In fact, the only people to stay at the LNBOE later than us were the Evils themselves, and they were locking the door before we made it to the corner. For two people as generally run-down and exhausted as Elvis and I, staying out until 5 o'something in the morning is not the best of ideas. You'd think we'd know better. . . well, maybe not.

On the other hand, Elvis didn't get back from work until half past midnight, so what else could we do? I didn't get to the pub myself until past eleven.

It was a fairly standard night at the pub. We played darts and I shot fairly well, which was good. Also, we came perilously close to acquiring another cat. I've actually been thinking of getting a kitten for Calliope, but I'm not sure a full grown cat would be such a good idea. Still, the cat in question is a stray confined to one room because the resident cat has feline AIDS so she can't have any contact with her, so I'm going to do my best to help find her a new home. It's a very nice cat, apparently, although I haven't met her myself.

Pooka Boy said he was exhausted and going home to bed at around 1 am, when he left the pub. When we finally got to the LNBOE at around 2:30 or so, there he was, large as life and sitting at a table with four or five girls. He was looking exhausted at that point, but he was looking pretty happy as well, which probably explains why he stayed on, dancing up a storm until 4 am.

I don't think he felt very well this morning, but then again I could be wrong.

I felt fine, myself, when I got up around 12:30 today. Aside from the backache, that is. My three week bout of PMS has finally culminated in some truly devastating cramps, and my frantic searching resulted in my finding no ibuprofen whatsoever. I took a couple of aspirin, and they seem to have had no effect whatsoever. The cramps are gone now, which is good, but I'll probably forget to go to the pharmacy and buy some ibuprofen until next month, and by the time I discover I need it again it will be too late. I put it on the shopping list, though, so maybe that will help.

Elvis has gone to work again. Deadline is approaching fast-- much, much too fast-- and everybody is stressed out and weary. Poor Elvis. Hopefully, he won't have to work so late tonight, although you never know.

I finally got my hair cut last week. I say finally because I haven't had it cut since February or something like that. I went to a new hairdresser. I was happy with the woman whom I used to go to, but this guy is closer and gay. Stereotypical or not, I firmly believe that gay men are the best hairdressers in the world. My top three hairstylists of all time are gay, starting with the guy who ran off to Chicago with his boyfriend. The woman he recommended was good and nice and all that, but my hair never looked as good after that. Until, that is, I found another gay hairdresser after I moved, and so on.

Anyway, this guy is fantastic! My hair is down to my shoulders now-- it had grown past them, actually. It no longer looks mullet-like at all, he darkened the blonde to something close to my natural color but more gorgeous since it has highlights in it and stuff. He cut it so that I could just let it dry naturally and it would be kind of curly and messy and funky, but "just for fun" he blew it dry straight.

The straight hair was a BIG hit. People didn't recognize me at first, to the extent that a few eyebrows got raised when their owners thought Elvis was cavorting with another woman. Elvis loves it straight, too. In fact he adores it, so now I'm pretty much stuck with straight hair.

Not that I mind. I like it straight. It looks good. However, this has got to be the most labor intensive hair style I have ever, ever had. To get it all sleek and glossy and stick straight, I have to section it with clips (which I had to buy) and blow dry it, slowly and with a round bristle brush, which I also had to buy. This takes at least ten minutes, twenty if I make a good job of it, which I don't really do. I have to put a straightening, smoothing blow-dry lotion in it beforehand, which I also had to buy. I'm not all that good with the blow-drying (which, by the way, is something that someone with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, such as myself, shouldn't really be doing: it hurts), so my hair comes out all poofy and curled under at the ends, so I had to go out and buy a straightening iron. This involves clipping the hair up in sections again, then letting a little bit of it down at a time, starting at the back, straightening it, combing it through, then letting a little bit more down, and so forth. It looks great, but it takes twenty minutes just to straighten it all. It used to take 30 or 40, but I'm getting better at it. Even so, I don't see any future increased efficiency shortening the time it takes much further. I've tried letting it dry naturally and then straightening it, but the time saved on blow drying is wasted because it takes longer to straighten if it's curly. Also, it doesn't look as good, although I'm not sure why.

So, to summarize: labor intensive, expensive, fabulous hair. One out of three ain't bad, I suppose, although now that I've got all the tools I won't have to buy them again. I did let it dry naturally one day last week, and my mother said it looked really cute. If my mother didn't think it looked good, believe you me, she would have said so. Elvis, when pressed, said it looked "kind of cute, in a curly sort of way", which I'm pretty sure is code for "please, please straighten it", so straight it is unless I'm running really late. Maybe now that things are returning to normal and we don't need to go out every night, I'll let it dry naturally more often.

To change the subject (provided I haven't bored you all with too much hair talk), I would like to thank all of you who emailed me wondering if I was all right during my prolonged absence. I'm touched, and it means a lot to me to think that I have such concerned and caring readers. Thank you.