here i go, here i go, here i go again

We cook a lot. Tori comes over and takes me back to her place, where I am surprised to find a picture of me! (Also ex-boy and dogs.) I get to see a fleeting shot of her cat, who apparently is still pissed about a failed vet trip that wasn’t meant to be. When we get back, Casie is there! Casie has been my friend since summer of 1993, and she is the yin to my yang. (Or is it the other way around?) We are really nothing alike, and I couldn’t care less. I love her a LOT, and her new hairdo is pretty scorching.

J and C and I go to Caffe Kopi to do our resolutions. Casie gives me this gorgeous sparkly scarf. J gives C a stamp and wax, and I give C that humongo box of glitter (like the one PWe and I gave HSM for her birthday, but purple. HSM got the pink one, since she’s got this weird fear of purple.) Inside the glitter emporium are three glittery barrettes. J gets “Diva”, I get “Star”, and C gets “Love”. We take pictures of all of them. C nearly dies of a TB-esque coughing fit. Some nice guy takes a picture of us. C runs to the nearby bus station to pick up her friend Jim.

When we get home, Julia’s little sister Myra and Myra’s new hubby Travis are there! They are very cute, and they just got married a couple of weeks ago in Hawaii. We look at lots of pictures, and talk about the “Army Wife Handbook” that Myra has. We rename it the “Wifey manual”, which sounds better.

Dinner is complicated Moroccan chicken and pilaf, along with a lot of wine (we use those little wine glass markers, one of which looks like a snowman at a bar stool). We marvel at the rainbow jello. We drink ourselves silly.

We start getting ready, and I force Julia to wear her little red dress. (If I’m wearing my tiny little black dress, I will be damned if the diva wears something long.) However, she pulls out her dresses from NE and NEII first. I ask Neil if my dress is okay - I tell him that I need a second opinion. He gives me an emphatic yes, and says that if I want, he will give me opinions two through five. (He is a good boy.) Casie’s got this little satiny bustier thing that I have to tie up the back. Between the black dress, the shiny scarf, the fishnets, and the huge boots, I am feeling badass and ready to conquer the world. We all look hot. (I’ll show you pictures.)

We arrive at Kim and Al’s just as a big group of people are leaving. One of them is Zach, whom I haven’t seen in maybe five years. We hug and take a picture, and he leaves. One of this group is someone that, honestly, I was relieved not to have to talk to. Pretending like I’m happy (or even indifferent) to see him was quite a feat of will last year, and I’m perfectly happy to let the forced pleasantries slide. One of this group says that I win the award for the person she hasn’t seen in the longest.

I meet K.C., who was Mitch’s roommate for two years. I’ve been hearing stories about this guy since 1993, and I’m pretty happy to finally figure out who he is. Mike and Tami have brought me a present, which is so sweet of them - but of course then I feel kinda like a schmuck ‘cause I should’ve brought them something too. D’oh. Mike and I leave a couple of drunken voicemails for Mitch - and I remember why exactly it was that I loved hanging around with him so much in high school.

I see a whole lot of people I haven’t seen in years. We drink and smoke a lot. People play Grand Theft Auto. People watch Good Eats DVDs. It’s an odd evening, and I have a thoroughly wonderful time, and at 2:15 Neil and I make our way back.