worth all the tea that's fit to print.

(even mixed metaphors are beginning to seem cliche)

so you know how you feel when you wish you could go back to "then" with "them" to relive "it" just for another day, an hour even...?

i totally got to do that! only with fewer people, a new location, and a good deal more alcohol (well, more than "then" for me at least).

Act I. The Society Reunion

friday afternoon i left my parents' house to the tune of my mother saying "good bye" (read: good riddance) "go be with your own kind!" (seriously!) so i drive to charleston to buy a coat and watch carolina lose to missouri over a few beers. then had a delightful cocktail party at megan and jason's. all the generation 1 newman clubbers were there, 'cept the ones that weren't. we drank and talked and played poker and i gave jeff my extra toothbrush - it was way fun.

Act II, Scene 1. Good Friends, Good Times.

saturday (after telling tom i would have to be home doing inventory with my parents on sunday - sorry tom) i called lauren. spur of the moment govie plans tend to trump all - and by tend i mean will tend as these are the first govie plans i've taken part in...

me: hi lauren, it's paula. how are you?
lauren: hi, just waking up. do you want to come to charleston?
me: i'm in charleston . do you want to entertain me for a while? :)
lauren: yea! (or something equally happy) meet ryan and i downtown at 1.

so i did, and we had a blast - they snuck up on my in the pauline bookstore. i'm perusing a biography of teilhard de chardin and lauren says "hi" really close to my head. which scared me. but not as much as ryan's hands sticking through the bookshelf right in front of me. dude.

ryan (my now-gay ex - well one of them. g-school is a crazy place i tell you.) got some shirts next door at br. and it was so hot in that store lauren and i were about to pass out... don't they know how the thermostat works? it was like 80 degrees outside.

we ate a couple bites at the majestic and filled shan and zach in on the plan. they would meet us later that night to go to ryan's pre-party.

Act II, Scene 2. The Calm Before the Storm.

we walked back to my car and drove to lauren's house about 30 seconds away. it was the first of many times i would pass the cathedral on december 31st, 2005 and january 1st, 2006.

we talked, i got a tour of lauren's apt, admired her crown molding (which was not at all like crown molding, if you live in a new house) and checked my e-mail (read: updated facebook - i've determined it's the new aim) i changed and met jeff for mass - thanks jeff! i also promised jeff i wouldn't drive after 10. and i kept my word.

Act II, Scene 3. Pre-Party.

zach arrived just in time to pick up lauren, jen, ryan, and myself after two bottles of champagne, though "picking us up" was definitely not his intention. there just weren't any cabs and since he'd driven there, he was the only one still qualified to be behind the wheel. thanks zach!

also there was alison skipper (whose boyfriend is somehow related to the ryans) whom i went to college with and jen was in jcl with in high school! we think it's a small world now, wait til we all graduate from grad school i guess...

shan arrived shortly after we did and looked fabulous as all bond girls must. she was wearing her ass-kicking boots and a sexy tank (why that's important, i'm not sure, but since i already wrote it, there it is)... we returned to lauren's house to make the trek to the blind tiger - where my new favorite beer garden is located (all the former ones being in another hemisphere, it's nice to have one close-by). my heeled boots were remarkably friendly to me all the way there...

Act III, Scene 1. The Blind Tiger.

as all of us are non-smokers and a few of us outspokenly against hanging out in a smoke-filled room, we passed quickly through to the yard out back.

luckily for me, lauren owed me money from earlier in the day, so she got me a beer (partly out of cheapness, partly out of ignorance, and partly out of laziness i don't really like mixed drinks. we'll call the ratio 40:40:20). we stood by the bar in back of the... bar and tried to get as far away from the space heaters as possible... again people with no internal temperature regulators were in charge of the heat. it was still around 65 when we got there at 10.

michael arrived with john (a hard-rock geologist, who called me "water weenie" all night. once a geologist determines whether he or she is going into hard-rock, hydro, petrol, volcano, seismics, physics, or any number of other related earth sciences, he or she is marked for life - i'm happy to be marked a hydro, and will even put up with the term "water weenie" if it makes those sorry hard-rockers happy.) michael is one of those people who fits in with everyone all the time, making him a truly enjoyable friend to have around. oh, did i mention ryan and michael are roommates? the randomness keeps on comin'.

ball drop. kiss kiss.

michael took ryan home about 20 minutes later and came back in plenty of time for:

Act III, Scene 2. "The After Party."

yes, those quotes are supposed to be there.

another michael (jewish michael, i believe is his full name), joey (who looks like jewish michael at 2 am) and some other guy who were all fawning about our favorite bond girl informed us of an after party. we said we'd be there and because of my friend's and my various states of drunkenness, these guys had us repeat the address back to them over and over - which i was fed up with and began repeating in spanish and then french as well to the point that once we'd left the tiger and were actually trying to locate the place, someone had to remind me to tell them in english once we got into a cab.

we walked almost to the cathedral and jen, who had informed us earlier of her excellent cab-hailing skills, hailed a cab (expertly). the problem was, we didn't need a cab. once we were all in (i'll explain in a sec) we drove around the block and down one street. we paid and got out.

now as for getting in. there were 6 of us and jen hopped up front and closed the door. the rest of us slid across the backseat. me, zach, shan, lauren, and john (why don't i remember where michael was?) well, being on the open door side, john made several valiant efforts at shutting it and finally decides "whatever, we'll leave it open." the memory of which made my face and gut hurt laughing about it sunday afternoon. it seemed totally logical at 2 am. somehow, it shut, and we drove our few yards.

the address we're looking for is no where to be seen. we see 18, 36, 24, 19, 35... no twenty six. no veintiseis, no vingt six. though i did continue to look for it in all three languages. we're slightly cold, slightly sobering, and very bummed out... lauren and john have left us so michael, shan, zach, jen, and i continue to pace the street we're supposed to be on. to no avail. back to the cathedral. no luck with various phone numbers. by now, michael is so sober he offers to drive us back to lauren's and we, though disappointed, accept. except for jen, who was so intent on hailing a cab earlier, but would do nothing but walk now. zach walked with her the few blocks back.

collapsing at lauren's we give up on the alleged "after party" and go to sleep. shan and i on the floor, zach on the couch, lauren and jen in lauren's bed. since zach is wearing a fleece hat and jeans, i figure it's okay to ask him for one of the three blankets his has draped over his person. "sure" he says. then "oh, not that one..." which i found highly amusing, especially considering that, this blanket, shan and i had to share it... :)

Act IV, Scene 1. Blessed Morning of Silence.

blink. blink. i woke up at 7:15 with a crick in my neck and no hope of returning to sleep. i got up, washed, changed, and crept out the back door for a walk. i took lauren's keys so they wouldn't lock me out, but i also took my phone so they could call me once they were up - they didn't.

i walked down the street toward the water and around on the sidewalk. i considered a stop in for a cup of tea, but i think the 24-hr diner was closed. i read my book for an hour around the ugly concrete pond and played ethologist with all the predators and prey that seemed to think it was beautiful. many people were out, most walking dogs. i was jealous. i have to say though, that even without the ecstasy of true reminiscence with true friends, that morning hour would have made the whole trip to charleston worth while.

when i walked back in at lauren's everyone was up, meaning sitting up, mostly in their respective sleeping locales. we got dressed and ready for breakfast. nothing's open. the one place whose door was unlocked pushed us back out again - they wouldn't open til 11 they said. why!?! we wanted grease, they made pizza, it was a match made in heaven.

we rounded a corner a good 10 blocks past our intended breakfast stop. hillary clinton strolls by, black suits in tow. she's obviously just getting up, out for an easy morning stroll inspiring us all by this commitment to health that she and bill have made.

finally! sweetgrass cafe on market st. excellent food, fast and cheap. nice atmosphere. lauren has the quote of the morning: "oh God, i can't eat anything - i'll have shrimp and grits." we grimace, but don't say anything, she eats two bites now, the rest around 3 pm.

Act IV, Scene 2. A Farewell with Arms.

the day is delightful. i am slow to return to my now-hometown. leaving these newfound old friends is harder than i thought. luckily, i at least have their phone numbers now.

happy new year everyone. God bless.