First of all, my no booze rule lasted all the way until Saturday night. Congratulate me - I lasted 6 whole days before I fell off the wagon. That's a record or something, right?? And keep in mind that there was temptation along the way: I was at the bar with my friends on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday without succumbing. Hey, I deserve a medal or something, right? How about buying me a congratulatory drink??

Second, I woke up Saturday morning famished. But with absolutely no food in my house. So, of course, I went to Costco. Now for those not from here, or who don't know the genius of Costco, you may think, "I would have gone to the grocery store." Ahh, yes, but one does not go to Costco on Saturdays to shops. (Although I do quite well at that as well.) One goes to Costco b/c they have all the free samples... I LOVE the Soy Crisp Minis they had samples of. I, in fact, had to purchase a box.* I highly recommend them to all.
*"A box" at Costco = 20 packs.

Third, there was a guy Friday night wearing a shirt that said, "Keep staring. I might do a trick." Not that thus guy was my type at all, but the shirt was funny. I love fun t-shirts. I collect them myself. I went up to him and asked him to do a trick. He gives me this look that said, "did you ride the short bus to school?" I point at his shirt. He looks down, turns red, and mutters that he doesn't do tricks. Steadfastly refused. Umm...you've got a girl asking you to do tricks. She is with three other girls who want you to do a trick. And you refuse? Smooth. Two words: FALSE ADVERTISING!

Fourth, and yet another reason why men suck. Consider it advice or something. When you are out with a girl, do not not not hit on one of her friends. That makes you an asshole.

Fifth, (and I'm hesitant to tell this story because my parents now know of my blog, courtesy of The Plain Dealer), I went commando for the second time in about a week. This time, rather than at a wedding reception (sorry Susan) to tease my date - and I completely wasn't taken advantage of, but that's another story - it was to my softball game. See, last week, the captain of the team made a comment at the bar after the game that he didn't care if the girls on his team can play softball, as long as they are attractive. He then said that the girls should be wearing miniskirts. So two of the other girls and I ordered maroon skirts (I'm sorry, but they had to match the uniforms. Yellow with maroon lettering.) These things were too short to wear spandex underneath, and too tight to really get away with underwear. So...you see my issue. Of course, the real issue is that they were too short to also bend over and feel secure...thank God play outfield. I have no idea how the one girl, playing catcher, did it. Then again, we did get a few calls our way... (And we won both games.) Still, I learned that I much prefer going commando on a date than trying to play a sport wearing a skirt. I mean, yes, it was warm outside so the breeze was nice, but at the same time, you are running and hitting and all sorts of things that you are totally self conscious about the entire time.

Right before the game started, the ump asked if they were skorts, and we said no. He asked us not to slide into the bases. Spoilsport. (I didn't have the heart to tell him that we - or at least I - wasn't wearing underwear (the other two were wearing boys shorts, I don't own any, and wearing regular underwear, lines showed.))

The two teams before our game, then our team and the opposing team, and the two teams after our game, all saw us. At first it was fun (I do love attention) but then it got self conscious. Every time we had to get our gloves off the bench, reach for the bat on the ground, went for the ball, ran, or batted, we were stared at. (The last two didn't occur to me would be difficult until they were.) Other guys made a few comments to the guys on our team, like we weren't there and couldn't hear (umm...boys, we DO have ears...But I guess the comments were positive, so what the hell? Most often heard, "way to go" (umm...the GIRLS are wearing the skirts, why are you making that comment to the guys??) and "How did that happen? [And when they were told we were being smartasses] We're not complaining at all.") Still, it was quite enjoyable overall, both for the laughs of it (which is what we were going for), and for the sheer fact that for more than two hours, every guy on the field and in the stands was staring at us (you know, that hadn't even occurred to me, we just throught we'd be funny to OUR team b/c of the comments last week). So yeah, it was a good time, but I'm not sure I'd do it next week...)

I then went to a VIP party at Shooters for Bicardi Big Apple something or other. Basically, we get two free drinks, and we get to try this new apple Bicardi, and all the Cleveland alcoholics drinking on Sunday night were there. Fantastic. Of course, I was wearing a softball shirt, my miniskirt, and was all gross and dusty and disgusting from playing 2 hours in the sun, but still, who can turn down free drinks? Especially as I had falled off the wagon the night before anyway, right?

Finally, I mentioned this once already, but since I was told I was being unreasonable, I'm asking some advice of my own (mostly from the men here) as to whether a comment was an insult or not. I was talking to a friend the other night. This friend has called me "overeducated" (not a compliment) and asked me to "dumb down" in the past. So the other night, he told me that he likes me, "in spite of my mind." I take a little offense to the comment, and he "assured" me that when he first saw me, he only wanted my body and "didn't care if I had a mind or not." And even if I were to let that go, he continued that he'd be "just as happy if I had a lobotomy." Insulting! My best feature is my mind, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, I expressed that I was irritated and angry with him. He told me that *I* was in the wrong for taking offense. That I had no sense of humor. How could I not consider it a compliment, along the lines of "aww, he thinks I'm smart."

So my open question - is that insulting? Or not? I'm going with yes.