Man, I slept half the day away. That's what my dad used to say, when I was a kid, if I slept beyond like 9:00. Well this morning I slept until 11:00. It's so gloomy outside that I guess my body got fooled into thinking it was still just after sunrise.

Anyway.

Like I already said, it was very crowded last night. Standing-room only.

Actually this brings up a question I've had nagging at me.

Is it standing-room only, or standing room only, or standing-room-only? I can never figure out the rules for whether there should be hyphens or not.

So I stood at the end of the bar and MusicalYuppieDude and I complained about the crowd together for a while. There was nothing on the draft board that really looked appealing to me, so I went back to one of my old standbys (or is it stand-bys?), a Smithwicks (1514) that went down very well.

A few minutes later I smelled something good to my left. I turned, and it was ThatOneHotGirl who I'd noticed when I'd fought through the crowd on the way in. We talked briefly for a few minutes. It was nice. I like girls.

Then this one dude left the end of the bar so I went and sat there. OracleDude was sitting at the kiddie table and I talked to him except for those times when ThatOneHotGirl would come over and sit next to me. We talked about beer and the food there and being drunk kids in our early twenties. It was her first time ever at Rich O's. She didn't know what she was drinking, "Some pale ale" is all she knew. I promised her that I'd try to find out for her.

Then a bunch of weirdoes left the island so ThatOneHotGirl went and joined her friends there. I went back to talking with OracleDude, and I ordered a bottle of Koningshoeven Quad (420). I left a couple of ounces in the bottle.

Oh yeah, one of the bartenders was in a really terrible mood. I was actually a little concerned that he was going to go postal on everyone. I was certainly too frightened to ask him for an empty sample glass. I'm pretty sure that he'd have thrown it at me. So, once FutureDude slowed down enough, I asked him for one instead.

Then I poured the rest of my Koningshoeven into the sample glass and took it over to ThatOneHotGirl.

Yes, I was that smitten already. I wouldn't give up that beer to just any girl. But it gave me a chance to talk to her for a few more precious seconds. And to meet her boyfriend. I know, oh well.

After a while, TallLady left the throne and I moved there.

Spent the next couple of hours talking with various semi-regulars and waving at ThatOneHotGirl when she'd turn around and see me. I was in a very strange mood, and to prove that point, my next two beers were Upland Wheats (43). I don't even like that beer very much.

After a while, I had an urge to throw a wadded-up (should that be hyphenated?) napkin at ThatOneHotGirl. Just to get her attention so I could wave at her again. Because it had been a while. I asked MusicalYuppieDude and OracleDude if they thought beaning her with a napkin would be appropriate behavior, and OracleDude said he'd pay me five bucks if I did it. Well, I was going to do it anyway, so I took careful aim at the back of her head, and I let fly.

My aim was a little off - I hit her in the side. But this was partly because she and her entire group had chosen that moment to stand up and get ready to leave. ThatOneHotGirl felt the paper hit her, and she glared at this one girl who was sitting on the loveseat.

Well I couldn't have her being blamed for my misdeed, so I followed ThatOneHotGirl out front and confessed to her that it had been me. That I'd just wanted to talk to her again before she left. So she punched me (hard!) in the arm several times and laughed. I like her. She would be fun to make out (make-out?) with. But then her boyfriend came out from the bathroom and ruined everything. ThatOneHotGirl went off into the night, and I went back to the throne.

At least OracleDude owes me five bucks.

And this is about the point where my last entry picked up.

Or it is picked-up?

Those damn hyphens. They confuse me.

I should have asked her what her name was.