Apologies to those with delicate sensibilities.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. FUCK. No, that has nothing to do with the rest of the post. Just needed to get it out, is all. *sigh*
I had fun last night. A lot of fun. I saw many people last night that I've missed. Scooter and Mike were there, unexpectedly. Lot of fun to see them. They ordered a $50 bottle of Chianti for themselves and despite that were genuinely good company. Mike got a little loquacious about sex and bongs, but we ignored him. Scooter is doing things that make me so incredibly jealous. If I had the money, I might waste it on liquor and other amusements, but in my heart of hearts I would do the same graduate program he is going to "dabble" in. Dan was there, and he finally told me something I had been rather impatiently wanting to hear. I wanted to hug him, but it would have been weird, so I just grinned and listened. Sarah and Jen, our birthday girls, were the life of the party and seemed to be enjoying the company even more than I was. Kevin gave extravagant gifts (for which I am still a little pissed at him) to select people and regaled the other side of the table with his new anecdotes. Two of Kevin's friends were also there, and seemed to be having a good time, despite not knowing any of the inside jokes we kept throwing out.
We ate, we drank. We closed the restaurant. We got disgusted looks from other patrons in response to our racy talk and boisterous laughter. So sorry to have been having a good time. We wished good things for each other. We made up stories about the couple that had sex in the ladies' bathroom. They're managers, or so we hypothesized. And they had sex because that's what managers do. (Dan and I were crying with laughter at this point.) And the triumphant, gloating look the woman threw us while walking past our table was all part of a nefarious plot to confuse us into leaving the restaurant. In stubborn opposition to this plan, we stayed for another half hour.
I wish Nic could have been there. But even then, it would have been a different gathering, one perhaps not as nice as what it actually turned out to be. So I don't wish for that very hard. Although I am thinking of doing something nice for him tomorrow.
I have good friends. I have good friends in close proximity. I have good friends around the globe, friends thousands of miles away, friends I haven't seen in ages. But they are still my friends. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
I'm also crying, but that's fine. It's because I've been reading "A Forfeit of Dreams" by K. L. Morgan. It's brilliant, it's Labyrinth fanfiction, and it's just so perfect that it hurts. I'm going to be busy for the next few days, ripping up every single word that I have ever written in a tribute to its greatness. Go. Read it. I'll be back when the snowstorm of shredded paper dies down. (Well, not really, but it sounds much more tragic and angsty than the fact that I must participate in Christmas preparations, which this year involve an inordinate amount of cleaning.) I'll miss you all, but I will be comforted by the fact that you will be reading good fanfic. *grins* TTFN, everybody.