i've got thick skin and an elastic heart

I woke up this morning feeling like I had been hit by the truck that carried the gin to Healdsburg. That's not entirely fair to the gin; it's not the gin's fault that I had a cocktail and two glasses of wine, and relatively little food, before embarking on the gin endeavor. Nor can it be held responsible for the fact that I was still sipping on the cognac the bartender had given me before the gin came into my life. Also, it's quite possible that what I was feeling this morning wasn't because of the gin, and was instead because I stuffed two large, very gluten-loaded cookies into my mouth at one a.m. - they'd been left in my room by housekeeping when I checked in, and were the only food around, and I was starving and not making particularly wise decisions.

C'est la vie, I guess. I still have no regrets, as predicted when I wrote my second blog post last night. However, I was close to having regrets, since I woke up later than I'd planned, desperate for more sleep, also desperate for water/ibuprofen, and with the knowledge that I couldn't dally because I had to make it back to SF for a baby shower. So I rallied, grabbed breakfast (included with the room - they had a lovely buffet spread with smoked salmon, ham, cheese, and a great crustless quiche, all of which went a long way toward restoring my spirits and my liver), grabbed more coffee, and threw my stuff in my car so I could make the drive home.

Luckily, I hit no traffic, so I was able to take a shower, dry my hair, and make myself over into some semblance of a responsible adult. Then I went to the baby shower for Adit and Priyanka (who are about to produce a key, up-and-coming star of "family time: the next generation"). It was at their house, mostly in the backyard, and it was LOVELY (note: Jess predicted that I would say it was lovely, since I apparently use that word waaaay too much, but she didn't predict that I would capitalize it, so I'm still capable of surprising people!).

Truly, though, it was v. lovely. While Chandlord and Katrina were nowhere to be found due to other obligations (some of which were on the east coast), many other key players showed up. I arrived at the same time as John and Jess, who survived their first earthquake in their new house last week (since their house is directly on top of the Hayward fault, earthquakes are somewhat tricksy for them), and shortly after Claudia (aka Santy Claude), who helped make it clear to everyone (okay, I did that on my own) that I have no idea what day of the week it is most of the time.

But I also talked to other people whom I either hadn't seen in awhile (Peder, aka Timmy, and his wife Suzy, who now have two children; he and I got into a massively dramatic fight and will likely never talk again, but that's cool), or whom I've met before but never had a long conversation with (Annie, whom I hope to talk to again more often!), or whom I always enjoy talking to because of the slightly ridiculous things I hear when engaging with the younger generation (Adit's cousin Samir, who told us how great Croatia is, and then said 'it's the only place I've been and I wanted to contribute to the conversation'). I also ate some tasty Indian food, which may not have been the best thing for my general digestion since I'm #basic, but it was good nonetheless.

Eventually, though, I had to give my final good wishes to Adit and Priyanka (including telling Priyanka it's her duty and privilege to treat her kid as a fashion accessory for at least the first few years, so I look forward to seeing what she puts on that baby), say goodbye to the rest of the family, and try to restore my ravaged body/mind. For some reason, rather than taking the nap I should have taken, I walked all the way to the Marina - I think I needed to move so the toxins wouldn't keep sitting in my liver. I grabbed an early dinner at Aix, and I had a delightful convo with two women at the bar who also mourn the loss of Des Amis and Nettie's Crab Shack - if Aix goes out of business, I'm going to have to give up on SF and move to Paris.

sssanyway, then I came home, and I should have gone to bed immediately even though it was only eight p.m., but instead I picked up an old standby ("Sunshine" by Robin McKinley, which I haven't reread in its entirety in a couple of years). Even though I know it almost by heart in places, I still somehow read half of it even though I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open.

So now I'm going to sleep, and sleep as long as I can, and then hermit the fuck out of tomorrow so I can get some writing done. Goodnight!

[p.s. Jessica also commended me on never lying on zee blog, but that's not, perhaps, an entirely accurate depiction of the truthiness of my blog (although I'm generally truthy). So, fun new game, I told a lie today - can you spot it?!]