She picks me up after work. It’d begun to rain again, so I’m happy for the respite from the bus. I’d emailed her the night before and, responding after I got to work, we’d decided to hang out this evening. I was expecting to go to my place, but I think she has different ideas. She was hanging out with my roommate until he blew her off in a rather indifferent, callus way so my place might have been too awkward, even if my roommate was probably elsewhere so we choose to go to her place. We stop by Albertson’s for some beer. She wants some “light” beer; to avoid a beer gut but I insist on something less inane. I can’t afford much so I get a 12 pack of Pabst. PBR isn’t that bad for cheap beer; it’s probably the best of the mass market piss beers. The cashier tells us that the Goth look is going well for us and that 6 beers each won’t be enough. She says I don’t look anywhere near 30. She’s correct about the beer, of course, but I wasn’t expecting to stay up as late as we did. There is a security guard near the entrance of her apartment complex. The gates haven’t been working for some reason and the bourgeois paranoia has set in on some of the residents. She hurls some slurs at the fast food fattened goons she calls neighbors as we slosh through the rain to her door. She and her roommate have a selection of board games; so quaint in this day of high powered personal computers and LAN parties. She has the same edition of Trivial Pursuit as I do (Genus IV) and we begin with that. I think it might be time to buy the 6th edition. She also has a few other games I enjoy. If I’d known I was coming over earlier in the day I would have brought my dominoes (uh, and a change of clothes.) I definitely would have brought a change of clothes. Since I hadn’t known I was going anywhere after work, I was wearing my dorky bulky black sweater over a white Microsoft tee-shirt that we’d gotten a box of when Service Pack II came out. We drink a bit faster than I realize and have to return for some more beer and cloves. She smokes Djarum Blacks, I smoke Sampoerna X-tras, but I have to settle for Djarum Specials, the least desirable of the brands since this store has such a small selection. Returning to her place, we switch to Scattergories; a game I’ve never played before. She’s okay at Trivial Pursuit but I’d won two games in a row and it was time for something else. It’s refreshing to be able to play this game with someone I won’t completely fucking massacre. Scattergories is a little more difficult for me. You roll a die to determine a letter and then have a limited time to think up words that begin with that letter to fit in pre-determined categories. I’m good at crossword puzzles, but not so good at this one or Scrabble. Lateral thinking problems are always more complex. Perhaps I’ll get better. The time flew quickly; it was nearly 4 AM when I glanced at the clock. I try to aim for 2ish for bedtime, but this won’t kill me. It’s too late and we’re too drunk to drive me home, so of course I opt to stay. I haven’t slept in someone else’s bed in a while. Well, plenty of fun I have to say.