Saturday night was much more subdued than Friday had been, but that was only on the outside. In my own head it seemed much more frantic.

I'll blame this on the fact that I was completely exhausted. I got up too early, then I spent the afternoon at my sister's delayed wedding reception. After I made a quiet exit from there I had a fitful nap before going to Rich O's a little after 8:00.

The place was pretty full. A slew of strangers had taken over the red room, and the rest of the place was full of PBDs.

I ordered a frenchy beer (250) and sat on the loveseat for a while and talked to the PBDs, but I was feeling pretty claustrophobic so I ended up moving to the end of the bar where I stood for most of an hour.

WomanRepellant came in and sat at the kiddie table, so I went over and joined him at about the same time that I ordered a Bell's Kalamazoo Stout (430). In all of my excitement over the impending arrival of (and my disappointment over the delay of) Rogue Chocolate Stout I'd completely forgotten that the Bell's was a DaveFest selection that was already available. It was quite good.

At one point ElPresidente relinquished the throne so I moved there. WomanRepellant and I spent a lot of time just bullshitting, mostly about ExoticGirl and how pretty she was.

HatGirl had told me on Friday night that she'd be in on Saturday, but it was after 10:00 and I was starting to figure that she wasn't going to be in after all. This put me in a bad mood but, to be honest, my mood hadn't been that great to begin with. My third beer was a yummy Newcastle (2020).

At 10:45 or so I finished my Newcastle and had decided to leave. No HatGirl and no Rogue Chocolate Stout makes Dave something something.

Or something like that.

Just to be safe, I shot HatGirl a text message along the lines of, "Are you coming?" or something equally brilliant.

No pun intended, really.

About 3.4 seconds after I sent the text message, HatGirl and LuckyFucker walked in.

I bet you think that you know what's coming next, don't you?

Well, you're right:

HatGirl!

Yay!

My mood instantly better, I ordered another Newcastle (2040).

There was much shuffling of seats while HatGirl and I talked about website stuff. At one point the seat shuffling found LuckyFucker and HatGirl and I all crammed into the loveseat. That is certainly a memory that will stay with me for a long time.

To be honest, I don't remember much else. I know that HatGirl and LuckyFucker left after a while, and that I talked some more with WomanRepellant and ElPresidente and FirstLady.

No White Castle last night. I was too fucking tired.

Wanting to do something, that doesn't make me a bad person.

Having to use every bit of restraint that I have left in me to keep from doing something, that doesn't make me a bad person either.

Nope, what makes me a bad person is that I will not allow myself to learn from this. Just as I've not allowed myself to learn from any of the dozen or so almost identical episodes.

What makes me a bad person is that I will not allow myself to simply be that which I claim to be. I have to be someone else. Someone tempted yet restrained.

Some kind of fucking martyr to my own desires.

Poor, poor me.

(continued)

Night two will begin shortly, after my jeans finish dewrinkling in the dryer.

I've decided that trying to describe, in order, everything that was said and done last night would be (a) hard, and (b) inaccurate, so I'm just going to list the highlights that I can think of and leave it at that.

My fourth beer was a yummy Newcastle (2000) and I'll once again take this opportunity to thank Roger for this treat.

Beer number five was a Delirium Tremens (503). This was the only strong beer I had all night.

My sixth beer was another frenchy one (230).

Remember, most of these beers were only 10-ounce pours. I paced myself very well.

Throughout the night, I had the opportunity to talk to several people on topics ranging from (a) who the fuck am I and why am I so special? to (b) does this mean that I'm buying all the beer?

EwokGirl's posse made me feel very special by hooting and hollering every time I walked past them going to or from the bathroom. Their chants of, "We're not worthy" really warmed my heart.

Shortly after Dina and Kenny left the clothing started coming off. I'm afraid that most of the remaining pictures (stored in SassyGirl's camera) will not be suitable for public viewing. One, in particular, was taken of me when one of my friends was molesting me. It will be interesting to see what she remembers.

Once the clothing went back on, HatGirl and LuckyFucker came in.

HatGirl!

Yay!

SassyGirl tells me that I've got to stop doing that whenever I write about HatGirl. Problem is, if I stop now then everyone will wonder if I'm angry or something. So I'll keep doing it.

At one point most of the girls went over to drink shots at Jack's. I stayed and talked with WomanRepellant for a while.

We ended up closing the place down.

I went to White Castle then came home.

(continued)

The first two arrivals besides myself were TallLady and UplandWheatDude. I sat in the throne and talked with them for a bit until the floodgates opened up and people started flocking to the area. Before too long, the scene looked like this:

Let's see, going from left to right: My sister Neisha's hand, UplandWheatDude, My lovely self, MisunderstoodGirl, my sister Dina, Dina's husband Kenny, DooRagGirl, SassyGirl, and TacoBell. Just off-camera to the left was GlassesGirl, and off-camera elsewhere were MusicalHippyDude, TallLady, HornDog, and Neisha's husband Chris.

Notably absent when this picture was taken were HatGirl and LuckyFucker. They didn't show up until later.

Oh yeah, and EwokGirl and her posse were all out sitting in the loser section:

My sisters and their husbands all feel left out because they don't have fancy nicknames. I've been giving this some thought, and so maybe they'll get some before too long. We'll see.

The biggest surprise of the night, for me, was definitely the appearance of MisunderstoodGirl, who has been absent from my life for over six months now. I was so excited to see her that I leaped out of my chair and pretty much threw myself at her.

Let's see, my second beer was a Goose Island Honkers Ale (94). It seemed a little flat to me.

A grand time was had by all I think. One of the reasons that Roger chose me for this honor is that my beer tastes aren't too extreme. So everyone was able to find something that they liked. Even Neisha.

My third beer was a Weihehstephaner Hefeweissbier (1001).

I'm having a tough time figuring out what to write here. I guess I'll think about it some more. I've got to go to Dina's wedding reception now anyway.

(to be continued)

The hard part about writing this will be remembering what the fuck I had to drink.

But wait!

I wrote it all down!

So I guess the next hardest thing will be remembering who all showed up.

But wait!

There are pictures!

Maybe the hard part will be writing something that does justice to how much fun I had. Especially since I don't have much time to write anything. I've got to go to my sister's wedding reception before too long.

Oh, and I must buy cat food first.

For my cats, not for the reception. How white-trash do you think we are?

I took a day of vacation Friday, mainly to make sure that I could get my sleep schedule back on track, but also to play the new Half Life 2: Episode One game. I managed both feats, so it was worth it.

I left my house at about 5:30 and stopped by GasNStuff for some provisions.

VigilanteGirl was there!

Yay!

I hadn't seen her since she left for her new job, and I actually hadn't seen too much of her in the weeks before that. She's as pretty as ever. I invited her to DaveFest though I knew very well that she wouldn't come. It was nice to see her though.

Went to Wendy's for dinner, passing up the haunted Burger King because I didn't want my mood to be spoiled. Plus, I like Wendy's. So there.

I got to Rich O's very early for me, at a little after 6:00. My first evidence that this whole thing is real and not some kind of sick joke was the front door:

They probably scared some customers away with that sign.

The next evidence came in the form of the beer board:

The DaveFest beers are the ones with the logo next to their listings.

Finally, this is the sign that announced that the living room area was reserved for me and my group:

Now, having 10 of my favorite beers on tap at the same time presents a bit of a logistical problem. Especially when I start drinking before 7:00. I knew that I'd have to really pace myself if I was going to make it through the night. So I resolved to only have half-pints, and I also resolved to start out with the lower alcohol selections.

Accordingly, my first selection was a Two Brothers Domain DuPage French Style Country Ale (210), or "that frenchy beer" as I like to call it, just to save time. I hadn't had this in a couple of years. It was yummy of course. As good I remembered.

(to be continued)

Not too long ago, I'd have been sad because she wasn't there to share tonight with me.

But now I'm thinking that she's always with me.

She never went anywhere.

That was someone else.

Someone that I never knew at all.

Just a catalyst, actually.

With sparkling eyes.

You know what would have made my Friday night better than it was?

Me neither.

I'm very excited.

Slipping deeper into insanity than ever before - it's probably a really stupid reason to be excited.

But here I go anyway.

Smiling as I slide away from the truth.

Laughing as reality recedes into the distance.

Grinning from ear to ear as the happy lies loom larger and larger.

Wheeeeeeeee!

It's so dark tonight.

I like the dark.

In the darkness, I can see her.

The waxing Moon and the cloudy skies press down upon me, and I shiver.

My soul reaches out for warmth, and it finds her.

I wish that this night would never end.

It's perfect.