hmmm. Straight Night.

   It's funny how so many people sort of hate Mondays and what they usually stand for--back to work, the end of a free weekend--while I LOVE Mondays.  They are my one free, totally-up-to-me day of the week.  Sometimes I think I might like Sunday nights even better; the anticipation of a great thing weighing even stronger with me than the thing itself, but still Mondays are pretty darn near lovely.  

   Today was a great day.  I did so much.  Really.

   I voted (absentee-style. And DE is kind enough to send me an already-addressed-envelope, now that's what I call service!).

  I made reservations for a birthday soiree for my friend Ian at a, or rather the only downtown restaurant that stays open past our show here in Cleveland.

   I went and picked out one of those huge birthday cards for him so that the whole cast could sign it.  I had a whopping five to choose from and believe me when I say that none of them really had Ian written all over it. Heck, none of them had Ian written anywhere on it.

  So I settled for the puppy-dog card.  I figured most people likes puppies, especially the kind that are on a card and will not have an accident on your carpet or be inappropriate with your friend's leg.  

   The puppy-dog was the better choice, especially when the other cards had either a cartoon drawing of a butt on it or some sort of lame joke about getting older.  

   But the card store did have a special: buy three, get three for free.  I figured since I already bought one...I might as well just pick out two more, and then I can pick out three more!  I mean, it made sense at the time.  

   So thirty minutes later, I left the store with six cards in tow--including the huge one with a puppy-dog on it, but you already know about that, I guess.

   I also went online and picked out a birthday present for a very special person in my life (that's all I will say about that, though, because that person reads this blog).

   And I bought two pair of leggings that ended up being way too short for my legs.  Great. Now I have to make a trip back to the depressing mall where I found the puppy-dog card.  

   And you thought I was being sarcastic when I first stated that I did so much today...But wait--there's even more...Some of the guys were hosting (I kid you not) Straight Night. The plan was to watch football and play poker.  And I got invited...

   So I went.  It was pretty fun; for a while I was the only girl in attendance, but nobody seemed to hold that against me.  We talked, we watched football, I glared at Bill Belichick whenever I got the chance (I know he couldn't see me, necessarily, but I bet he felt my glare somewhere down deep in his soul.  That's assuming he even has a soul).  I did draw the line at playing Bloody Knuckles, however.  Hitting another person over and over again is not my idea of a good time (and don't even try to bring up that monster. I only hit him once!). 

   So all in all, it was a good day. Quiet. Restful.  And there was a nice to-do list that I got to mentally check off.  Oh, but I didn't end up playing poker, which is probably a good thing because I've never played poker. When the guys asked me if I wanted to attend Straight Night and play poker, I said, Poker's like Yatzee, right? They just looked at me with a big old question mark written all over their faces. You know, full house, three of a kind, four of a kind, large straight...I totally got it. They were like, Sure Jess, I guess it's kinda like yatzee, if that's how you like to think about it...). My roommate is out for the night so I went back to my hotel to take advantage of a room all to myself for the evening.  

   And to fill out the six cards I bought on impulse this afternoon...