so...st. patrick's day has come to a close...while many may feel that an 11 p.m. ending time is way too early, keep in mind that the day began almost 16 hours ago...

it feels like it's at least 2 a.m. i was determined to have a good time, and i did. going to rira's at 9 in the morning was an interesting experience, but i'm glad we went there instead of what ales you...i liked the rira's crowd and it's larger and more comfortable. the irish ambiance further helped. had my long island (naturally) and was good. the rest of the day was spent on campus...

stood by meg's house around 11:30 or noon watching erica, sean, meg and the like playing drinking wiffleball (you reach a base, you have to drink the beer placed there), dropkick murphys blaring through josh & nick's living room windows. we bounced about, singing along to "barroom heroes", wearing our green and drinking our various beverages. some graduated members of that group were back for the weekend. it felt good to know that the defender was ahead of schedule and be stress-free and goofy for a day.

the day was an opportunity for random pdrunken photo ops, a chance to see people i haven't had a chance to visit with for awhile, and time to have fun. becca partied like a rock star and, to the best of my knowledge, avoided christening a jacques...it was good to be able to have a free day on both of our schedules and hang out...we stopped by our old house during the afternoon and sat on the porch...i perched in my old spot (resting on the railing with my back on the wall and my foot against the crosspost) while becca sat perpendicular to me, and there was an odd sense of displacement--i settled into my little place like i'd never left, stretching out my legs and again loving the fact that the crosspost's location is just right for me to rest my feet on and fully strech out my legs--but at the same time, almost a year has gone by and so much has changed. i was glad to have becca there for the experience.

on our way back from downtown, we stopped at the bevy and we had a discussion about goldschlager--the last (and only) time i'd ever had it was during my senior year of high school, visiting josh at elmira, and i remembered that i'd loved it--and i said i needed to have it again before i graduated. less than two hours later, jeremy led me into his house and told me that i needed to have a drink and pulled out a bottle of goldschlager. so i had my shot and was content.

i'm interested in knowing if the st. patrick's day revelry here is anything like at other colleges. i talked to lars tonight before he headed out to go drinking, and he asked me why we were having such an early night. after i explained that we were at the bars at 9 a.m., he was floored and asked about the day, asking, "is this just an irish thing or something?" but considering that the uvm kids were nowhere to be found this morning and the bar scene, other than the unruly students of the catholic institution i attend (ah, my heathens, how i love thee), was dead, i had to reply that, at least around this area, it appears to be a st. mike's thing. is it?

now, all the stands between me and my bed is ten defender proofs that need to be edited. technically i should read over the section from lolita more carefully, but i know enough of it to get by in class tomorrow. and, considering the long, random day, the last thing i want to focus on right now is forty-year-old humbert humbert having sex with a twelve-year-old girl. c'est la vie.