A post in which I stay out far, far too late

But I had a great time!

Work went pretty well today. We had free lunch again. It was Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches, but Anna hooked me up with a veggie option and I had some pasta. I had that thing happen again when I went up to the counter. They were changing out the meat tray in the lunch line, and when they started stirring it around, it just smelled absolutely vile. Of course I didn't say anything. I'm hoping this isn't going to turn into a thing. I wouldn't mention it here, but this is so totally new for me.

After work, I had things all planned out. I brought clothes and towels and stuff so I could work out, shower in the locker room, and meet Kimbley, Laura, and Anna for dinner at Sushi-Masa. That worked out great. I had forgotten cigarettes, so I stopped and got a pack of Camel Crushes. They don't even come in a light version. The first one about took the top of my head off, since I usually smoke Marlboro Ultra-lights. Prolly not a good idea to escalate. Usually I only smoke Crushes at Russ's after we've been hanging out for a while. Still, the first thing I usually want after a workout is a cigarette, for some perverse reason. I needed to have a pack anyway, since I always smoke around K&L, and Anna usually bums off me (not that I mind, I am a shameless cigarette bum myself).

I had long-standing plans with Anna for tonight, but I had forgotten that the bear dinner was tomorrow night, and had made plans with Kimbley and Laura for then. I kind of had to be at the bear dinner since I am the host this month. Fortunately, I was able to move K&L to Friday night, and include Anna for game night, so everyone was happy. The food at Masa was fabulous, as always, and I was able to introduce K&L to it since they had never been there. Anna had been there with me before, so she was all ready for it. They also had monk fish liver tonight, which is not only delectable, but a delicacy that is rather hard to find around here. Masa is the only place in town I know of that serves it. K&L didn't seem to care for it, but Anna is even more enthusiastic about it than I am. We ate two of them. My sister Angela introduced me to it when I was on the West Coast visiting her. I have loved it ever since.

A very blurry picture of Kimbley, Laura, and Anna at our table at Sushi-Masa. Yummmmm

After dinner, we headed for K&L's house for games. On the way though, we stopped for ice and had the nicest, most entertaining convenience store clerk I think I have ever talked to. I always make a point of being as pleasant as possible to them, since I have done that work and it is a thankless job. Anna, however, goes beyond pleasant. She just has this way of interacting with people as if she just expects them to already be her friend, and they respond in kind. It's a gift she has no idea she has, it just comes naturally to her. We left with ice, cigarettes (Anna is hard core - she was asking for Lucky Strikes! I'm like "What is this, the 20's??" They didn't have any, so she changed the request to "anything unfiltered", but had to settle for Marlboro Reds), and a Barak Obama fake Zippo lighter that Anna decided she just couldn't live without - despite having been an big Hillary supporter during the election.

The game tonight was Scrabble. I'm not a huge Scrabble player, but K&L have apparently become ardent devotees, and that was what they had invited me to play originally. I like playing games you can talk over, and Scrabble is a game where you're spending a lot of time thinking, so it isn't conducive to conversation. But we took breaks and went outside to smoke, and had cocktails, and pretty much anything I do with K&L is fun.

After Scrabble, we played a couple of rounds of Taboo, my most favorite game in the world. K&L beat Anna and I, but it was still fun. It was late in the evening, so some of the answers were pretty hilarious.

I got to bed about 3:30am! Sheesh, I'm gonna be dead tomorrow.