My body aches. I am SUCH A WIMP. She had me on the piddly lowest settings of the weight machines and while it wasn't so bad DOING the weight lifting - for the last two days, my back and shoulders and arms have been sore. This is pathetic. I shudder to think what's going to happen when we start on the legs/abs work-outs.

Q and I went to Gay Bingo last night. We didn't even come close to winning. They've got it set up so that the rounds go really fast. People can win in four balls sometimes. They do a lot of talking and gimmicky stuff in-between, though. We did win $2 in pull tabs - this guy at our table kept buying them for us.

After the games, we were followed home by a drunk gay man who kept calling us "silly little people." He was the "greatest intellectual mind" that we will ever meet. He peed on the new apartment complex that went up on the corner.

Becca was having a birthday party. There were lots of nice people here. I caught up a bit with Q. Then I did dishes post-party with Becca's friend Daniel. I made conversation.

This morning, I went to get Dim Sum with Q and her mom, K. Also present were the lady I stayed with when I first moved here - Aida, and Melissa, Elizabeth and Mia. These are all friends of K. She makes friends with the most wonderful people. She and Q are both magnets for all sorts (unfortunately, that sometimes includes the drunk gay great-intellectual sorts). We sampled many gelatinous Chinese foods (gelatinous being a word that you will never see on a menu)and K told us some stories of her youth (breaking into places in Morocco, her adventures with the hashish smuggler, how she thought that Q was a tapeworm before she knew she was pregnant etc.).

And then I hoofed it up to Mrs. Roboto's for a lovely tree decorating party - the catch being that the ornament had to be one that I made that somehow represented me. First, I'd made a little rag-doll me complete with camera, book, and a dress made from a scrap my African Dance Class skirt. But then, giving someone an effigy of myself to decorate their tree with seemed really weird and not-too-Christmas-y. Besides, how do I know that she wouldn't stick pins in it? So I also made a little card with some photos I'd taken. Leave it to me to go overboard. I'm terrible when i go to parties - I always get so nervous about what I'm wearing and what I'm bringing and stuff. I always make two or three dishes for every potluck - in case there's something wrong with one of them. I get dressed three or four times - and if the party has some theme or dress code, I freak out and decide not to go at the last minute. I always have a back-up plan! But anyway, I had a great time - it was the first party I've been to in a while where I felt comfortable enough to talk to everyone right away. And Mr. and Mrs. Roboto are wonderful storytellers. And as you all know, that's my number-one favorite quality I look for in my friends - storytelling skills.

Ugh. So I have to get up very early tomorrow to work out with that trainer lady again. Pray for my poor muscles.