy, my phone rang, and it was Scarlett.

"So, I was just in the pirate store?" she started, then clarified that she meant Dave Eggers' pirate-themed store in San Francisco, "and guess who walked in?"

I yelled, "Jonathan!?" meaning Jonathan Richman, and she yelled, "Yes!" Then there was a lot of yelling, as there invariably is surrounding an unexpected Jonathan sighting. Because it's true, I am a swank and icy hipster, but I bubble like a water fountain when unexpectedly confronted with my personal idol, Jonathan Richman. (Even, apparently, when unexpectedly confronted from four hundred miles away, via phone, by someone who did see him. Such is his power, amen, amen.)

"Did you say hello?" I asked, and she said no.

"I wanted to..." she said, before claiming that her throat "closed up." She went on, "I wanted to wish him a happy birthday, but he was talking to these people, and he was looking for Dave Eggers, and he wasn't there, and I just thought it would be weird if I yelled out 'Happy Birthday!'"

We pondered this point. "It's a thin line between fan-dom and stalking," I commented. "Yeah," she said, "I'm a little unclear on where that line is."

So, even though the sighting was brief, I had to ask her all these questions: What was he wearing? Dark clothing. How did he look? Hair very short, "He looked very cute, actually," she said. What was he doing there? She didn't know, but she'd been in the shop and "suddenly I heard this voice and turned around." That led to an unfortunate bout of enthusiastic Jonathan impressions (mine) and uncomfortable silence (hers). Like this:

Me: "Oh! Hello!"
Her: "Heh heh..."

Me: "Is Dave here? I am looking for him!"
Her: "Right..."

Me: "Do you know, like, when Dave would get back?"
Her: " --- "

I told her I was going to mention this in my journal, and she said, "Don't make me look like too much of a dork, OK?" Too much of a dork? Ha! Never. I think it should be obvious to anyone who's read more than three syllables of Spark and Foam that I've got that market cornered. As it should be, amen, amen.

P.S. Oh! Hello!

Star of the day. . .Jonathan Richman / Dave Eggers