Wow, two days in a row. Or something. Sort of. Okay, not really. But close! I don't know. I lost track. Don't pressure me.

I think I may still be a little drunk. Where the hell is the Advil? ™?

I just feel like telling everyone about my day. That's what us journalers do, right? Tell about our days. Okay. So I will tell about my day. Which is Mardi Gras, but I didn't realize that until I was most of the way through the day.

I woke up late, which should be absolutely no surprise to anyone, and rushed to class. I snagged my usual parking spot, which is always free, which is a miracle, and which happens to be on the sidewalk. Yes, people park on the sidewalks in San Francisco. People have also taken to parking in the middle of the streets. Like, where the turn lane would normally be? People just sort of park there. It's crazy, man.

I went to our workshop, where I traded gossip with the girls and workshopped that "Candle" poem, which they both had serious problems with. I'm going to revise it (that's my new approach to writing, after all) but they still weren't able to talk me out of liking it a whole hell of a lot. I mean sure, it makes very little sense. But it's sexy and crazy. Like me!

I also told the girls that my sister wrote me an e-mail. It was really funny, and I had to quote my sister, who said, "Tell your friends it was nice meeting them, and tell Mickey it was nice watching him walk past us." That cracked us up all over again.

We had a great lunch and gossip fest, and found ourselves with an hour free. So, since it was a beautiful day, Laurie convinced us to go to 7-11 with her. Which is like a mile away or something. Which is faaaar. So of course Joey and I whined the whole time, which had the desired effect: Laurie paid us off by treating us to Slurpees. ™.

We moseyed back to class (Emily Dickinson) only to find the classroom was being painted. So we moved to an empty classroom for a while, and we were evicted from that. So we ended up in a third classroom. We talked about metaphor and metonymy, and it was pretty interesting despite the distractions.

Most everyone planned to stick around into the evening, because there was a poetry reading, featuring Joey. Yay! So the girls and I went to have some Mexican food. We invited Wayne along, and ordered a pitcher of strawberry margaritas. I also had a vegetarian burrito. Did I mention the margaritas? Laurie didn't have any. Joey and Wayne had a little. I drank the vast majority of the pitcher of strawberry margaritas.

Graduate school has turned me into a lush.

At 7-11 Joey and I also bought a pack of cigarettes, oh, the debauchery. She kept teasing me because I kept having cigarette mishaps. I couldn't light it in the wind, when I did light it, it would go out, I dropped it on the floor, etc. etc. But somehow, I did manage to smoke a half a pack of cigarettes over the course of the day. And I don't even smoke!

So then we went to the reading. I was so damn proud of Joey, she was excellent. She made everyone laugh, and didn't seem nervous at all. I clapped a lot. And laughed a lot. She teased me a lot from the podium. But I didn't care. And after she read, I read a couple of pieces at the open mike. Which was good practice, since my poetry reading is going to be in the same venue, the theater. Last semester the readings were in the cultural center. There's a big difference, and it was nice to have the experience of standing in the spotlight reading. For some reason, it's less intimidating.

Maybe it was the wine I had at the reading. Did I mention the wine? There's always wine.

Okay, so after the reading, a whole bunch of us went to some bar I've never heard of, and drank some more, and cleared out a space in the middle of the room and danced around to whatever the hell the DJ was playing. Latin funk? Who knows.

Laurie and I flirted shamelessly with Toker, who is getting married in ten days. I was sobering up, and she was getting drunker, which perhaps explains why she was the more successful flirt. We were offering to be the strippers at his bachelor party and she said, "I'll take off my clothes, jump out of the cake, cover myself with frosting and let you lick it off." I just couldn't trump that.

Also hanging out with us was Huck, who is a new person in the program. I've named him Huck because he's from the south and has red hair. I have nothing to say about him at this time, but I figured I'd use this as an excuse to share my new nickname. Well, okay, I'll tell you he's cute. Laurie has a crush on him. I think Joey has one, too, even though she'd never admit it because she's way taken. But Huck has a girlfriend, so they're both S.O.L. (Which means Shit Outta Luck. But you knew that.)

Then Laurie and I walked back to my car (this was around midnight or so) only to find a parking ticket. Suck! That means I have to find a new parking space. Man, why did they have to start ticketing me? I was really getting used to that spot on the sidewalk. Suck, suck, suck.

Then I drove Laurie back to her place (in exchange for her walking back with me) and drove home. Now, don't worry! I wasn't under the influence. I honestly felt sober enough to drive and by then, it had been hours since the pitcher of margaritas. I only had one glass of wine at the reading and one glass at the bar. (Both red. I've totally been turned on to the red wines lately.) It was only when I came home and started drinking water that the buzzed feeling began again. I don't know the physiological reason for this, but it seems to be a common response.

Then I watched my tape of Buffy, which thankfully my VCR captured with no mishaps. Holy mother of god. That episode ripped me inside out. When Anya lost it, that's when I lost it. And I loved seeing the natural, tender kiss between Willow and Tara. Finally! Joss Whedon is brilliant. I love the way he uses silence. What an amazing episode.

And then I typed this. And then I uploaded it. And then you read it. Whee!

Did I mention the margaritas?

"BENTON doesn’t say anything, but raises his eyebrow as if to imply, 'I’m so happy to see that you can get it up. Uuh, I mean, get up.'."