Last night Alexis called me at 12:15 am to inform me that she was in Providence and had lost the key to her car. Following the informational part of the conversation, she then asked me to drive down to Providence to bring her her key.

Assuming I had been drunk dialed, I asked if she was kidding. Nope.

So I drove down to Providence. Had to change out of my PJs and pack an impromptu overnight bag, because I'd decided to stay at my mom's. Of course, this was the one Friday in the last six months where I've had to be in the office in general and for 9 am specifically.

I ended up at my mom's around 2, tried to get some sleep, woke up at 7, drove in rush hour traffic (though it wasn't that bad, really) back to Boston.

I think Alexis thought I was joking when I mentioned buying my a bottle of whiskey might be a way back into m good graces. 'Cause right now, the graces are definitely ungood.

Went out with Elena last night, just up the street to the Alchemist. The Alchemist is the perfect bar because it's a 3 minute walk from my doorstep and the people there are friendly. The food is only so-so, but whatever.

I drank too much. I barely drink anymore, so five pints (one of which was a real pint, not an American pint) of dark beer really knocked me. Especially because I only had a sandwich for dinner, a few hours before going out to drink.

At one point, I agreed to coach some girl in Guitar Hero. What? I mean, they have a Guitar Hero 3 competition there every Tuesday, so at least it makes some sense. But I do not approach people. She told me her name and I can't remember it for the life of me. I think it might be Colleen. Hahahaha.

Anyway, I didn't sign up for the tournament, but it looked fun. The people were all really cool to each other, even the ones that sucked. And some of them sucked. Some guy dropped out, so I played for him on hard and only got 40% on Cult of Personality. Considering I've never played the song before, I was drunk, and I was standing thirty-plus feet away with drying contacts, I think that was pretty good. I definitly could have kicked everyone's ass on medium. Not everyone, there was one dude who got 100%. But everyone else.

So I'm going to pick up GH3 today with the last of my Best Buy gift certificate, and spend the next week practicing a little. 'Cause I said I'd go back next week and get at least 50% on hard on that song. What? Drunk.

I stumbled home, managed to get a glass of water without spilling (I have this lovely, plastic 16 oz glass that is perfect for drunkeness), and sat down to chat with people online. About ten minutes later I sarted to feel really sick, so I went to bed. I managed to get into pajama pants, but gave up on changing out of my shirt or taking my contacts out. Oops. Did that at 3:30 in the morning when I woke up.

I feel okay now. I forced myself to take a sip or two of water every time I woke up in the middle of the night. Just a sort of lingering blah, which I will not complain about.

Plus I woke up this morning to an email from Old Navy telling me they have women's plus bathing suits. Finally. And they have tankinis. Perfect! I can get a top and still wear my board shorts! Yay! Of course I have no idea what my size in women's is, but hey. It's all good.

I was supposed to have dinner with Nneoma tonight and I completely forgot. Completely. She called just now and I remembered, and then I couldn't remember what time.

I'm usually really good with my friends. Not good at keeping in touch, but when I do make plans, I don't just forget about them. Now I feel awful.

Woke up early yesterday for my trip to Beacon Hill for breakfast. JP breakfast is better, cheaper, and way closer. But I was there for friends, not the locale.

Then back to JP, wrapped up some presents, and a two hour drive down to my dad's, where I sat around for awhile and read, got some presents and then it was my dad's annual annoy-his-daughters-with-a-Hanukkah party. The only people remotely close to our age have two kids. I mostly played with my sister's dog and tried to avoid eye contact with anyone.

I'm awful.

We got back to my mom's for Hanukkah around eight. Colleen came over. She got me a nice, framed picture of Stonehenge at sunset. As of right now, I've gotten her nothing. I hate the holidays. I'm very bad at them.

She stayed until a little after one in the morning. She actually apologized to me for, once again, saying that whole "I've loved lots of people but couldn't marry them. I mean, I loved you, but couldn't marry you," thing.

I think it's the doubly pleasant sensation of someone concretely telling you that they've fallen out of love with you coupled with the total and utter lack of caring that you two actually used to talk about long term things that makes that statement so awful. But she realized she'd said something wrong and apologized. Maybe she won't say it again. Even though I'd already told her once that that was an awkward thing to say. Maybe I should have used the word terrible instead of awkward. It's not like I bring up the fact that I'm no longer in love with her in conversation. Sheesh.

If I ever have another ex again, remind me not to stay friends with her.

Anyway. We actually had some good conversations about God and religion, history, the fact that people are stupid about relationships and seem to bind themselves into these ridiculous, socialized ideas of what's Right and Wrong about having a family, being with someone (or more than one someone), getting married, etc. It's such a shame she's been told all her life that she's stupid and unimportant, and will spend the rest of her life mired in suburban obscurity; she'd make a good academic or activist, but she doesn't have confidence in her own intellect.

The Hanukkah Haul has been good so far. My sister bought me a Bloomsbury paperback edition of Half-Blood Prince while she was in London, but got the adult version instead of the kid's one. I don't really have the heart to tell her that I'd rather have the kid's one to match my others. Why the hell are their two versions, anyway? It's lucky I love you so much, English People, or I'd think you're crazy.

Apologies for the lateness on this, in case anyone was anxiously awaiting a recap of my final day in Nevada. C'mon, you know you were.

So! Sunday we woke up early to beat traffic. It was chilly, but not awful. But mostly it was early. Thankfully, Starbucks exists everywhere (no, seriously... check out the moon with a really powerful telescope...). There was a freakishly perky barista who I wanted to throw my coffee at, but since she had yet to give me my coffee, I managed not to break any laws.

I had an enjoyable time trashing the RIAA and MPAA in a discussion about downloading music. That always wakes me right up.

We were headed to Apple Hill, in California, on the other side of Lake Tahoe. It's basically a collection of orchards that have craft fairs. And some wineries. Cool stuff.

We had to take some windy roads, but not the windiest roads I've ever been on (that singular honor goes to the trip to Muir Woods, the only car ride to ever make me feel car sick to the point of extreme nausea). Still, they were windy. I appreciated Bria's willingness to drive fast. I, too, feel the need for speed. ;)

Of course we stopped along the way to take pictures. It was a beautiful morning. The moon was actually out, hanging above the lake.



It's hard to see in the small version. It's actually hard to see in my version, because my camera is old and quasi-low quality, but I heartily recommend checking out Bria's pictures, which are of a higher quality. There are also some of other events I didn't take pictures of, such as the Freakers' Ball and the parade, if you're interested.

Right, anyway. The first orchard we stopped at in Apple Hill was supposedly having an apple crisp festival. This turned out to be more of a "have some free samples of apple crisp" day, but it's all good. It was tasty apple crisp, either way.

Megs somehow got into a conversation with some farmer guy, who told us to head down to "the lake" (it turned out to be a pond) to see some sort of animal. But we were supposed to walk quietly so we didn't scare it away. None of us really understood what he was saying. He had just the right accent that the four of us, from various parts of the country, couldn't decipher it.

So we went to the lake/pond, but didn't see much. We did find a farm with an ostrich, though. And an emu. And a goat or two. Then a dog started barking and we decided it was probably best not to be on someone's private property.

Other orchards were visited. Notably the one with lunch (I had something called a tri-tip sandwich, which was pretty delicious), the one where I sneakily bought a gift for Bria, and the German one with the cranky lady. It was a beautiful day for wandering around apple orchards and craft fairs. Sunny and warm but not too hot.

We went to a winery and did a tasting. I couldn't send any of the wine home because of some stupid, puritanical alcohol laws. But the wine was nice. Afterwards we went to an orchard on the same property where I had an apple beer, which was not, actually, beer made from apples. It was apple cider mixed with Bud Light. I am totally not kidding.

Naturally, we took pictures on the drive back. In fact, we stopped for pictures of a babbling brook. Well, it was more of a stream than a brook. Or maybe not. I should look up the difference.



The sun started setting over the mountains as we drove back to Carson City. It was really really beautiful, as one might expect.



We stopped for fondue at a Swiss restaurant. Megs and I split an "appetizer" fondue (which was enough for a whole meal) and a beef stroganoff. Made with filet mignon. Best. Stroganoff. Ever. Besides the kind my nanny made for me that's comfort food. But it's like a totally different dish. Anyway, I'd never had cheese fondue before - only chocolate - so it was pretty cool.

It was around this time that I realized we might not make it back for the end of the baseball game. I figured there was no way we were sweeping, but I texted around just to double check the score. We were winning. Cue Sam-Freakout-Mode. Everyone was very patient with me; Megs found the Fox Sports radio (those guys suck almost as much as the TV announcers), and Bria drove us home as quickly as possible, considering it was now dark and had started raining.

We made it back for the last two innings, and I saw the Red Sox win the World Series. It was great. No less great because I wasn't in Boston, or because I wasn't with other Sox fans. It was still great. Not the same as the '04 win, but still great. Great great great.

After the game, we watched Highlander: The Source, which may be the worst movie ever made. Don't read the next sentence if you're worried about spoilers but, in all honesty, if you actually care about Highlander, you shouldn't watch this movie. Any movie that ends with a glowing fetus is automatically deducted five billion points. Any movie thats main message is breeding = the most worthwhile pursuit in life is deducted ten billion points. It's a ten point scale, so you can just imagine the sheer awfulness. Even the fights were bad. Poorly shot, with weird and pointless special effects that looked like some music video gone horribly horribly wrong.

But. It was fun to make fun of.

And then sleep. We all had to get up early on Monday because my flight was at something ungodly like 6 am. It was the only flight in my price range that got me back to Boston before midnight. I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to say goodbye to everyone, 'cause I'd had so much fun and knew I was coming back to, well... not very much. But that's life.

I was worried I wouldn't make my connecting flight in Columbus, because we were delayed out of Denver (my flights were: Reno to Denver, Denver to Columbus, switch airlines, Columbus to Boston). Delta wouldn't let me print my boarding pass for my Columbus flight in Reno, for security reasons, which is stupid becuase I could have just printed it out at Bria's if she'd had a printer. Security my buttocks.

There was a crazy version of Ninny Threadegoode on the Denver to Columbus flight with me. Kept talking at me while I was trying to fall asleep. She told almost-but-not-quite interesting stories, like about her uncle who was the secretary of the Manhattan Project. But anyway.

Transferring wasn't an issue because I was checked into Delta and through security in less than ten minutes. Seriously. No line at security. It was amazing. The flight to Boston was delayed, even though they didn't list it that way. It seems sort of stupid for them not to list it as delayed if you're taking off an hour late. What if people who are picking you up are trying to check on it? We all know you're only on time 30% of the time anyway, why not just admit it?

And then I was back in Boston, and I had a new room mate. The weekend was over. I was sad about the over, but glad I'd gone out and "met" Vi and Megs and Bria, and done something that I wouldn't normally have done.

Can't wait 'til next time.

We slept through the pancake breakfast, but got up to catch the parade. I basically rolled off the couch and into my clothes. And hat, to cover my hair, which definitely had a slept-in, greaseball thing going for it. Pleasant, I know.

The parade wasn't far from Bria's, so we walked over. It was a lovely fall morning. The parade was a nice, small town affair. We wandered up and down the streets, since Bria was on a quest to find me coffee. Turns out we could have just crossed the street, which we eventually did, and wandered into a nifty little coffee shop where I got ice coffee and a turkey sandwich. We hung out there for awhile, with Bria and Megs running out to watch when marching bands passed, until the band displaced us. The shop itself reminded me of the sort of friendly hipster vibe of places in San Francisco. We chatted politics, so you know I was a happy Sam.

We went outside to watch the parade for a bit. We caught people from Burning Man, some of whom made fire. Fire pretty. The Bunny Ranch and Mustang Ranch were also represented, and I get a kick out of the fact that there were hookers in a state holiday parade. Rock on, Nevada. Rock on. Speaking of, what's a good term for a prostitute? I mean, besides prostitute. We discussed this. I'm not a huge fan of "whore" because of the negative connotations (plus it's way overused these days, to refer to women who definitely do not charge for sex, they just have a lot of it). I mean, hooker seems fairly neutral.

Bria went inside to get away from the loudness of the rifles of a few of the groups (seriously, guns are creepy in non-controlled environments), and discovered free massages in the back of the coffee shop. That was a nice surprise. I didn't tense up as much as normal, probably because I was wearing my clothes, so the massage was very nice and relaxing, and she worked out the knot that's always in my left shoulder. It's back now, of course, but it was gone for awhile. I don't remember the woman's name, other than she came from California to help out her girlfriend, Lightfeather (seriously), and we had a lesbian-head-nod moment, when I told her that Nevada wasn't quite what I expected. She winked, nodded, and said good. Word.

After the parade, we drove up to Virginia City. As you may know, the only thing I love more than cowboys is space cowboys. This was an old mining town that had, of course, been full of cowboys. Eeeeeee.



Shops lined the streets, so we wandered down and then up again. Along the way we stopped at the Bucket of Blood Saloon, where I gambled $1 in a slot machine. And lost. Shocking, I know. There were some biker-looking guys giving me funny looks, so I gave them funny looks back. Maybe it was me Red Sox hat. Right, I'm sure it was the Red Sox hat.



We also went to the "Red Light Museum," which billed itself as a controversial sort of place, but was not, in fact, very controversial at all. It was a basement with a collection of old stuff. Some of which, yes, may be a bit much for crazy people who think sex is evil. Like the vibrator from the turn of the twentieth century, or the examination table (one stirrup was missing), or the naked lady painting. But it was pretty tame. I mean, I'm on the internets; I get racier stuff in my pop up ads. It only cost $1, though, and it was sort of funny to wander around the basement and try to find something wild.



There was some more wandering and shopping, and then we headed back down to Carson City. Bria had made lasagna for us. We stopped and picked up some salad stuff and bread stuff and cat food, and I was viciously attacked by the cat food bag. You know how it is. Dinner was lovely, and Bria's friends came by, and we chatted and ate (well) and drank (well). After dinner, we played Settlers of Catan. I heart that game and never get enough of a chance to play it. Megs had never played, so we taught her. The board was very odd, and the game took forever. I think it's the first time anyone's ever really wanted me to win a game. We were drinking some sort of red champagne (sweet and delicious) and at one point Megs spit it all over the game board and Bria. I don't remember why. She was probably coughing. I don't think I've laughed that hard in years.

It was a good way to spend a Saturday night. I haven't had a game night in a long time, and it was wonderful to just sit around and talk and joke and laugh with friends.

I arrived lateish on Thursday and was overwhelmed by the traveling and the meeting three new people. I say meeting, but it never really felt like meeting, because I've known all three of them for a good chunk of time now. I talk to Bria and Megs pretty much every day. So it's odd to say "nice to meet you" to someone like that. But at the same time, due to my phone issues, I'd never heard their voices. Anyway. We had a little ride back to Bria's, and we chatted in the car and at her place until... I'm not sure, but man was I tired.

I went to sleep and woke up on the ground, 'cause the inflatable bed I was on had been punctured at some point. Despite that, I slept really well. Seeing me roll out of the mass of plastic and bedding (and a little air) was probably hilarious, but, luckily, no one was around to see it.

On Friday we went out to Lake Tahoe for breakfast. Megs and I split biscuits and gravy and both got our own breakfasts on top of that. Probably a bit much. Okay, definitely a bit much. But my smoked salmon scramble was really delicious, and it takes a lot for me to like eggs.

After breakfast but before we wandered through the shops at Incline Villiage, we stopped to take pictures at a beach along the lake side.



The shops we went to were cute. There was an art gallery with some very nice stuff, and a chocolate and wine shop. I just realized that I left my chocolate at Bria's house, and am now very sad because it was dark chocolate with lavendar and blueberry. And tea chocolates. Damnit.

There was more picture taking - because, really, this sort of landscape ought to have lots of pictures taken of it - which involved some scrambling on rocks. Not by Vi and me, mind. We stood at the top of the rocks, alternatively thinking Bria and Megs were crazy and worrying about impending doom. This became a picture taking theme.



Then back to Bria's where the East Coasters crashed for a little while before dressing up for the play/Freakers' Ball. I know, I know, me at a Freakers' Ball. Well, I wasn't much of a freak. By the time I got the courage up to dance, they ended the music and had the costume contest. More on that later.

I dressed as Maxwell Edison, which sort of fit the theme (Dada) in a roundabout, more-historic-than-thematic way. Essentially it was a British school uniform (shirt, tie, blue sweater, gray pants) and a hammer wrapped in tin foil. I thought very highly of myself.

The play was really four scenes based on Samuel Beckett's short works. I understood pretty much nothing. I liked the three smaller ones ("No News", which was written by the director, "Imagination, Dead, Imagine" and "Come and Go"). The second part was Krapp's Last Tape, which I didn't really like at all. I think that a one-man show has to have a very good one-man, and this one was okay but a bit too affected with his fake old age. Stuff like this makes me feel like I'm not very culturually aware. But I enjoyed myself nonetheless.

The lack of costumed pictures on my part is due to my jet lag. I was pretty useless all night, and wish I hadn't been. It took a little while for the party to get going, but once it did I already wanted to be sleeping. There was a raffle that we stayed for because we each bought an insane amount of tickets. I couldn't help it; they were being sold by Mary Poppins. No. Seriously. Best costume ever.

I sat around feeling tired and feeling bad that I felt tired. Bria's friends Nicole and Kevin showed up, which was good, so I felt like less of a wet blanket. Had I been less tired it may have taken me less time to convince myself that almost none of these people would ever see me again, so I might as well just go dance. I was literally standing up as they cut off the music for the costume contest, and when it came back on (an hour later) I was twice as tired and the music was bad techno remixes of eighties music.

We waited out the raffle and then wandered home. We decided to skip the planned pancake breakfast in the morning, which was a good call. I slept on the couch. Like a baby.

Saturday's rewind coming shortly.

I am back and alive and fed (finally) and tired. Tomorrow I'll write all about the lovely lovely weekend I had. Tonight I'm going to wait up a little longer 'til an appropriate east coast bed time hits and then I'm going to go to sleep.

There are pictures here if you're interested, some of which will be incorporated into the weekend rewind entry I write tomorrow.

However, to tide anyone over that might be waiting impatiently, here's the weekend in a run-on sentence: Nevada is beautiful and so are my friends and Highlander: The Source is pretty much the worst movie ever made (glowing fetus!!!!!!11!!) and I rather enjoy cheese fondue and impromptu massages in little random hipster coffee shops, but wish things (mostly people) were closer so I could have more lovely lovely weekends. Also: I like cats more than I expected, and I'm really working on the butterfly thing. Really.

Oh. And: hookers.

More tomorrow!

I haven't written in almost a week. Not much to say. Life continues to move forward. Stupid inertia. Stupid linear time.

I'm home from work for another few minutes, because I dropped my mom off at the hospital this morning and I told my boss I'd be late. So I'm going to be good and properly late, instead of just 30 - 45 minutes late, because I don't take a lunch. I spend ten minutes eating in front of my computer, then go back to work. So I think it's okay for me to be an hour late.

Anyway, my mom's having a biopsy, which is much scarier to me now than it was five years ago. Maybe I'm more in tune with death now. My mom's dad was in his mid fifties when he died. My mom was nineteen. She's now sixty and I'm twenty six. Words like biopsy freak me out these days.

It's probably nothing.

Most of my free time that hasn't been at my computer has been spent watching Voyager or re-playing Ocarina of Time. I remember why I hated it the first time through. The 3D controls seem so hard to manage. Super Mario 64 wasn't as much of a pain to deal with. But combat sucks.

I'm going to go out and be social tonight, lest I wallow in the fact that I have no friends here. Especially since I do have friends here. A bunch of yuppies getting drinks downtown. Whod've thunk?

The weather is disgusting. I'm studying at home today. We're literally getting half snow and half ice, falling from the sky at the same time, and apparently the city of Boston has decided it doesn't need to salt the roads near me. Then there's the wind. There are people going to school and work, and I feel like a wuss for staying in but... they'd all stay in if they could, I bet.

I want a decent snowfall, where it's bright but snowy and the flakes are big and fluffy and the world is blanketed in white, not grey.

Oh, and it's Valentine's Day. I'm ambivalent. Usually I'm just bitter or angry. This year I'm too busy worrying about other things to reflect on my perpetual singlehood (a status which I've recently come to appreciate, as I am in absolutely no position in life to have someone else to think about).

However, I have much appreciation for platonic love and would therefore like to give a shoutout to my friends, on the internets and in real life, though I'm probably bad at keeping in touch with you I love you all.

Alright, that was way too sappy for my tastes. I'm going to go study some intentional torts.

Sam: Yes, that usually makes it better. I'm the person that leaves me cell on the desk, on vibrate, so when it wrings everything falls off the desk.
Katherine: No-one else seems to think I'm a terrible person when my phone goes off and I answer it, but I always feel guilty
Katherine: "wrings?" You've had a long day already.
Sam: Wrings... woo, go typing.
Sam: Yeah.
Sam: :P
Sam: The law doesn't require spelling.
Katherine: Except, I can imagine, where misspellings would change the meaning.
Katherine: Equal Rites and Equal Rights are not the same thing. :-P
Sam: Hahaha, true that.
Sam: Though you have the right to equally practice your rite, if you want.
Sam: The mind. She boggles.
Katherine: Provided that it doesn't interfere with others' rights to rites.
Sam: Depends on the others' rights, but for the most part, yes.
Katherine: (And if not, write your representative, har har har)
Sam: (Ba dum dum ching.)

For the record, conversations such as this are how things like "tea on the ceiling" were discovered.

I keep running into people who graduated with me. I don't want to run into these people. I wouldn't mind running into my friends, because the reactions of my friends would be different. It's my friends, in fact, who've been so cool these past couple of days, and who make it easier not to break down after running into someone from school. 'Cause it's hard, and it sucks, to see the look in their eyes when I've said that I've failed or the awkward way the conversation just ends. And it's hard to wonder what they're thinking when they walk away.

But! There are my friends. Via email and phone and lunches and excursions to museums and whatever else. And it's exactly what I needed/need while I just get over this little hump of "oh wow, I'm a failure" and back to "eh, life." Which I'm hoping will happen soon.

To combat my sappiness, I bring you one the funniest things ever:

The very tail end of "School Reunion" (that's an episode of Doctor Who for anyone that doesn't know) got recorded at the beginning of Battlestar, and it made me sniffle. And all it was was Sarah Jane talking to K-9. Glad I missed the gooybye dialogue. I'd have wept like an ickle baby.

Last night I had an excellent birthday extravangana. Me and a bunch of friends, and my sister (who I guess is my friend, but that's weird) went to the Milky Way and ate and drank and bowled and danced. I actually danced, which is I think a sign of the apocalypse. But it was salsa, and I feel more comfortable with salsa because you ought to have a partner and I know what to do with my arms (put them on someone). So.

I wish James, Tom, Sully, and Kate S. could've been there, but that's life. Moving on. Lydia made me a home made birthday card (I haven't gotten one of those since I was a kid). Kate V. is taking me to a Bruins game. Jes is knitting me a scarf (we're officially friends now, not just room mates). Kelly made cake from scratch and brought me roses. Bill actually came to JP from Waltham, and Jen came from Medford. My friends are really awesome people. I'm glad I have them all.

Congratulations to Kelly (who doesn't read this but, hey, I wanted to commemorate). She's my first friend to pass the bar. Woot.

Dude, I love my new shower. I mean, it's not the prettiest shower in the world. But there's lots of water pressure and a consistent temperature. Oh, shower, I heart you. If I could marry a shower... well, I'd still marry Billie Piper (who's not a shower, lest we accidentally think I am referring to her thusly because of the context), but I'd think about you often and fondly.

A shout out to my new room mate, Jes (not really new... we've been here two weeks), who reads my blog "every three minutes." Cool because: 1) ego trip and 2) clearly I have yet to scare her away, despite the weird stuff I talk about. Then again, I'd think it'd be hard to scare someone away who actually agreed that it'd be cool to have an LED ticker in the hallway for house announcements. Imagine walking in from your day and a ticker says: "Sam, your mail's on the island and tonight's trash night." Imagine!

I'm feeling more chipper in general, as I settle into The New Life Phase. Kate S. is visiting next week, which will be fun. I think Sully's coming in soon, too. Which'll rock. One last hurrah before everyone starts Life. Except me. I start trying to start Life, which is fine. I'm okay with that, for now. Just gotta do it, right? Right.

I just went through two practice essay questions (there are ten on the Mass. bar) and now I want to curl up into a ball and die. The second one wasn't so bad, but the first one was horrible. Like having someone poke you in the eye, laugh at the death of your mother, and make out with your girlfriend all at the same time.

Um.

So! Graduation. It was nice. I met up with "the crew" (sans Kate, James, and Ali) beforehand for some coffee at ERC. We chatted, caught up, took pictures. The usual.

After dropping my mom and Colleen off with the Sullys I went to acquire my robe, cap, and hood. When you've got a post-bachelors degree you get a hood. Neat. Then we milled around during the obligatory graduation milling around period.

Marching out to "Pomp and Circumstance" is always fun. This time I felt more proud, and stood up straight, my hood over my right arm. I managed not to trip or break my cheap chair (for which I'm sure I was over maximum weight). We stood for awhile as everyone came in, and I looked for my family. I eventually found everyone. Naturally my mom and dad were on opposite sides of the arena. Colleen was with my mom and my stepmom was with my dad. Also makes sense.

There were speeches, which were better than I thought. The students didn't disappoint me. In a good way. The Chief Justice of the South African Constitutional Court was alright, but nothing to write home about. My first year Contracts professor was our faculty speaker, and he spoke about fear and it made me nod my head and go "yeah, that's me," at some points. Then he made Contracts jokes and I giggled. LAW GEEK.

Then there was the hooding and diploma giving. I got a loud cheer when I got mine. Props to my friends and family. I tripped up the stairs, but no one noticed except for myself and the guy that hooded me.

My mom later complained that I had them announce me as Sam instead of Samantha. I mentioned that my diploma says Samantha, and even though all legal documents that I've got my name on (including ones I write) say Samantha, people (including judges and attorneys) refer to be as Sam verbally. So there.

We stood on the steps of some undergrad building to have our picture taken as a class. I managed to stand by Sully somehow. It was hot and I was wearing a black robe of unknown material and therefore sweating like a pig.

Then there was the champagne reception, at which I drank only one glass of bubbly but at much smoked gouda, and then we were done. And went to Fugakyu. YUM.

Dinner was awesome. Afterwards I got to spend some QT with Kate, which was nice, since she's dumb and lives in Austin now.

We went to a house party in Somerville (OMG, awesome condo) and then a bar in Copley Square, followed by a bar by the Pru. It was nice to hang out with my friends, and some of my not friends, and even though I wasn't drinking I had a very nice time.

I got home at 3 am and felt pretty good about it all.

I've managed to let time get away with me again, without updating. Mostly I've been sitting around doing nothing, but I also got groceries.

The wedding I went to yesterday was very nice. Literally a five minute ceremony and a 10 hour party. Perfect. Anna looked amazing in her dress, which was a summery white thing. There was home made beer. It was an outdoor party where two people happened to get married. I think it's spoiled me to all future weddings. Seriously.

On the way there, I drove by Manhattan and through Brooklyn. I think. I haven't seen the skyline in a long while, and it was as stirring emotionally as it always is, because I'm weird like that. I also got to see the Statue of Liberty.

On the way back I got lost in New Jersey, because both sets of directions were bad. New Jersey's not that exciting. Then again, neither are most states, I guess.

One of the reasons that I love Anna is because she's the sort of person that really cares. And here's how I know: the first thing she said to me, literally ten minutes after she got married, was "thank you for coming!" [big grin, strong hug] followed by, "How was graduation?" I mean, seriously. What an awesome person. It's her wedding and she's asking me how graduation went. And then telling everyone that I just graduated, as if they care when she just got effing married, and they know her and have no idea who I am.

Graduation was nice. I swear I'll write about it tomorrow. Honestly. Promise.

The walk of shame would be way cooler if I had something to be ashamed about.

So I slept on a couch. Not that a bed wasn't offered. But I have a hard time telling whether offers are real or not when the people offering are generally straight and happen to be drunk. And it's three in the morning. And I'm wearing my nice clothes because I was in court all afternoon and at a formal dinner in the evening. That last one has nothing to do with me understanding the seriousness of a proposition, but I wanted to throw that in there.

Anyway, last night was a long strange trip. The sort I used to have first year. It was nice to have one of those now, with people who'll be here next year (for the most part), 'cause it reminds me that the world isn't coming to an end because my old friends are leaving.

The MLGBA dinner was alright. Not as networky as I thought, but it was fine. I don't know if I'm cut out for that sort of thing, which of course makes me question whether I can handle politics, but I dunno. I'm tired and ate greasy Chinese at 2:30 in the morning while I was drinking whiskey. I don't expect to be a braniac today.

Afterwards I went to the Milky Way and candle pin bowled with five people. Two couples. And me and Bill. So. It was pretty much fine 'til the end, when it just got surreal.

Bill and I left around 12:30, he was going to crash at my place, and on the way back we bumped into two other people from school (2Ls). They "pressured" us into going to Brendan Beehan, but because this was Boston we'd already missed last call. So one of them said "hey, let's go to my place I've got cheap beer," except she didn't so we drank wine, whiskey, and whatever instead. And ate Chinese food. And I stayed on her couch instead of... well. Bill and I each slept on a couch, and it was probably the right decision, if there was even any decision to make. And this morning was a group breakfast, and my old direct-supervisor from the DA's office was there (not LS, but the one I wrote the brief with), and she pretended like she didn't know me, and whatever.

And I got home to find out that the Appeals unit's just hired someone with 10 years of crim and appeals experience. Awesome. So that should be a fire uner my ass to get some applications out there. I wouldn't mind being an ADA in the District court somewhere.

So there we go. My tumbly's a bit rumbly, and I could use a long shower. But all in all I'm feeling upbeat.

Tonight's game was awesome, despite the loss. The weather was gross, and our original seats sucked (I'm a little miffed at the Craigslist guy), but it turned out great! After the first I ended up walking out to get beer, and bumped into Kate-That-I'm-Not-Allowed-to-Call-Kate II, who was there with other people I know, so Kelly, Jack, James and I moved down to sit with them (superior seats).

We all just got really into the yelling, cheering, singing, heckling... even Jack, who's pretty stoic normally. So that was great fun. And during "Sweet Caroline" the four of us sort of bunched together and sang loudly and badly and it rocked.

And after the game James almost got into a fight with some guy in a Mercedes. Seriously. The guy saw us coming and inched up so Jack couldn't cross Boylston, and Jack said "Oookay, what's up with that?" and James heard the guy say "They can go behind me," except there wasn't much room to go behind. But some room. Jack went, then as James was going behind the guy, he "accidentally" thwapped his bike onto the silver Mercedes a few times. I don't know if he damaged the car, but it definitely made a lot of noise. And then we were walking and talking about it, and all the sudden the guy from the Mercedes comes up behind us and starts yelling at and shoving James. Swear words were exchanged, and the guy walked off and yelled James a homo. Which is, of course, the worst insult ever.

When I complain about my friends going away for the weekend, other friends pop out of the woodwork and my weekend ends up fairly full of friends. Because I'm an ass, and only think of what's immediately in front of me, that's why.

Today I ate brunch at Zaftig's with my mom. I actually haven't been since I got back from San Francisco. Crazy. I also went to the comic store and bought the next issues of the comics I'm following (short runs: Green Lantern Corps: Recharge, First Thunder: Superman and Shazam, and the Batman and Superman All-Stars).

Tomorrow Jen is coming over with a couple of her friends, and we're going to watch Underworld and then go out to see Underworld: Evolution in the theater. Rock. I heart vampires. Especially hot ones with British accents. That wear leather bodysuits.

And then that's it for the weekend.

I just watched Jersey Girl, which was a very cute movie. Ben Affleck was actually (gasp) good in it. Who knew?

I'm back from Vermont. I actually got back yesterday, but got distracted by catching up on my television (Battlestar Galactica still rocks, South of Nowhere is still a tease, but a damn fine one, and The L Word is too sexy for my shirt. More to come on each of those later, probably.).

I found my first grey hair this weekend. GREY HAIR! I'm twenty five! And, sure, I'm a little stressed. But... grey? Dagnabit. I'm not going to pull it out, since I tend not to do things like that (ow). But it's the first thing I see when I look in the mirror. And we're not talking about a distinguishe shock of grey or anything, this is just one thick, grey hair sitting in the center of my head. Dagnabit.

Okay, I'm over it now and will probably forget about it by tomorrow.

I'm going to upload my Vermont pictures after I finish cleaning my room. I'll chat about it then.

Oh. I'm going to make an roleplaying filter so people won't have to read RP things if they don't want (I'll keep most of it public, probably, but the occasional RP-related meme or somesuch will be filtered). If you want on, let me know. Or if you find yourself on and want off, let me know.

Later.