caerula's Diaryland Diary
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yay!, and yawn
I am extremely tired. I've been here close to an hour, but I crashed about 20 minutes ago, and have been sitting here staring at my screen blankly since then. My fingers are currently moving solely by force of will.
Natalie and I finally got together last night. We had an extremely good time. I met her sitting forlornly outside Lord and Taylor at Fairlane Mall, where she had been abandoned, and we headed west toward Ann Arbor. We detoured by the Big Penis so she could take nifty pictures which she will post when she gets home, to amaze and horrify her friends.
A color view of the world's largest phallic symbol. Another, not nearly life size.
Hey, it's our one claim to fame, and we are proud of the Giant Symbol of Manhood. It's even in our logo:
Anyway, after that brief but stimulating detour,we headed into Ann Arbor, taking the scenic route down Washtenaw Avenue, passing many symbols of Southeastern Michigan living -- the Big Boy with the phallic bricks (no, I'm not obsessed. Shut up), the giant Arborland A, the alternate universe Bill Knapp's, the Rock, etc. Natalie several times was an unwilling participant in the joy of finding parking in Ann Arbor. (I think backing up in the parking structure was the capper here.) We first hit Aunt Agatha's, an awesome mystery bookstore with new and used books. I'd picked up four books before Natalie succumbed to any, but I broke her down by finding 3 of the first 4 Kathleen Taylor books, while I came away with the two Catherine LeVendeur mysteries I didn't already have, a like-new Elizabeth Peters stand-alone, a Miriam Grace Monfredo, and an ancient Crocodile on the Sandbank with a completely ridiculous and inappropriate cover, which unbeknownst to Natalie was actually for her. She'd admired it so. We then made the clerk think we were insane by channeling the Wonder Twins ("moderator powers, activate") when we found an appropriate symbol of our awesome power just before we left the store.
We wandered down to Main Street and ended up at Conor O'Neill's for dinner, which is a nifty Irish pub-type place owned by an actual Irishman named Conor. I received the biggest splinter in the world from the bit-too-authentic rough wood door, and Natalie and a sort-of cute waiter got it out for me. The waiter was unduly fascinated by the operation. We read informative placemats about Gaelic football, which sounds more complicated than Quidditch, and had a lovely fish-and-chips dinner. (You left your fish in my fridge, Natalie!) I left a nice tip for the waiter for service above-and-beyond, and we drove (it was getting cold) to the other side of campus to the Safe Sex Store on South U., which used to be far more cleverly named Condomnation. We admired the variety and didn't even pretend to be blase, as the clerk was involved in a long complicated saga on the phone, about her wallet being stolen and used to buy hundreds of dollars of things at a Meijers at 3 in the morning. It really added to the experience, I must say. We then heard the mother ship calling and headed over to the Borders world headquarters store, which we saw maybe one-quarter of before we got really tired and decided it was time to head back to my house. I actually bought nothing there, and Natalie only purchased one item. We did have fun in the children's section playing with freaky Bob the Builder toys.
We adjourned home, where we got to see Blue and YMB playing video games, and then watched much tv. We sat giggling through Skate Canada (Michelle Kwan fell on her ass, and there's some sexy new skater guy with an unfortunate '80's haircut), cheerleading championships, Labor and Delivery on TLC, something that purported to be Training Mules and Donkeys but was actually a preacher from the Cowboy Church of the American West, who you would think could have mules, but no. Off to the Game Show Network, with, in succession, Match Game, Press Your Luck, the old Newlywed Show, and the new one. Then something with Alan Thicke came on, involing current and ex-boyfriends, and we were driven to turn the tv off and go to bed at 3 am.
I got up at 7 and managed to shower and get dressed after much infusion of Mountain Dew. Blue came home in time to help get YMB ready for school, then we dropped him off and I drove Natalie back to her dad's, where I got to meet her adorable puppy dog.
Then I turned around and came back to work, and here I am, having done next-to-no-work whatsover. But GrandmaBoss is in Lisbon, so really, what does she expect.
It was a great evening, and it was soooo nice to go out with a girl-friend instead of a husband-friend. I don't have that many female friends and almost none local, so I don't get to giggle over ice skating that often anymore. It was fun. And now I am tired.
11:59 a.m. - 2001-11-06
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