too bad i don't know the words to "la traviata"

I had an excellent day, but I'm totally exhausted and it's not made any better by my dire contemplation of the week ahead. I only slept for six hours last night, which didn't help matters. But, I successfully dragged myself out of bed and onto the bus down to the wharf, where I met up with my uncle/aunt/cousin for a helicopter tour of the bay. It was totally awesome -- for starters, we took off from the executive helipad/jetway at the San Francisco airport, which means we got to hang out in the executive lounge. The rich really do live differently from everyone else, judging by the lounge space. Then, the tour took us all over the city (I spotted my apartment building from the helicopter). The best, though, was that we flew over *and under* the Golden Gate Bridge. I didn't know you could fly under it, but we did; luckily I took Dramamine beforehand, or else I might have vomited. Finally, the pilot dropped us off in Sausalito, and a van was waiting to take us back to the city.

So, the helicopter ride was cool. After that, I parted ways with the family and made my way back to my apartment, and from there down to Samovar in Yerba Buena Gardens. For once, I didn't go by myself; instead, I met Tammy and Shedletsky, and we had a totally awesome, very relaxing, almost coma-inducing two hours of tea and food and more tea. I had my usual English service with smoked salmon quiche, salad, fruit, scone, and masala chai; Shedletsky had the same; and Tammy had a delicious-looking tea soup with some oolong tea. I followed that up with a pot of lapsang souchong, so it's a sign of how tired I am that I'm contemplating going to bed now despite the massive caffeine injection.

It was great to hang out with both of them, particularly in such a fabulous setting, and I appreciated that it felt just like old times as we spent a couple of hours brainstorming how to find me a rich husband so that I could have someone to support my writing (and, if we're lucky, them as well). My favorite idea was trying to score a thoroughbred owner at the Kentucky Derby, but I'm not sure I'm up to the task. After all that, we went to Nordstrom, where Shedletsky acted as a consultant while Tammy and I each bought a handbag. We then parted ways, and I managed not to cry over the thought of not seeing Tammy again for an unknown period of time :(

I came home around 5:30 with the intention of getting stuff done, but instead talked to my parents, did a bit of mindless surfing, ate some enchiladas, watched a bit of Craig, and read the latest edition of the RWA magazine. My brain's just too fried to work right now -- so I'm going to go to bed super early (it's still dusk here), then get up early tomorrow to start cracking on the week. It's going to be a mad dash to wrap stuff up before I get to DC, so we'll see how successful I am. Wish me luck!