Christine "Bunz" Larsen

Christine's dad is Danish, so she has intereting Danish food at her apartment sometimes. She also wears Polo purfume, a scent which will forever remind me of her it seems.

On Christine's 21st birthday, I wrote on her card that the world would be a better place if there were more people like her. It's true. She's critical of herself for being selfish, but in the scope of all possible selfishness - especially in New York - that's just nonesense. As a great teacher of mine once said, you must be at least a little selfish if you're ever going to be generous, and Christine is definitely a generous person.

I met Christine mainly through Emily. They'd done an NYU semester in Italy together along with other friends of mine (that's where she got the nickname, a whole other story in itself). I have a hard time charting the chronology of things, but I started sleeping with Christine at the same time that I really got to know her. She'd been by my and Frank and Christina's place on 10th street a few times and we'd been introduced and such. Vibes had been exchanged, but not a lot of serious conversation had gone on.

One night in June at the Cutting Room shortly after the first ever axiom event I ended up going home with her. I was set to catch a bus at 5:30 am or so that morning to go to Emily's Grandparents place in Maryland with a bunch of my fellow graduates, but we were talking and drinking and one thing led to another. It was definitely a good time... and a rather rock'n'roll morning: borrowing her backpack and walking to 42nd street to catch a bus with no sleep and smelling of sex.

We had a rather nice affair that summer. Privately I often equate the act of nookie and music. In that metaphor-world, being with Christine was like playing Mozart on a Stratavarious. Outside the physical realm, she's also just so damn smart and interesting and... nice. That's the only word for it. A genuinely nice/kind person in New York City is really something special. She also works at a literary agency so she gets all sorts of good books before they're on sale and actually enjoys reading as a passtime. On top of it all, she's a philosophy major of the better kind: positive and energized. Definitly one of the good people.

When I first took up with Christine, Emily pulled me aside and warned me not to get too involved. She was worried that I'd get hurt. At the time I was a little suprised, but I filed the information away anyhow. I can't help but wonder now how much that little exchange played into things later.

Though we had great conversations, Christine and I didn't communicate about our relationship very well. That gave me the room to be a jerk and pretend I wasn't picking up the signals of how things were going. I sort of let it slip away, disengaging at all the critical points. Not terribly mature. At one point, I took up with a different girl, which while interesting and a little exciting, was also not a nice or mature thing to do.

Rest assured, my karma got back in spades. Though the whole experience was valuable for me (as most real experiences are), it also left me with a fistfull of regrets. Ugh! This "truthful living" schtick is a drag sometimes.

Thankfully, despite my callous behavior, we're still friends. It's sometimes awkward - mostly because I'm still attracted to her like you know I would be - but like I said a couple of times before, Christine is one of The Good People. So we'll work it out.

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