Thursday 10/25, I talked to Dave on the way home to discuss our meet up later that evening and decided on 8 at Black Bottle. I showered and got ready, talked to Susan, got a text from Dave requesting 8:30 instead, and finally headed out. I called Ian and was telling him about it and he kind of freaked out like "Great, maybe he doesn't want kids, and he lives in Seattle and it'll work out great for you guys" and I was like "...uhhhhh...no, it's not even like that" I didn't even want to go out with him and the last thing I wanted Ian to think was that this was a date, which he did, or that I had sketchy intentions with Dave. Yuck, no. He eventually said it was ok then wanted to know his name so he could check him out on myspace and we hung up. I called LPC to make sure I didn't have anything to worry about but he didn't answer so I left a message and called Kay-See next, who was like "You're doing WHAT?!" so then I started REALLY asking myself what the hell I was doing. Groannnnn. I called Eric just to see if he'd be on call in case I needed backup but he didn't answer so I left a slightly frantic message. He later was like "What the hell are you doing?" and "Of course you met him online". I walked down a block to Black Bottle and went in but didn't see Dave, so I called him, he was parking, then LPC called back and said he didn't think there was anything to worry about but what about that guy I was seeing? I told him I still was and this wasn't a date! Dave's profile says In a Relationship! I don't even want to meet him! He told me about his gay Abe costume then all of a sudden Dave popped up from behind a tree and scared me so I told LPC thanks but I had to go. We went in and sat down and started chatting, and he was fine and normal...at first. He started doing some weird shit with my hand and kept making eye contact for too long and saying weird stuff about sex with his ex, so when he suggested we do this again and at a French restaurant, I was like "Yeah, sure" but inside I was like "Hell no" and already plotting how I will get out of it. At least the food was really good, I had a prosciutto and béchamel flat bread thing, that was kind of like a pizza. He looked at every girl's ass that walked by which I thought was hilarious, I was like "Dude! You're not even being discreet. At ALL!" It was 10 so I said I needed to go and he insisted on walking me to my car and kissed my cheek which I was like, don't, got in my car, called Susan and said I was heading up her way, then called Ian and left a message that I wasn't dead. At Susan's we laid on her bed and talked about my non-date and looked at stuff online and I ate a peanut butter cup. Mmmm. We left a little before 11 and parked in the usual spot and headed in. It was all decked out for Halloween and very spoooky. We probably went straight upstairs to spy on people and to see who was there before going back down to dance. We checked our coats then Susan spotted Andrew and we fled to the dance floor. We danced danced danced but hated being by the fan so eventually we moved and this rowdy group of girls were all screeching and howling when this one guy was attempting to Thriller it up on the stage, and I was like "Ughh, shut up, he isn't even good". Then some trannies (eek, Marissa!) kept bumping into Susan so we made our way back over to our usual dancing spot. Andrew kept lurking around but Susan was ignoring him and I kept my monocle on him as much as possible. I spotted this guy on stage dancing hilariously and with these great side moves and hands behind the back moves and (AND!) he had a ponytail. Susan called him SPM (Sensitive Ponytail Man or Sensitive Period Man, because he would ask you questions about your period and be supportive and maybe write you a poem about it) and we enjoyed watching him all night. It was truly wonderful. Socks and Sandals was wearing cheetah tights with a tight cheetah minidress and Susan got some freaky dirt on her later in the evening. Teal and Darren showed up and Darren looked so hot with his fingerless gloves on, mee-ow. Some nasty guys tried to hump Susan from behind so she moved, putting me in prime humping territory, and I rushed to Teal's side yelping "Teal, that guy is trying to dance with me!" while clinging to his arm. The guys kind of backed off but when I just didn't turn around to pay them any attention they eventually moved on. Richie showed up with a friend, whose name I can't remember, and we all danced and talked which was fun. Richie is such a sweet heart and is always so complimentary. Him and Susan took off to dance by Red Sweatshirt (ie "my probably gay bf") and I was left dancing by my lonesome. It wasn't more than a few moments however before I noticed Michael standing on the sidelines and it was as though the crowd parted as I made my way over to him. Like in slow motion or something. I got a nice muscle-y hug and started gabbing immediately. We talked forever, about Eric and Ian and sobriety and working out and with Samuel about how we all met and how the boys had spotted us from up above and how Michael is a great wingman. SPM walked by and apparently Samuel and Michael know him and I think I may have put my foot in my mouth but I can't be sure...so his name is Christopher and I was introduced. Fuckin great. He was actually very nice, which isn’t surprising since he’s so sensitive. Susan was trying to get Michael and me to make out again but I had horrible breath so I knew I wasn't going to let that happen, though the thought of it makes me a little light headed. Richie and Susan found us and we all did introductions and I talked to Richie a little more then decided it was time to take off and said my goodbyes. Michael suggested we get together for coffee sometime, but he always does. I saw Richie and Co. outside and almost slapped his ass but kept walking, only to turn around farther up the alley to see him running toward me to slap my ass. It scared me. I ran to my car and heard Richie yelling from afar "I love Karrah!" which made me smile. Had a text from Ian, drove home and went to bed.

Wednesday 10/24, I picked up cat litter at the pet store and talked with the guy there about why my cat is so crazy and he had a few suggestions then wished me good luck. I called Sos on my way home to see if she wanted to do ANTM and she did plus Jake was going to get a pizza so I was in for that as well. I had some broccoli and yogurt before going over to ensure I wouldn't gorge myself on delicious pizza. I headed over at 7 and Sos and I chatted while Jake watched the game. I filled her in about Ian and she said she was sorry but that it wasn't a complete surprise. We talked about why I don't want kids (a theme this week apparently!) and Sos has a few theories of why I feel it's such a scary thing and I totally agree with her. The pizza was finally done and we chowed down and watched tv, then Jake retired to the office while we watched ANTM and talked during the commercials about how her class is going. I stayed for a few minutes after it was over then headed home and ended up talking to Ian on the phone for a little while which was nice. I like being able to talk to him on a daily basis. I played with J for quite a while, swinging his frog on a string all around my room while he would lunge at it from behind different objects in the room. I'm sure I watched the news and went to bed.

Tuesday 10/23, It was a beautiful day and Peggy let me leave a little early so I called Sos to see if she wanted to go on a walk but she was already out so I went home and ended up falling asleep instead. It was only for about 15 minutes but I felt totally refreshed afterward and was running around the house freaking my cat out. I put him outside since it was so nice out and about 20 minutes later I heard his collar jangling, which was v. odd since he was supposed to be outside. How did he get back in? Well, he chewed a hole through the screen door. Nothing surprises me anymore. I had a pretty healthy dinner and cut myself off early with the ice cream which I was proud of. I watched Beauty and the Geek and probably went to bed early.

Monday 10/22, I was feeling a little shitty at work about what had happened with Ian but felt much better after I got a cute message from him. I went home after work and prepped a little for Dad to arrive. When he arrived we sat and talked in the living room for a little while then took off to the Keg for dinner. We had a nice time talking and eating and I told him about Eric, my situation with Ian and my stance on kids. Ian texted me and told me to entertain him so Dad told me to write “You can’t always get what you want” and the idea was that he would write back “But if you try sometimes…” etc, and I’m guessing Dad wanted the meaning to sink in because he thinks Ian should be more open to us potentially having a long distance relationship. He didn’t get it right away and Dad and I laughed when he finally did and how exasperated his text sounded. We shared a brownie dessert then took off for Home Depot where he got me a fireplace grill thing and a box of Envirologs. We went home and watched some of Dancing with the Stars and looked at pictures from Grand Cayman. Dad was yawning so I got him all set up to go to sleep then got into bed and updated the blog and went to bed not too late since I was tired.

Sunday 10/21, I woke up around 8 but hadn’t heard from Eric via text during the night so I didn’t get out of bed right away. I texted him at 9:30 and through texting and a phone conversation we decided against hiking and instead on lunch at Jalisco’s at 11:45. I had already showered and was in my hiking gear so I changed and got ready then hit the road. I called Lish on the way and talked to her about relationships and kids and stuff but then I saw Eric walking down the street, right on time I might add, so I told her I had to go and crossed the street to meet him. I got a half side hug then we went in and sat in what I think was the same booth Zach and I sat in like 2 years ago. We talked and laughed about the couple next to us and he didn’t even have to look up to know what I was doing and he was like “Shut up, I know exactly what you’re doing!” but I played innocent like I wasn’t doing anything and didn’t know what he was talking about. We talked and talked and talked and it was great to kind of continue where we’d left off on Thursday. I got a really delicious spinach enchilada and Eric got something that is cow taste buds and I at least tried a bite, and though it wasn’t offensive or bad, I wouldn’t ever order it for psychological reasons. Since he didn’t know if he was doing his skate thing, and we were just sitting talking in our booth forever, he suggested we move into the cantina and continue talking in there. I was amazed he wasn’t trying to escape. He ordered some more drinks and me a glass of water which I found to be adorable and reminded me of old times, like when we were at Michael’s and he took the initiative to get me a glass of water even though I told him I was ok and even put it in a paper bag to give me some street cred. Ahh, memories. We talked about pot and the significant decrease in his use and I asked in a mock-frustrated tone why he couldn’t have done that months ago, but it also sheds light on what has taken the place of it. Ian called and I answered but tried to make it quick and asked if I could talk to him later, but it would come back to haunt me later on in the day. We went between watching the game and laughing at the people who were really into it and talking about a lot of different things. I expressed my appreciation for him never judging me and hoped that he’d never felt that I had with him. At one point I felt like he was studying me like he was going to kiss me or something but I broke the eye contact because clearly I didn’t want to open up that can of worms. He was going to order another drink but I told him we should go on a walk instead, like up to Easy Street. So he paid and we headed out, listening for fan noise at the stadium, but decided to drive instead and talked about how he doesn’t like it when I call myself a stalker. We looked around then I found a skate mag for him and he told me about some crazy skate park in the San Juans that he’s only been to once. We headed out and he needed to get home so I drove him out there and he referred to my car as a “bitch ass” car and I got all mock offended but he quickly corrected and said he meant bitchin ass so we laughed about that and talked about how I would always pump Michael for information whenever I saw him because I worried about him. We pulled up to the house and he asked if I was going to get out but I said no, we did the “car hug” and he got out and said he’d call me and I drove away. I looked at my phone and had a disturbing text from Ian, so I called and left a frantic and apologetic voice mail for him then almost like clockwork Kay-See called to get an update and I told her where I was and what had happened with Ian, then guess who beeps in: Ian, so I ask if I can call her back and find out that he’s with the fam and can’t talk but that he had been feeling insecure and asked if I had been on a date (gulp), I told him no but that I had been having lunch with Eric and he asked “Skateboarding Eric?” and I told him yes. We hung up pretty quickly but I told him I would call him later. I called Kay-See back and two seconds later Eric beeps in so I ask her again if I can call her back, Eric wanted to know what I was doing for the next 3 hours and if I wanted to accompany him to Olympia and back to drop the kids off, but I couldn’t because of dinner and I thought that might be crossing a line or something but thanked him for thinking of me. Called Kay-See back and continued the conversation when a text from Ian came in that said that he’d been a little jealous and that must mean he likes me, so that was cute. I talked to K for a little while longer and when I got home I talked to Mom FOREVER and she gave me all sorts of insight and advice and it was just great to talk to her because I so rarely get to. I went and picked Grandma up early for dinner so we had lots of time when we got to Mom’s to talk and catch up and for me to fill everyone in on Eric and Ian and all that drama. We had spanikopida and it was really good, then talked for a little bit in the living room and hit the road around 7:15. I called Susan on the way home and I filled her in on everything and she wished me luck. I called Ian when I got home and got really nervous when he asked if he could call me later or the next day and that he had something he wanted to talk to me about. I got super paranoid and started feeling sick to my stomach, like “he’s going to break up with me, I know it” and called Susan for moral support. I vowed to call him after 10 if I hadn’t heard from him, but I did, so we talked and talked and talked. About us, about the distance, about kids, about compatibility in relationships and how much we are for each other, and though I ended up crying through some of it, we left it on a positive note and we’re not doing anything right now. Which was SUCH a relief. After we got off the phone though I cried like a baby because I don’t want it to end but we both just don’t know how it’s going to work out in the end. I think I updated this a little then crashed because I was exhausted.

Saturday 10/20, I woke up semi-early to get a start on the day, which included administering meds to my cat and doing a few things around the house before taking off to get my oil changed. The guy at the place was cracking me up and I was surprised at how good he was at the game shows on the Game Show Network. This other lady was pretty good too and really hilarious especially when the 24 year old on the Dating Game said she didn’t date divorced men because she didn’t want anyone’s leftovers. She was like “Everyone is leftover, I’d like to see where she’s at today” and was cracking other jokes. The Grease Monkey guy asked me how I get my hair to look the way it does so I told him but I don’t know if he was truly interested or just trying to get in my pants. Ha, sike. He was married. I called Julien after I was done and he told me 45 min so I went to Mom’s and talked with her and Alix for a little bit about Eric and Ian and dilemmas and such then took off for the Hill, found parking ok and walked up. Harper was sleeping when I arrived and Beth greeted me and we chatted until Jason got out of the shower then we started comparing baby pictures of him and Harper and I told them about Ian. We were hungry so we took off for West Seattle and ended up at the Alki Café. We had a nice breakfast talking about aliens and the world ending in 2012 and SLS and ended up back at the car and headed up to the top of the hill just driving around and looking at the sights. I called Kassie to find out where a few things were then parked by Easy Street and walked around. We tried to find formula then hit Cupcake Royale and I got a Caramel Apple cupcake and Harper got a vanilla with chocolate frosting and was really enjoying it. I got a ton of pictures and he was adorable. We headed back after that and I met J’s brother as we arrived, gave hugs and called Susan on my way to the car. I met her at her place then we walked up to Smith for some late-afternoon Poutine. It was as delicious as I remember and after I ate about half I was so full I was cursing myself for eating that much. There was a super hot bar tender and I kept checking him out and our waitress caught me 2 or 3 times, whoops. We walked down to Sonic Boom after that and both behaved ourselves, walking out with nothing and ended up walking back to her house. It was getting late and J needed his meds so I headed home calling Kay-See on the way to make plans for dancing later. She called after I got home and asked if we could not do it, and I told her of course even though I was really looking forward to going. I texted Eric to find out what he was doing and we made plans to go hiking the next morning. It surprised me how enthusiastic he was about going, which made me even more excited about it. I watched some tv for the rest of the night but went to bed earlyish at 10:30.

Friday 10/19, I had an invite to go to Kay-See’s for dinner but I felt like I needed to stay home with the cat and force feed him water and keep him comfortable. I think it worked and I ended up just watching tv and hanging around for the night. It was crazy to have a Friday night at home with no plans…don’t think that’s happened for months. I talked to Ian before bed for a few minutes but he had to go after not too long, but it was wonderful talking anyway.

Thursday 10/18, I took J to the emergency room and he definitely had something but they were taking care of him for me during the day and I picked him up after work and the doc showed me how to administer the pain reliever drug and also went over all the special instructions for his food and medication. Susan came over for moral support and helped me as I drugged him, then I heated up the pizza and texted Eric who had never returned my phone call from the night before. He claims he never got my message and thought I didn’t want to get together for dinner but invited me over for bbq pork he was making for his roomies. I told Susan the plan and we hung out talking and strategizing until about 8 then both took off hoping for the best with traffic on the bridge. I made it over to Eric’s pretty quickly but he wasn’t there when I arrived so I talked to Michelle and Ronny until he arrived. I heard all about the wedding then Eric showed up and he gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek, which worried me a little, then started chatting. We discussed, as a group, suggestions for the bbq sauce and Michelle sent us off to the store for molasses and apple cider vinegar. He hugged me again in the parking lot so I knew I needed to tell him about Ian but I didn’t really know how to bring it up so I put it off a little longer. We ran around the store checking in “Bake Time” for the molasses but came up empty. We finally found it and I told him to stop being such a pussy and just pick one (full flavored) then we talked about Grand Cayman in line and he said he would have found that skate park in 5 minutes if he had gone. On our way out he asked if I could get over the fact that he never called and I said yes and that being bitter wasn’t good and that I would try. He told me that in the past he’s made some bad decisions then I broke it to him that I was seeing someone and he was very positive and didn’t seem weirded out by it so that was a relief. Back at his place he kept going on the sauce then some of M’s friends showed up and they all ended up in the kitchen and we’re in the living room sitting on the same chair and just talking…forever. We talked and laughed and reminisced and I confessed the cookie story which blew him away and I was the one person he didn’t think of, which made me laugh. The whole experience basically reaffirmed why I’ve been trying to keep him in my life and stay connected to him all this time. We talked about us and how he’s been over the last year and bfs complementing their gfs and Michael and his living situation and all sorts of things and it was just such an amazing night. I fell a little bit back in love with him…I forgot how funny he can be. So it’s finally like 10:45 and I needed to get going so I said bye to Michelle and Eric walked me out and we talked for a little while longer by my car and hugged then he said he might call me over the weekend and actually seemed sincere not all ambivalent and loosey goosey like he usually is. He also drove home that it was him and not me and that he’s the one who lost out. V. sweet. I called Susan and told her I was on my way up to the Hill. I parked and told her I had to change my pants and would meet her in front of the Egyptian, got off the phone and just as I was getting out Kay-See called and wanted some dirt so I told her a bit then told her I had to go and ran down to Susan. Got into Neighbs ok (new wood floor in the entry) and went straight upstairs and saw Awkward Trannie on the way up, a good song came on so we went back downstairs to dance. We went to check our coats and saw Richie and Cory on our way out and started chatting with them, then saw Craig who came by and said hi, then told R and C that we were heading out to dance. We weren’t out there very long before Craig popped up and started dancing with us and commented on how we’re always in the same exact spot and I told him I was glad he was paying attention, which I’m sure freaked him out. Soon Richie and Cory came over and we all started dancing and chatting and at some point Craig asked me what Richie’s name was and last name and it turns out they used to know each other through church (I totally called it to Susan) when Craig was his junior camp leader or something. Teal and Darren showed up and so did Susan’s gay bf from a few weeks ago and he grabbed my butt and asked me if he’d done something last time and I told him no but that he had pinched my butt, so then he did it a bunch. We were all trying to get Susan to wrangle him in but a free range homo is hard to contain. Richie and I talked some more and he was trying explain to me that he thinks he’s attracted to me because I’m built just like his sisters with those “child bearing hips” and was that my hips are like an aphrodisiac, but he was like “You know, like oysters…” and I was like, “Umm…muscles? Lobsters?” but then I got what he was saying and shouted “Aphrodisiac!” so that was a running joke for the rest of the night. We also talked about how Richie sent Cory home with a sandwich and she held its hand all the way home and talked to it too. Soon Richie disappeared and our free range homo was back in effect and freaking all the boys out ie Teal, Craig and Richie when he was still there. It was hilarious. The funniest part was when he took one of Susan’s and my hands each into his and insisted we hold hands with each other, raise them all over our heads and jump up and down. Then he enthusiastically asked “Can you feel the energy?!” and I was like “Yeah Susan, can you feel it?! Oh yeah!” It was so funny. Craig came and went depending on the song and who was dancing by us, but it’s always interesting when he decides to dance with us. It must mean that it’s a real slow night for him friend-wise, if we’re the ones he’s choosing. We danced some more and Teal was over by us breakin it off but I decided it was time for me to head home and Susan decided to go too so we told Teal and he had a mini little tantrum and was like “Fiiine” so we kissed him goodbye and went to get our coats, hugging Craig on the way out and booking it to Susan’s car; she dropped me off and I headed home with all sorts of conflicting feelings floating around inside my body.

Wednesday 10/17, I rushed home after work to get everything set for girls night, talking to Mom on the way home. The litter box was a mess and there was shit all over the place and I was so mad and crashing around trying to clean it up and put J outside while I cleaned. I finally let him back in and he was in the litter box right away and I was like "Seriously cat? Can't you shit outside?" but what I didn't realize until later was that he was sick and felt like he had to go and couldn't, or was going just a little bit. Poor cat. I had calls in from everyone that they were en route so I showered and prepped and waited. Kay-See was the first to arrive and we talked about my cat and also Ryan and how that's going. Then Susan and Chrystol showed up so we all chatted in the kitchen while eating chips and mango peach salsa, yum! Sos was the last to show up and I felt bad because she was sick and came anyway. I popped the pizzas in and we chatted until ANTM came on then settled onto the couch and floor for the big event. I went and got my comp to show Susan the hilarious cat / kids in a raft picture on N's myspace. It kills me. We ate most of the two pizzas and I made broccoli too which was good, then my phone rang...and it was Eric. I looked at Susan then ran upstairs to take it. I haven't talked to him on the phone for, I don't know, like 6 months...at least...? It was weird, but so so so strangely familiar. I had people over so I asked if I could call him back and he was waffling so I was like "Yes or no Eric?!" and he was all "Damn, yes, yes you can call me back". I went back downstairs and everyone looked at me expectantly, thinking it had been Ian, and I was like "No, it's not what you think...I'll tell you on the commercial" so then a commercial came and I was like "No one is going to be happy about this...but..." as worried looks manifested themselves on all of their faces and I filled them in. Sos was especially not happy, but I think curiosity was overruling their collective rational thinking in this situation and they all wanted to hear stories after it was over. We finished ANTM and I totally called who was going home, then Sos took off because she felt like shit and the 4 of us started watching Gossip Girl and talking about my Ian dilemma and all of my friends are wise in different ways and it made me feel better getting their opinions. We ate some of Susan's chocolate cream pie and Kay-See dished up huge portions, except for herself. We all pretty much killed what we were given though. Everyone left right around 10 after we took a ridiculous "holla!" picture that seems to be anything but. My cat was still acting weird and I was glad he had an appt for the next day. I went upstairs and called Eric back and left a message, then called Ian after he sent me a mushy text and we ended up talking for almost 40 minutes and it was so fun and even he said we should do it more often. It was cute. I think I blogged a little then went to bed without a call back from Eric. No shock there.

Tuesday 10/16, I rushed to the eye clinic right from work to pick up my contacts, then picked up Susan and we headed down to the mall from there. We parked at Lincoln Square and decided to catch the later movie so we ate dinner at PF Changs and I filled her in on my Ian dilemma and discussed texting Eric about meeting up for lunch. I stipulated a few things that I would then end up going back on later that night, but Susan was on the same page for most of it I think. We both got good fortunes and headed into the mall. We went to Sephora where I got some tweezers then looked at the bakery items but decided on Starbucks instead. Back over to LS where we settled into our movie. There was no "20" happening so we ended up watching this salmon swim upstream about 72 times. The theater was empty when we got in and of course a group of people comes and sits RIGHT BEHIND US then another group comes and sits RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. WHY??!! Do you not see 800 other seats available that you need to sit RIGHT THERE?! Seriously? It baffles me. And Susan. I thought she was going to lose it, but she didn't. We both loved the movie and drooled a little when Clive Owen appeared onscreen. Plus Cate Blanchett is just like one of my favorite actresses ever, if not my favorite. I love her. After it was over I drove Susan back to her car and headed home calling Alix on the way home to get the scoop on Homecoming. I had to pick out pictures I liked so I called her back and let her know. I got ready for bed and right before turning in I texted Eric "We should do lunch or something soon. It's been like forever." and surprisingly I got a response back very quickly "Yeah, actually that's what I have been thinking" so I asked him what he wanted to do and he suggested making me dinner so I told him that might be fun (despite what I had insisted on to Susan) and he told me "Think about what you want and let's get specific tomorrow" so I wrote "Yes sir. Talk tomorrow." because it was midnight and I was trying to go to bed. He kept writing little things back like "how does that sound" so I confirmed again and ignored the last text. Apparently I should have stayed awake a little bit longer because about 20 minutes later he texted "I've been thinking about you lately" which I didn't find until the morning. Uh oh. This would have been much better received 2.5 months ago. When I was seeing LPC because I would have dumped his ass in a second. But it's not and I'm so not jeopardizing anything with Ian for Eric. But I do want to be friends with Eric so I still totally want to get together and catch up. This may get interesting.

Monday 10/15, At home I cleaned a ton, ate dinner, watched some tv, thought about Ian and talked to Susan. I called Ian after 11 and had a whole list of things to cover and he said I am a breath of fresh air and he doesn’t know if it’s because he’s growing up or because he likes me so much. It was very sweet. We also discussed our amorous status and that I want him to trust me and he said something very flattering and reassuring about who I am as a person so that made me smile. We chatted for a little while longer then hung up and I went to bed.

Sunday 10/14, I woke up at like 10 but I knew Ian wasn't ready to get up so I went back to sleep and woke up at noon. Noon! I was like, "Ok, we HAVE to get up, I'm not staying in bed for my last 4 hours!" We got moving and hopped in the shower together and he let me pull the shade up and have the window open so I could spy on people, he's such a sweetheart. One lady saw us though, so I had to hide after that. We got dressed then asked Ryan which breakfast place he thought was the best so the three of us headed out to the one he suggested. I got a wonderful blue cheese and bacon omelet in which the bacon pieces were huge and juicy. Soo good. We looked at some cat book and pretty much shut the place down as it was like 2:30. When we got back home I sat in one of the chairs in the living room while Ian burned some cds when the topic of Andrea's sort-of bf came up and Ian as my sort-of bf and I told him that if he wanted to refer to himself my bf that I wouldn't have a problem with it. You know, real chalantly. He made some joke like all the girls say that or something, but then said that if he called himself anyone's bf it would be mine. We decided to take a walk since it was so nice out and I knew I'd have to be leaving soon. We took off then went back to grab our cameras and walked around the hood and Ian hasn't ever walked the way we did apparently. We held hands and talked about houses we liked and moving and PDX vs SEA. We talked about the party and Kyla’s cleavage and how I couldn’t stop looking at it so no one can really blame Nick for getting caught on film in the act then he made some comment about how he saw at least a half dozen guys looking at my chest over the course of the day on Saturday and how that jealousy or possessive switch easily gets flipped on. Interesting. I would have never guessed. I didn’t notice a-one though. He’s a guy and apparently notices these things. Back at his place I looked at an Impressionism book he has while he compiled a mix cd for me but was having trouble so I requested a few and it got all filled up. He pulled me onto the floor and we just laid there for a while looking at each other and kissing and holding each other while listening to music. We realized we won't see each other for a few weeks which bummed both of us out, but what can you do? C'est la Vie. Or Siesta la Vie. Either one. I gathered all my stuff, he requested I leave one of the movies I brought down, then walked me down to my car. We took a couple more pictures and hugged and kissed then I took off and he watched me as I left. I called and talked to Mom for a really long time about Ian and kids and parenting and overall happiness and how it relates to having children or not having children and narcissism. It basically made me feel like shit, but she did say something that made me tear up about when I was born, which she's never told me and made me get all emotional. It still didn't make me want to have kids though, in fact it made me realize even more how much the idea makes me nauseous and I would probably claw my eyes out. And I’m not even being dramatic, I seriously couldn’t ever do it. I hit traffic in Tacoma then talked to Susan for a bit then Beth and Jason beeped in and we made plans to hang out on Saturday. I talked to Susan again when I got home, unpacked, uploaded some pics and eventually went to bed.

Saturday 10/13, We woke up around 10 and got ready and headed out to the beautiful sunny day. We drove by a few neighborhood breakfast spots that looked crowded so we just decided to go to Noah’s again and I put in Ratatat and he liked it right away which made me happy since he had expressed some skepticism when I first mentioned the name. We walked in the sunshine and he said if I “walked like that” that he would walk 20 feet in front of me. Ouch! I grabbed a table outside while he went in and ordered and remembered my order from last time almost to a tee. We talked and laughed as we consumed our respective breakfasts. He told me some girl he knew looked like “that girl with the blue necklace” which turned out to be a dog tied to a hydrant. We walked back toward the car, but not the same way we came so we got a little lost but saw some girl run right into a bunch of spider webs so we ducked real low, Vietnam style. We continued to laugh all the way to the car and I kept saying “I’m SURE it’s this street!” and he was like “You can’t claim that on EVERY street!” but I did anyway, and I was finally right when we found it. We drove downtown and parked, went to Whole Foods so I could pick up some moisturizer and got a disturbing call from Mama about G. Dixie. After that we walked over to Everyday Music where I picked up 3 or 4 new cds then we continued on, walking toward some park he wanted to show me. On the way he took me on a tour of some environmentally conscious building that was rehabbed with some cool techniques and I picked up a hot chocolate before he hit the park with the fountain that would go from nothing to gushing water. We sat in the sun and took our shoes and socks off and put our feet in the water. He was embarrassed about the toenails on one of his feet but I promised not to look. We saw a really cranky looking guy who might have been homeless but appeared to have just purchased some items from REI. We tried to watch the stand up video again but it wouldn’t work, then he told me about some disease that makes your body twist all up involuntarily. It was nearing 3:30 (time we needed to be back at the car) so we headed toward the “POST” stop and rode it back to “Cooch” St. We went back to his house where we made plans with Ryan for later that night for dinner, movie and party at Kyla’s. We decided to go on a walk to the nature preserve or whatever and both found walking sticks but ended up switching as we picked up sticks better suited for the other than for ourselves. He took me into the woods where we went by this huge, creepy mausoleum and eventually ended up at a pond where we took pictures and sat enjoying the sunset for a little while. On our way back Ian almost stepped on a snake then I saw it and it freaked me out because I almost stepped on it too, then saw a little tiny brown frog, walked back to his house passing the dead rose with the face and busted ass to get ready. We were supposed to be downtown to eat and for the movie, but still hadn’t heard from Nick and Lauren, but went anyway. I got all cute for Kyla’s party because I wanted to make a good impression and didn’t want to look bad in general. We parked and bought tickets for a later show as they were selling out quickly, then went over to the Virginia something for cheap burgers with tots. We talked about where Ryan’s from and I think I told a story that wasn’t very good. Ian kept his hand on my leg as we ate dinner. We headed over to the theater and Ryan and I left Ian outside to find N & L and we got seats. Even though we were like 20 minutes early the theater was packed and we had to sit fairly close to the front but not too bad. We all LOVED Darjeeling Limited and Ian and I held hands through the whole thing. One part made me cry but it was more that I was thinking about Grandpa Smittey than anything. I mean it was obviously a very sad part and the cinematography was beautiful, but I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the whole thing. We all walked back toward the cars and as we were standing waiting for the light to change to cross, Nick asked if Ryan and myself were going to the party as well and when Ian was like “Duh!” I sidestepped behind the telephone poll, like “No way, I’m outta here, and don’t tell Ian” and N was like “There she went! Where is she going? She just took off across the street!” and Ian was totally baffled and looking and waiting for me to reappear across the street somewhere but I was behind the poll right behind him and I started laughing so hard along with everyone else. Ian was like “Shut uuup!” and like “I was like “What a bitch!”” HahaHAAA. Sucka. We all went to Kyla’s for her housewarming kegger and it was rockin when we got there, had introductions and it was a little intimidating but everyone was really nice. N and L showed up and the four of us (N, L, Ryan and me) ended up hanging in the kitchen for most of the night laughing and joking and taking pictures and making fun of girls eating corndogs. Ian did a keg stand and was disappointed that none of us were there to watch, then was back in and Kyla was doing introductions to Gabby and she was like “This is Ian and this is his…friend…Karrah from Seattle” and I was like “How diplomatic of you Kyla!” and she was like “Fuck it, this is his GIRLFRIEND Karrah” and I just laughed nervously. A little later on, still in our kitchen nook, we started talking about some commercial and I suggested the grandma must have been on a break and Kyla lost it, she was laughing so hard and totally gave me a high-five. We ended up outside to watch Danny do a keg stand but then N and Kyla got into it so they went to make up and Ian took a picture but N is totally looking at K’s boobs in it. Christ though, I couldn’t stop looking at them either. I think everyone was preoccupied. She was like “I know, I’m like “I’m up here!”” and pointing to her face, so that made me laugh. Pretty soon Ian was getting a bit drunk and there were announcements of a dance off in the living room between Ian and Kyla so we all gathered around as the furniture was moved and it was kicked off. Ian narrated as he did it and cracked me up with the “Cleaning the Gutters” move. So it goes back and forth two times then Kyla pulls all the stops out with the corndog and some really suggestive moves so Ian grabs a pillow, throws it on the floor, licks his fingers (inspired by Darjeeling Limited apparently) and throws himself onto the floor as he pretends to have sex with the pillow and use his fingers to, you know. I was so mortified I looked away while covering my face. The crowd judged and Ian won by a landslide. One meathead was like “That was genius!” It was pretty hilarious. Then Nick got out there and had some hilarious moves that I believe were caught on video. Eventually Ian and I were sitting on the couch talking and snuggling and I would glance over in N and L’s direction every once in a while and I felt like N was always kind of looking at me. Maybe I’m paranoid or full of myself, but it happened quite a few times that evening. Whatevs, I’m not worried. The night was winding down and we decided to go and as I was saying bye to Kyla she gave me multiple hugs and a pep talk about Ian and exes and to let her know if I ever wanted to talk because she understood and has been there. Ian tried to come over and she was like “No, uh uh, leave, we’re talking!” haHA, snap. We went home and talked in bed about Kyla and N and L and how they took him aside and he wanted to make sure I’d enjoyed myself and that I hadn’t felt weird. So that was good, then I totally got off and I didn’t even expect to.

Friday 10/12, Peggy let me leave at 3:30 so I rushed home, showered, grabbed my stuff and headed out. It took me forever (like 3hrs 50min) and Ian called me right as I was pulling up to find out where I was because "everyone" was wagering. That made me nervous, who the hell is there?! Turns out it was only Nick and Ryan, phew. He told me to hurry up and get my ass up there as he watched me from the porch. I went up the stairs and gave him a hug and we just held each other and breathed one another in. It was nice. I met Nick who was helping himself to beer in the fridge and I found him to be quite good looking and very funny. They were all drinking and Ian was all smiley and kept saying hi and giving me googly eyes, which I ate up with a spoon. We all sat in the living room talking and listening to music which was fun but I didn't really know what to do with his friends when he would leave the room. Try and make awkward traffic related conversation I guess. Actually Nick used to work in Seattle or something and lived with his sister in Federal Way. Anyway, we all just sat around talking until it was time for Nick to go pick Lauren up so then it was the three of us but Nick and Lauren were back soon so then it was the five of us looking at the scary pictures the boys had taken of themselves earlier in the evening. I talked to Lauren a bit and eventually everyone cleared out and it was just the two of us. Ian put the couch down and we laid there for a long time talking about drugs and I was quite relieved to learn his stance and what he’d done earlier that night. It made me feel special but at the same time I told him that I don’t expect him to adopt my stance. It’s just not realistic. I told him about exes and my experience and siblings and other things. We kissed and snuggled though I was careful to avoid any quick jabbing motions toward his pelvis. We started getting ready for bed because we were both tired and he had a headache but as I was getting ready he turned on a Cate Blanchett interview and we watched that for a little while. We ended up in bed talking some more and trying to watch some standup comic he liked until about 12:30.

Thursday 10/11, Well well well, just as I purge LPC's messages the night before guess who writes to me while I'm at work. I forwarded to Susan and Kay-See and Susan was angry and like "Who cares?!" in response to his updates. Anyway, I eventually wrote him back right before leaving work and by the time I got home I had a nice long message waiting for me. He's trying to butter me up but I'm not even slightly interested. I wrote Ian telling him how much I like him and how LPC's message just made me realize it even more. He said the feeling is mutual which makes me happy. I texted Michael and Richie about Neighbs and Michael responded that he might go, but I got the impression that that meant no. No response from Richie which is very odd. I talked to Susan on the phone when I got home and updated her on the LPC status and she's angrier than ever! Ha, yeah, so I tried to get some chores and packing done. I hand washed a bunch of stuff and utilized my bathroom sink, the bathroom sink in the other bath as well as the bathtub. There were clothes being washed everywhere! Alix showed up a little after 8 and we set out for the mall in search of earrings and a "hair piece" ie a hair clip. We were successful with the earrings but the clip? Not so much. We found something that will do, but it's not ideal. We called Kassie for suggestions and she came up fairly empty so she's just going to have to make it work. We left right as the mall was closing and I called Susan to give her an update of my status, showered and started getting ready at home, chatted with Ian for about 3 minutes on messenger and rolled out a little before 11. I picked Susan up at the bus stop and we drove around while I tried to commit to a parking space. I gave her the bracelet I got her in GC and I think she liked it, probably because it's got a lot of red. We walked over to Neighbours while I cat called a boy on a skateboard and Susan attempted to shush me. It didn't work. We went right upstairs when we got there and noticed all the bald guys with black shirts as always then went downstairs to dance to a song when she spotted A. We went over to say hi then hit the floor. There were some super spastic people dancing and also that one gay guy we hate making out with some midget, then there were the oompa loompas dancing next to us as well. Straw Hat was there and Susan wished she'd brought her camera to take a picture, because it truly is something you have to see and cannot be described. Tye was there and snuck up on me and did this thing with his fingers on my back which scared the shit out of me. I did it to Susan and she liked it so I did it again. Tye even gave me a kiss on the cheek, uh oh, he's getting awfully brazen! A lurked around here and there and sporadically came over to dance / chat by us but Susan usually shooed him away pretty quickly while he would mumble "I can't dance with people anyway" and skulk away. Teal and a friend (Robert I think...?) showed up and were dancing by us and we were having fun and he liked the guy dancing in the cage and I told him he was all his and I wouldn't fight him. I <3 Teal so much, he's just so damn cute. The Prince show got underway and we kept to the back by Susan's "Probably Gay" bf. I saw a cute guy go by us but who knows if he's gay or not as well. I didn't stay too late and left around 12:45 because I was tired and going to try to get up early the next day. I passed the cute guy out in the alley and he was smoking, boo! It was a funner night than two weeks ago so that's good. I contemplated calling Eric but didn't. Why do I still feel like I have things I want to say to him? Why do I still care? Why do I feel this way about him and none of my other "exes"?

Wednesday 10/10, After work I did a couple things around the house then headed out to Sos' to make dinner and watch ANTM. We started right into making the curry when I got there and she was super skeptical about the curry part of it but by the time it was simmering away she was whistling a different tune. We both ate a ton and talked and watched tv. Even Jake joined in on some of it between his opening presents and going outside to smoke. We talked all sorts of smack about the girls and couldn't believe Victoria's foul mouth. Sos boxed some leftovers up for me and I took off shortly after 9. The Fujiya and Miyagi show was going on and Susan had expressed a slight interest in seeing them if I could get it up, but it turns out I couldn't. We talked on the phone for a while as I played on the internet and going through old myspace messages and deleting the final ones from LPC as well as other junk. Went to bed kind of early I guess.

Tuesday 10/9, I fed J when I got home and I'm pretty sure he's got a tape worm or something because he eats his food so fast and always acts like he's still hungry and is still breaking into the cupboard where his food used to be. He's got a vet appt to confirm whether or not I've had two pets all along for the price of one. I showered and headed out the door to my wax appointment on Capitol Hill. She was running a bit late, but it was finally my turn and after she did one strip in my first arm pit I wanted to turn back, like "Ok, I can say I've tried it but please stop!" but I kept my mouth shut and winced through the pain. The bikini was painful too, but damn, my armpits still hurt. I headed to Kay-See's afterward for dinner and catching up since I hadn't seen her for seriously, like 3 weeks...or more. Since the spider incident. We got right down to business and she already had most of dinner going so it left us with plenty of time to gab and catch up with boy stuff and parent stuff and vacation stuff and pole dancing stuff and island boy stuff and more non-island boy stuff. I told her how fantastic she is and to never doubt it and we hugged it out then ate. We each had an ice cream bar, talked a bit more then took off for our respective destinations. I called Chrystol back because she had called minutes earlier and I filled her in on everything and talked to her all the way home then made plans for ANTM next week, wahoo! A girl's night, which is fantastic because I can finally HAVE a girl's night. Hopefully attending will be Chrystol, Kay-See, Susan and Sos...and me. Jacques will be severely outnumbered. Anyway, I then called Susan and started corresponding with Ian via messenger and he told me I am "sooo pretty" which made me smile and we firmed up plans for Friday a little more. I went to bed not too much later after reading a little.

Monday 10/8, I had a facial at 5:30 so I headed straight down to RED and was greeted with a hug by Megan. Got all situated and she noticed how great my skin looks after being on vacation and in the sun and salt water so I'm going to try some new techniques and hope they have the same wonderful impact here. My facial went well and I headed home afterward, calling Alix on the way to relay what Tiffany had told me about a hair clip and we made plans to go shop on Thursday. I ate some leftovers when I got home and fed Jacques a special dinner and sat on the floor of my living room eating mine while watching WoF and Kid's Jeopardy. I went up to my room eventually and relaxed taking breaks from my blogging to read various Martha Stewart articles on receptions and analyzing the latest and greatest in this season's bridal wear. Went to bed a little early I think.

Sunday 10/7, I woke up at 8:30 and allowed myself to be lazy for a while and ate some breakfast while talking to Susan. I eventually got up, showered, talked to Sos, grocery shopped, cleaned a little then headed over to Jake and Sos' to attend Salmon Days. She liked her little necklace thing I got her then we hit the booths in search of lunch and interesting trinkets. We all got corndogs and a huge square of fries for lunch. For dessert I got an apple dumpling that was so fucking good it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Then Sos and Jake got one because they liked mine so much. We wandered around laughing and talking and commenting that in 30 years Sos will be wearing the "All you need is lab" shirt and hoisting a huge salmon around on her shoulders. It was a good way to get back into being at home since I was feeling a bit depressed being back. I almost started crying sitting at a light on the way over to their house but told myself to pull it together. As we were heading back it started raining so I said bye and walked back to my car. I talked to Dad and Mom and updated them on everything. I was cold when I got home so I turned on my tv and snuggled up in my bed and let myself fall asleep for about 20 minutes then forced myself up and took care of some minor chores. I then watched Closer and looked at my new Martha Stewart Weddings. I took off around 6 to pick Grandma up for dinner and I told her about our trip and how K's doing. We had a nice dinner and I filled everyone in on the highlights of our trip. Grandma and I stayed for quite a while talking with everyone and enjoying the various desserts Mom had assembled. I took Grandma home and headed back myself, talked to Susan then to Ian who informed me that the Extreme Home Makeover that was on (the Corvallis one) was indeed the one he designed the shirt for. He said that he could go 4 days without talking about me because of how much he talked about me to his family which made me giddy. He said his grandma asked him a lot of questions about me and that he hoped it didn't freak me out and I told him it definitely didn't and that it made me smile. He was out with friends and being "rude" so I didn't keep him, but he suggested we get together again soon and we hung up. I watched my shows and was glad Susan gave me a recap so I could watch Desperate Housewives. I think I finished uploading some pictures to myspace and went to bed.

Saturday 10/6, The alarm had us up at 8:30 and I vaguely remembered Lee calling in the middle of the night to make sure we made it home. I'm not sure if we talked about anything else or not, but I will assume we did and hope one day to learn what that conversation entailed. I got up and had some breakfast then got K moving. We were ready, packed and checked out by about 9:30. We had a while before we needed to be at the airport so we went to Cafe del Sol and got some lemon bars for the plane and K ate a bagel. It was raining and we were glad Friday's weather was as nice as it was and felt like we went out with a bang. We put some gas in the car, returned it to the rental place without incident, got checked in with a bit of hassling at the security checkpoint and waited at our gate for a while. It was a somewhat long wait but we looked at our pictures and talked about the trip so it went by pretty quickly. We boarded the plane and K slept for a good part of it all sprawled out on me and everywhere else so I used her as a desk. We made it to ATL in under two hours, crazy! We got through immigration and customs and made it to our terminal. Mom called and I asked her if she could pick me up later that night then we walked around a bunch. K got some tea and the lid to the cream came off right into her cup so she got a new one while I laughed hysterically. We settled ourselves by my gate since I was leaving first and I called Ian, then Susan, then Ian beeped in so I asked S if I could call her back. I chatted with him for a few minutes and verified that he was feeling ok and not dying then called S back and chatted for a few minutes. K and I sat on the floor for a long time and I updated my journal and K talked to Skylar about the trip. It was time for me to board so K and I said bye and it was really hard leaving...it makes me sad she moved to CA because we had so much fun and I just miss having her around. I found my seat and luckily there was no one between me and the guy in the window seat. I mostly updated my journal during the 4 hour flight while I watched tv. I watched the Office, some home decorating show, some other Chuck show or something then SNL. It was cool being able to watch "real" tv and not just pre recorded shows. We got in about 40 minutes early which was awesome but then the luggage took a while to arrive. Mom picked me up and I told her all about the trip on our way back to my house. My house smelled so bad when I got home, which I'm guessing is due to a couple of factors including my cat still getting into his food when no one is there and not having taken out the trash before I left. Yuck, my sense of smell was still way off and I could smell that shit. Nasty. Luckily my door had been shut so I barricaded myself in there until I could clean the next day. I turned SNL on but fell asleep about 15 minutes into it, but that was ok because I'd already seen the rest of it on the plane. Nice!

Friday 10/5, I woke up at 8:30 and started puttering around and woke K about 20 minutes later since we wanted to make the most of our last day. As a bonus it was beautiful and the sun was out. We were out by 10 and on our way down to the market for some last gift items. We stopped at one center first but it was closed so we checked into some more shops and found one where we cleaned up. We got back in the car and headed to the market to see Lee but found his stand empty when we arrived. We got smoothies at the jail house and called him from a pay phone. He took the day off and said he would take us out again and would meet us at 7 Mile Beach in an hour or so. K and I headed back to the car and saw DJ drive past and was hanging out the window of his car and yelling to be careful. We went down to Calico Jack’s and quickly made it into the water. We swam around and talked sex and anatomy again and laughed and floated and watched a group of about 9 Aussies set up a volley ball net. K was jumping up and down and one of her boobs flew out and her face was HILARIOUS and we both laughed so loud for about 5 minutes and joked one of the old guys got it on video. Everyone was looking at us we were laughing so loud. We got out and soaked up some sun and before too long Lee walked up and we made arrangements to go out on the boat in an hour and a half. He left, we stayed for about 15 more minutes, rinsed off and headed to Eats Café but were fairly disappointed that it was more “greasy spoon” than fresh café fare. We made quick work of lunch, hit the liquor store and got a couple 6 packs of beer for Lee. We got back to the room and all ready for him to give us the call. We started packing up our stuff, got the call, then headed down and waited by the dock. He pulled up with a new friend, Anwar, who was this adorable black kid that I’m pissed neither of us got a picture of. We all loaded up and commented how much nicer it was weather wise and how clear the water was. I sat in the back with Lee to avoid bruising my ass anymore than it already was. The ride out was good and we laughed about the ocean bottom weeds and how Lee would be out there everyday with his rake if you could smoke it. Everyone was out of the boat quickly, except me, but it only took me about 5 minutes this time. Anwar was on the side away from the sting rays so I asked if the coast was clear and he helped me out. We started talking and he was such a sweet kid, and it was so funny, we were talking about sting rays and he said they’re probably used to being stepped on and I was like “Oh, so they wouldn’t sting me if I stepped on them?” and he’s like “Oh no, they probably would” which made me laugh out loud. We talked about how he has dual citizenship, was in the Marines and is now a fire fighter. Eventually the other 2 came over and we just ended up spending hours out there with the sting rays and floating in the water and talking and laughing. Lee told us about his fucked up childhood and hid deceased siblings and his stint in jail and subsequent release because he was innocent and family drug use. It was incredibly sad and you know it’s not an isolated case. It’s pretty common. We talked about fun stuff too, like the big eel and how famous he is and how he gets all the girls and has a real nice pad. Also that the sting rays are always wondering what’s on the menu and are sad when it’s calamari again. We told Lee we went to the market the day before and had seen some guy working his stand and he was like “Was he missing teeth?” and I was like “I don’t know, I didn’t ask him to smile!” and we all cracked up. We discussed “Botti Boys” and how we’d have to pick him up quick from the airport so he wouldn’t get attacked. Soitgoyaknow? He kept reciting Bible verses and K set him straight real quick (“Ok, we’ll deave dat one alone!”) but the synagogue reference was ok with her. We were having a ball and didn’t want to leave but we were getting so pruney that we finally started packing up. K and L got in the boat and I was like “Great, this is the worst part of the trip” and I think Anwar took that to mean that he should attempt to help me, so he’s got his hands on my hips, like that’s going to help move my big ass, and I jump up and went ass over teakettle once again. At least everyone found it to be very entertaining. It was a pretty quick ride back and we were sad to leave the sand bar. Back on the dock we all got out and sat there, L finishing the beers because apparently they can’t get warm, and the 3 of them smoking and Anwar turning his head and laughing at our jokes and Jamaican accents. We sat there forever and I took Lee up to the room to use the bathroom and on the way back down he said he knows you’re never supposed to ask a lady her age but was curious how old we were so I made him guess who was older and of course he said K and that he thought I was 23 at the oldest. Then Anwar asked what we were talking about and made him guess and he guessed K too and at this point it’s just hilarious. We were all hungry so the boys took off and I ate some fruit and cheese and K wanted to get something else so I threw some clothes on and we went back to Cimboco and she got some veggies and summer squash risotto that was delicious. For dessert she wanted that cream cheese brownie again. We headed home and I started getting ready for the evening because Lee was taking us to Pepper’s. We got all ponced up and Lee called and insisted on coming by the hotel to meet us. We went to meet him but I forgot my gum so I ran back up and locked the doors and headed back down and spotted this nice BMW parked out front. As I walked to K I heard Lee call my name so we walked over and decided we would follow them but we couldn’t figure out who was in the car with him and thought it might be a girl, but we should have known better. We pulled up at Pepper’s and got out of the car to an extremely drunk Lee. Whoever was driving was staying put, so I poked my head down and asked Lee who it was and I thought he said Raleigh, but really it was Bradley. He finally got out of his pimpin ride from counting his money and we did proper introductions. His phone kept blowin up so K asked if he was doing a little somethin on the side, but Lee said no. I don’t know if I believe him. His day job however is spent as a fire fighter. So that’s 2 fire fighters in one day. We sat in the lot for a while as Lee introduced us to a few of his friends or acquaintances that were showing up. We eventually got in Bradley’s car to drive around, first it was over to “6” but we kept driving and ended up just bumpin and cruising. We stopped at some fish fry because B knew some guy who was also a fire fighter. I don’t remember his name but it turns out there’s a Cayman Island fire fighter calendar in the works and I am SO all about it. B is April, Anwar is June and the other guy is January. I told B I want an autographed copy. Lee hadn’t eaten all day so we went to A La Kebab and bumped the stereo and passed the J around as a security guard just stood there and didn’t even care. All these people were moving their heads to B’s stereo. K thinks that’s how they mark their territory. We took off again and just drove around and we were pretty sure Bradley hated us; he wasn’t talking to us at all and anytime we said something he didn’t seem to even have a reaction. We ended up in the Foster’s Food Fair and 6 parking lot and just sat there for a long time on the sidewalk and I tried to break down the walls so I sat next to Bradley on the curb and started asking him questions and he went to school in TX and the car he had and some other stuff then K got her gangsta lean on. We eventually made our way up and again, B kept his distance, but when we got up these stairs the cover was CI $15 and that’s nuts so K and I refused so they took us back to Peppers where the cover was CI$10 and they took $20 US for both K and I. Oh snap! We went up and looked around and hung out and half way danced with B taking off and showing up randomly and Lee sticking close but giving us space. We moved closer to the floor and I was dancing behind B but he didn’t know but L looked over and like grabbed my hand and put it on his shoulder but I quickly withdrew because I didn’t want him to know, I was just trying to be funny. Besides B hates us. Most of the songs, like 90% are about Botti Boys and one song was like “penis goes in the vagina, not with the penis and not in the anus” Ahh, great. Some guy behind me was like “It’s cool if we party” and I had to ask him to repeat a couple times and finally he clarified that he was asking if it was ok if he danced with me but I was like “No, I’m dancing with him” and pointed to B, who wasn’t even facing me and had no idea I was even dancing with him. I thought this was hilarious. K was worried and like “Lee, Lee!” and Lee shot the guy a really dirty look. Adorable! It was almost 2 so K and I decided we should make our way out and by this time B had turned to the side and we were standing next to each other arm to arm and I started to shimmy and he like wouldn’t even look over but finally did as I got more brazen and said to me “If you want to dance with me all you have to do is ask.” I was like “Buhhhh…uh…duh” but managed to get out “I was just trying to get a reaction out of you” but like did he see me as all aggressive and predatory and how I generally see guys? Not sure. Anyway, he’s like “I don’t talk much but I hear everything” then asked me if I understood what he said (because K and I couldn’t understand ANYTHING that came out of his mouth and we had to ask him to repeat everything like 3 times) and I told him yes and repeated it back, then it hit me what he actually said and I was like “Oh shit, what is he referring to?” and what did I say / do to warrant such a comment? He told me to wait there because he was going to go to his car to get more money for drinks but I told him we were going to go and we signaled to Lee so the boys escorted us out and we ran into Michael, ANOTHER f-ing fire fighter of course (Mr. July), in the lot and I told him I wanted his autograph too. K took a picture of M, B and me and was like “Pretend you’re putting out a fire with a big hose” and M and me are totally doing it and it’s hilarious. M left and we started saying bye to the boys and got hugs from both B and Lee and B asked if we had Lee’s info and not to forget him. I didn’t want to go home at all but we had a big day coming up and thought it best. We bid the boys farewell and went home laughing and reminiscing already about how much fun we’d had. We got ready for bed, packed a few more things and hit the sack around 2:30.

Thursday 10/4, We woke up pretty late and it was the day Lee was going to take us out to Sting Ray City. When I woke up my neck was hurting more than ever so K sat me down on the deck and gave me a thorough and extremely painful massage for about 40 minutes concentrating only on my neck and shoulder on the right side. By the end of it though my mobility had improved 100% and she showed me how to keep improving it on my own. We went to the craft market after K talked to Lee, who said he was off at 1:00 and going to take us. We parked right in front of the mall and looked at a souvenir shop that had some sting ray earrings that I loved and some other stuff I ended up keeping in mind for gifts. We went into the market and noticed Lee’s stand, which was manned by some other guy. I bought some salt, a bracelet and a whole bunch of other stuff for people. It was so hot and we were in a hurry to get back because Lee was supposed to pick us up in an hour and a half from when K called him, but we stopped at the English Bakery and we were thoroughly not impressed with their stuff then went home and waited and waited. It was getting late and we still didn’t hear from him and K was over it but he finally called. We wrote a note to the maids detailing where we were and who we were with and we went out, didn’t see him, so called again and he promised he was out there so we went down and found him and he introduced us to his friend DJ (looked like Snoop). K and I said we would sit up front and it was so bumpy so we put a towel under our butts to cushion a little bit but it barely helped. We chatted on our way out there but it was so bumpy my ass was killing me. We started coming into view and could see all the sting rays in the water and I started getting nervous. There was another boat out there but as soon as we arrived they started coming over to us. Lee was outta da boat in a flash and jumped in wit dem sting rays and they were all over him and K was in quickly as well, though rather apprehensive and skittish. DJ kept me company in the boat while I got my bearings. Eventually DJ jumped in and was like “We’re not friends!” because he’s scared of them too. K and L were badgering me to get in so I asked DJ if there were any under the boat, he said no so I jumped in. I stayed on the other side with DJ for a while and some would come around but mostly they were sticking to K and L’s sides because he had brought a bunch of squid and they were feeding them. He was showing K how to do it and she squealed the first time because they suck the food out of your hand. I ventured over and kept K in a death grip and told her not to let go. I was so tense as they would brush against me and go over my feet. Lee just laughed and laughed and told me to settle down and relax because they weren’t going to do anything and he’s been doing it since he was a little boy. Being a big boy at 22 that’s a lotta time wit da sting rays. He held some so we could examine them up close and could pet them, it was so awesome and crazy and wonderful. Even though I’m still terrified of them. The other boat left and Lee asked K if she smoked and she said “Not cigarettes” which he thought was hilarious, so that went on for a while. We talked about Guillaume and “My Fadda da big lobstah boss a da island” and L and DJ were cracking up but especially Lee. He couldn’t get enough and kept asking us to do it because he couldn’t get “Fadda” down. We sat out there for a while just hanging with the sting rays and talking and laughing. We decided to pack up because there were some seriously ominous clouds lingering. I attempted to hoist myself into the boat but ended up pulling more of an “ass over teakettle” maneuver. I compared myself to a whale and Lee exclaimed “Free Willy” and I agreed but pointed out that Willy did it a bit more gracefully. K and I took our positions at the front of the boat again and it wasn’t long before it started pissing rain and all of us were soaking and bein pelted with rain coming in at an angle. DJ was driving and was making me nervous because he wasn’t steering toward land and I started getting a weird feeling in my stomach about the whole thing especially since Lee kept telling him to turn landward and he wasn’t complying. You couldn’t even see the island and Lee said we didn’t want to get lost in a storm like that…so finally Lee kicked him out of the driver’s seat and took over. Thank goodness. We were finally headed the right way back and the rain finally stopped and Lee saw a great photo op so he snapped a few then dropped us at the dock. Apparently they hung out for an hour and a half or something after we left. We, however, went back to the room and gabbed about how cool it was and how it was the highlight of the trip. K wanted to do it again the next day. We showered and got dressed up for my birthday dinner. We went to the Wharf and had a fantastic dinner with a great goat cheese, asparagus and chicken appetizer then I had the organic jerk pork chop with apples on a bed of veggies. I ate all of it and it was so good. For dessert K got some coconut berry something and I got an apple puff pastry thing with a ton of fresh fruit. The bill ended up coming to $135 and shocked both of us. Yikes. We chatted with our waiter who guessed K was older and why he moved to GC. We paid and headed home and K went up to the room while I went in to check myspace. Ian wrote me back and I was trying to write him back when this Bostonian was trying to strike up a convo with me (what is it with the Boston guys in the tropics?!). I finally got my message sent and quickly wrote to Susan then logged off. I told the old guy good night and he was all “Won’t you join me in the bah?” and when I said I had to get back to my sister he asked if I had to baby-sit. I told him I might but had no intention of following through. He was like 40. I rushed back up to the room and found K on the phone with Phil again. She kind of rolled her eyes and wrapped it up quickly. She decided she didn’t want to go back out so we cozied into bed and watched tv until going to sleep relatively early at midnight.

Wednesday 10/3, I woke up first like usual and watched some Price Is Right and ate breakfast then woke K up so we could get going. We were going to head to the N. Side to check out the little art / gift shop up there. We hit the road trying a new route and stopped at a nursery that had a tea room and K insisted on stopping. I was beginning to feel even sicker and all congested. We both quickly realized that we hadn’t grabbed any money out of the safe so we got back in the car and headed back. We stopped to try a new bakery but they didn’t have baguette so we went to old faithful Iona or whatever and picked one up. We grabbed our money and headed out again. We made it up to the N. Side and stopped at the little shop but it was closed so we just headed to Rum Point to lay out. The weather was kind of shitty but we picked front row seats anyway and tried to get some color. My nose wouldn’t stop running so after making some good headway through an issue of Bust I got in the water so I could blow my nose. K was asleep (of course) so I went alone. I went to the bathrooms after about 10 minutes for some tissue and when I got back K was about to get in the water and thought I was still out there with a group of people. She was a little out of it. We got in and soon noticed an insane ruckus on the shore and it turns out there were a whole bunch of fish feeding on the little minnows that were hovering there and these bigger fish were thrashing around and corralling them and eating them. Everyone was gathered on the shore watching and taking pictures and K and I got hit in the feet and ankles a few times by the bigger ones as they threw themselves onto the shore. K tried to grab a couple and some guy was like “Get em!” which I think is hilarious. The fish eventually settled down and we laid there for another 10 minutes or so then took off because it was like 4 or something. We drove back, stopping at Chester’s to check it out and ended up stopping at Chicken Chicken for a late lunch / early dinner instead. The meal was really good and I finished almost all of it. We went and gassed up and I vowed to myself to rip some guy’s head off if he talked to me, but he didn’t. Some guy in a jeep came on to Kassie in a totally obvious way but she blew him off. We went to the store for some fruit, meds for me and more water and K got a calling card so she could call Skylar so we went to the pay phone by the movie theater and K talked for a while then called Mom to see if she had Phil’s number (she didn’t) then passed the phone onto me because Dad wanted to tell me what Rich A. had said about Ian needing to see a doctor and insisted I call him. We went back to the pad and laid around and tried to figure out how to get a hold of Philip when it dawned on us that the resort has a business center and we could try to look him up on the net. We got dressed and headed down, googled him and found some crazy financial shiz but no contact info so we got on myspace and sure as shit there he was. I wrote to Ian then K wrote to Phil and gave him the resort # and her cell. Back at the room we were watching tv when K’s phone rang and it was totally Phil and it turns out he lives in Nevis not GC so him an K talked for a while and he made sure she had her story straight, which weirded her out a bit. She debriefed me and we kept watching tv. I think that’s all we did for the rest of the night.

Tuesday 10/2, I woke up first and was watching tv in the living room and eating some breakfast when the phone rang and it was one of the guys from the front desk asking when we wanted our tour but I told him K was still sleeping and I couldn’t make any decisions without her. He said he would call back so we vowed to not answer the phone. I woke K up and told her and pretty soon we were moving. We headed into Georgetown to do some shopping and noticed 2 cruise ships in the bay – damn! We parked anyway and went to the craft market where we admired the goods and I bought a turtle soap dish from Lee (“like Bruce Lee, but without the karate”). He approached us after chatting a while and asked if we would want to go on his brother’s boat to Sting Ray City and he would give us his # since asking for ours would be “awkward”. We got his info then met his little friend and he told us where to go to access 7 Mile Beach and some beachside food. We continued walking and looking in shops and stopped in the Parfumerie where we perused for a long time and it was making my nose go crazy. I suggested K try Jean Paul Gaultier’s “Classique” limited edition summer fragrance and it ended up being both of our favorites and she ended up buying it. We continued walking and stopped so Kassie could get a smoothie, walked some more then turned around and headed back to the car. We drove north to the Grape Vine where Lee told us there were multiple places to find beach access. We found one, parked and walked down the beach to be away from the other people. We jumped in the water and swam around for a while and talked about sex techniques and laughed because we couldn’t see each other’s pelvises. We ended up back on our towels and laid there for maybe 45 minutes then packed up because I was hungry. We brushed ourselves off in the parking lot then took off for the next public beach down. We went to get out of the car but my shoes weren’t there, and I instantly realized they were probably back at the park so we drove back and there they were so I had K drive up to them so I didn’t even have to get out. I picked them up and exclaimed that it looked like someone ran over them, then realized it was probably her and we sat there laughing for a minute. Back down to the other beach for some lunch at Calico Jack’s. We asked the waitress if she knew Phil J from Whistler but she didn’t. Lunch was decent but overpriced. K went back the car to get the towels but was gone so long I headed down and of course some island fellow had intercepted her. I grabbed my stuff and headed down to the beach…with Michael in tow. We chatted with him for a while but I just wasn’t interested (nutty nutty cream!) so I went to get in the water and K came too so M told us not to leave and that he’d be back. We took that opportunity to snap some pics and laugh and cover ourselves with sand. M came back with his cousin Junior, who had said hello to me earlier while we were eating but I thought he worked there so…yeah…Junior wouldn’t stop staring at my boobs and was an interesting character. We made him guess our ages and who was older (like everyone we met) and he was wrong. Everything was super exaggerated like about Kali’s and everything on E, his pound of weed a day habit and “dem Beatle boys”. We all talked for a long time and M told K to give him her contact info so we could “receive” him when he comes to Seattle. Um, no. K, M and me all got in and were swimming around and J was left out so of course he had to get in on the fun. We got out and started to leave and J said something into K’s ear that he was a freak or something and K told him she didn’t appreciate and that he wouldn’t be whispering anything else in her ear. We told them we would be checking out Next Level that evening and that maybe we’d see them there. But hoped we wouldn’t. We went to the English bakery in Georgetown but it was closed and K almost ran over this old lady like 3 times. We went to Café del Sol by the movie theater and both got lemon bars. This guy was dancing in line and winked at me when I looked at him then every time we glanced over he would like smirk and K called him my bf. His friend was way cuter. Back at home we hung out, showered and moisturized while watching tv. We were going to go out to dinner and dancing and had picked Chicken Chicken but when we pulled up it was more fast foody for what we were dressed for so we got back in the car and went to Ragazzi and all eyes were on us when we walked in then the hostess felt K’s butt because she loved her pants. We were served some delicious bread and our meals were up in no time. I got basil and pesto gnocchi and K got a delicious rosemary chicken with potato and goat cheese pizza. We ate off each other’s plates and finished about ½ and had our Italian waiter box up the rest. We asked him q’s about how he ended up in GC. He took some pics of us then we left. I quickly realized we left the food but K refused to turn around. We went down to the public beach so K could, you know, and I studied the map then we took off down the strip. We parked by Aqua Bar and Next Level since they’re right next to each other and went into AB since it appeared there were a TON of guys in there, and oh were there ever. Some cute, some not, but it was nice to have those kinds of odds anyway. We sat down so we had a view of the place, ordered waters and asked to hear the desserts. I ordered the peach and blueberry cobbler and K ordered the chocolate brownie and ic. Mine was really good but I didn’t like K’s. We sat and talked since it was still a bit early to head to the night club. I saw a group of 3 guys come in and K was like “No. No. No.” (a no for each one) especially since the last guy was like 5’5”. Of course they sat at the next table over, but we didn’t pay attention because we were watching the Ultimate Fighting match on the 2 big screen tvs. The short guy comes over and asks us about it and if we’re into it. He’s not cute at all and is old, well I’d guess 38 at LEAST. We tell him to guess who’s older but he wouldn’t and gets kind of snarky when K takes the piss because he “didn’t know where CA is”. I just wanted him to go away. His being British wasn’t even helping. His 2 friends came over to say they were ready for more drinks or to go or something and we said we were going so we said bye or whatever and left. The bouncer said we were too hot to pay a cover so we went in and it…was empty. There were seriously about 9 people there including the bartender and inside bouncer. We turned around pretty quickly and headed out just as the British guys were coming in so we went back in and since a good song came on, hit the dance floor and started getting down. He played a couple JT hits so we were really into those and got this other girl on the floor too. We were dancing and laughing so hard that I totally pulled something in my neck or gave myself whiplash or something. K got up on the stripper pole and started working it and I could tell all dem boys were watching. The short one came out and tried to dance or touch while she was on it and she pushed him away with her foot on his chest, Grease style. I laughed so hard. I bad song came on so we went to stand by the guys and they had ordered waters for us and we started chatting. I was talking to the Scotsman and K to the short one and a little to the brown haired one (who was def the cutest). I found out he lives on the island and is an architect and told us the biggest house on the island is a 45,000 square foot mansion. Shit bitch! I think we danced a few more, hit the bathroom and cracked up about K kicking that guy in the chest, then told them we were leaving and took off. It was pouring by the time we got out there so we rushed home, avoided puddles in the parking lot, but both nailed one and headed into our room. It was after 1:00 I think and we pretty much hit the sack.

Monday 10/1, Housekeeping woke me up at 10 which was good because it was time. I ate some breakfast and we got ready and headed out toward the N. Side. We stopped at Willie’s for fresh mango, banana and papaya fruit smoothies and back on the road we kept ourselves occupied gabbing and listening to Electrelane. We tried the public beach on the N. Side but it wasn’t as good so we headed down to the Rum Point beach and there were way fewer people than the day before. We snagged front row seats again and started tanning. I went for a swim while K slept but since it wasn’t all that nice we only stayed about 2 hours then left for “Over the Edge” café for a late lunch. We both got the New Orleans chicken and it was good but no Kali’s chicken. After lunch we decided to circle the East Side and saw some completely insane houses but it was otherwise a fairly uneventful drive. Right as we turned into our complex we spotted this guy in diving gear or something in the bushes peeing and Kassie honked and yelled “I can see it!” which we laughed about for a good 10 minutes. We went home and showered and ended up watching tv for the rest of the night, like Dancing with the Stars and more E than I cared for and read GC mags. I fell asleep and K stayed up watching First 48 or something.

Sunday 9/30, I woke up around 10 and went out on the deck to update this and listened to some Southerners swear up a storm on the course. I ate some cereal then started waking K up since it was almost 11. She woke up pretty easily and started getting ready. We both ended up on the deck again doing our respective things then hit the road to check out the East and North parts of the island. We went into Georgetown to try and find the fruit stand and when they say everything closes on Sundays they meant it. There was like nothing open, including any of the markets. We continued on hoping to find something and finally settled for Haagen Dasz and shared a banana split. Eventually came to the Lighthouse and had a small lunch of salads and garlic bread. We were going to roll out but I had to use the bathroom and discovered I started my period. All over the inside of my brand new white and gold bikini bottoms. Mad was I. We finally made it up to Rum Point and stopped at what Harry told us was a good beach. It was a wee touristy and busy for our taste but we went into the gift shop anyway to see if they had tampons, they did and I picked up postcards. K bought a new swimsuit and we headed to the beach. We grabbed 2 chairs right by the water in the sun. We were both so hot so we jumped in the water and it was so insanely warm. We laid in the sun and I wrote more while K fell asleep. We spotted this hot guy a few chairs down that reminded me of HI Matt. I went in the water again and floated around for a while then back up. We stayed for a few hours talking about Cate Blanchett, clothes, the hot guy and trying to figure out his accent (my guess: Australian). We went for one last swim, dried off for about ½ hour then packed up and headed home. It was about 5:45 and we made it fine and just as the sun was going down. I showered and we busted out the brie and baguette, then trail mix and Wheat Thins. We started watching “Family Jewels” and ended up watching it until 2am.

Saturday 9/29, We landed right at 5:30 and I asked my seat mate if the bottle of Baileys on the floor was his and when he said no I said in a sing song-y voice “I bet I know whose it is!” and he laughed. The Magnum PI story cracked us both up. The terminal was freezing just like I remembered so I stopped at Starbucks for a hot chocolate, waved bye to my friend and started toward Kassie’s gate in the E concourse from A. I walked around for a while scoping things out then sat at her gate, totally empty and a little eerie, and watched the news. She called when she landed but after 5 minutes when no one was deplaning I walked all the way back to the monitors to check I had the right gate, I did, and on my way back K texted that they couldn’t get the door open. After she deplaned we walked around and finally settled with some food items and to stay warm. I looked all over for that strawberry parfait but couldn’t find it. We had a 3 hour layover and spent most of it talking about I and S and finances. We finally headed to our gate and sat in the sun waiting until it was our turn to board. We were sitting by ourselves and both ended up falling asleep. She did for most of the 2 hour flight and me for just a bit of it. The luggage, customs and immigration were a breeze so we got to the rental car place quickly and before a large line could form. We waited a good ½ hour anyway but ended up with not an Atos (like Saint Martin) but a Toyota Yaris (not like the US version) that was so cute and had a cd player. The steering wheel was on the other side because the Cayman Islands are a British dependency so we both knew that would present a challenge. The directions to the resort were piss poor but we managed to find it by process of elimination. We got all checked in and found our condo and it was so much nicer than the one in SM. The view was pretty good too except there was always a group of people on the putting green so we heard lots of interesting conversations. We hung in the room and unpacked, I showered in the cold water then took off to find something to eat and get our bearings. We spotted this café / coffee shop and headed toward it but Kassie drove into a roundabout the wrong way and instantly I was like “Is this right?! Is this right?!” and she was like “SHIT!” and compensated quickly. We were both totally frazzled. She was like “I should have known it was wrong, it felt too natural” as we made it to the café. We shared a jerk chicken and mango crepe and a tomato, mozzarella and basil crepe and both were really good. We packed up and went to the store where we saw the “Nice Papayas” guys again, picked up some bread, cheese, breakfast stuff and a few other items. We unloaded at home and started flipping through the GC tourist info. I got really sleepy and cold so I headed in to read in bed and soon fell asleep. K climbed in too and about 2 hours later I woke up, walked around a little and felt really refreshed. I turned the tv on and kept paging through the materials. I asked K what she wanted to do and she said sleep so I let her for a little while longer but then I started getting hungry so I slowly woke her up and told her I didn’t think we should stay in. I turned on some AWFUL “Pick Up Artist” show as a way to continue waking her up and eventually she did. That dumb show was over so we got ready, looked at various restaurants in our materials, took some hilarious pictures with the Grand Caymanian iguana, asked Harry for some market and restaurant recommendations and headed out to our desired destination. It was called Cimboco and it was in this kind of strip mall with lots of hooligans bumping their stereo systems. We sat outside anyway, because the AC inside was freezing. We had a really good bruschetta for starters then shared a light and simple pasta with olive oil, feta, tomatoes and basil. For dessert we split a cream cheese brownie with ice cream and almost died because it was so good. We decided to explore the N. Side of that part of the island because we didn’t want to go home yet. We found the turtle farm and some ghetto areas but also like one of the biggest beach houses I’ve ever seen. We found our way back without incident and started to get the hang of the map, roads and driving (“long right, short left!”). I continued to read up on GC and turned on SNL and it was finally a new one and some of it was really funny. K fell asleep while I was getting ready for bed and eventually I turned in as well. In the middle of the night she woke up complaining of a splitting headache so I told her she was probably dehydrated and gave her some Ibuprofen. She laid back down but within minutes was in the bathroom puking and apologizing to me. I didn’t know what to do so I just sat up in bed and waited for her to come back. She felt better but still had an awful headache and was moaning. I told her she should smoke a J but she said that never helps her with headaches and fell back asleep pretty easily.

Friday 9/28, Talked to Ian at work and gave him not so good news about health insurance. I rushed home from work and kept packing and doing stuff around the house. Mom wanted to know if I wanted to go to Outback for an early dinner with Grandma. Kassie called on her way down to San Fran and we were gabbing away about Ian and health problems when Mom called to say they were at the restaurant and to head up, so I hung up with her, hopped in the shower, dressed and took off. They were already seated by the time I got there and our waiter was about to take orders and he was so cute and a little awkward. We mostly talked about Ian and his thing and options and Dad said he would call Uncle Josh for some advice and Rick A. Dinner was good and I headed home after, calling Susan on the way and kept packing. I had almost everything ready but clearly was distracted being on the phone. Mom showed up, I ran next door to ask Sue to check on Jacques a few times and we were off. Traffic sucked on 405 so we turned around and I realized I’d forgotten all my cds on the counter so I asked Mom to turn around and we were finally back on track. We talked the whole way, she dropped me, I got my boarding pass, through security with no problems and to my gate. I called Dad and he told me what UJ said so I called Ian and we talked for a while and I still feel awful for him but he’s got some options, so I can’t freak out, especially when he tells me to just assume when I’m on my trip that he’s fine and everything’s fine. I told him I missed him and he told me he missed me. I called Dad back to tell him Ian would not be calling UJ that night and ended up talking to Mom for a while. I called Dad and left a message then tried Court but left a message then Susan one last time to ask her another of many favors she was doing me. I called Alix too to ask the same of her. I finally boarded, sat next to a really nice and funny guy and in front of a loud drunk guy who, even though it was a night flight, talked loudly for about ¾ of the 4.5 hour trip. Thanks drunk white trash guy! Especially since the batteries in my cd player died. Damn. At least I got a little sleep.

Thursday 9/27, Peggy let me leave at 2:30 so I went to get my pictures developed then Mom told me that woman didn’t want to take J so then I started freaking out because it’s Thursday and I leave Friday. I went to the bank to get some cash then over to Target for a few more tank tops and some more mismatched swimsuit pieces. At home I worked on organizing some messages then talked to Susan and continued packing / cleaning. I got a fair amount done, ate some dinner, talked to Ian who is in awful pain, then Sos about J then watched Who’s the Boss and talked to Susan again about meeting up. I finished getting ready to go out and really didn’t want to because I was so tired, it was raining and I had a potentially stressful day ahead of me. I rolled out a little before 11 in the pouring f-ing rain. Met Susan up at the spot, got all the way to Neighbs and realized I'd forgotten my id. We were soaking already and the old coat check guy knows us so why he didn't speak up I don't know, but the guy was like "Sorry ladies, you need your ids" lispily annunciating every s. I'm like, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Susan was a good friend and walked all the way back with me, and sure as shit by the time we got back there that fruit fly was gone and our door guy was like "Sorry! Go ahead, say it: "fuck you"!" but I was like “Whatever” and we went in. It’s been a while so I don’t actually remember much of the night. I think we said hi to Tye and avoided the cherry smoke and saw Polio Girl. Teal and Darren showed up so I didn’t feel so bad leaving Susan because I was tired and wanted to go home. I think I left around 12:30.

Wednesday 9/26, I went on my short walk and kept my eye out for Sos but didn't see her car at the park. After returning home I was trying to get things straightened out and my bag packed when she called. I ate dinner, showered and headed out the door to go over to her and Jake's place. We jabbered mostly about Ian and about health insurance since I had been helping him earlier in the day all while we watched ANTM. I left promptly at 9, when Bionic Woman started, and headed to Mom's to help Alix pick out a shirt for her school picture and Mom and Dad agreed with me then I was off again. I talked to Susan on the phone and confirmed plans for Thursday then did some cleaning and packing when I got home. I gathered up all J's things for his vacation / possible permanent vacation residence then updated my blog, finally, and went to sleep at 11:30 after exchanging adorable myspace messages with Ian.

Tuesday 9/25, Hit the store on the way home for just a few items, dropped them at home and headed down to Factoria to meet up with Susan. First was Target where I picked up some tanks and bikini bottoms for my trip then over to the Rack where I finally got a new wallet and I love it because it's yellow and pink...and holds almost all my shit. Susan heavily encouraged me to edit the contents of my wallet and throw some shit out. We cruised through Old Navy quickly but were thoroughly disappointed and went to OE She for dinner. I had the yakisoba and was so not disappointed; boy they know how to do it. We gabbed forever and apparently I made a hilarious face while eating Susan's oranges because I don't think I've ever seen her laugh so hard. Not even the homeless hand job time. One of Nic's old bosses recognized me and it shocked me. We headed back to my house with our leftovers and stopped at QFC for sugary treats in the form of pie and cheesecake. Back at the pad we discovered Jacques has now learned how to open the cupboard where I keep his food and had chewed a giant hole in the bag in an attempt to eat dinner before it was to be served. I ranted and raved for a while and Susan was glad she wasn't taking him while I'm gone then I settled down and turned on Beauty and the Geek and surfed the net and we ate our desserts. As well as the cookies she brought me. Yum! We watched some other show afterward which Susan was totally not impressed with but I'll probably become hooked on. When it was over she packed up and left and I tried to clean up a little more and ended up in my room, showered and went to bed.