she's
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Well, I'm back. And my best friend is now a medical doctor.

That still seems very strange. I mean, she's a year younger than I am. And while she can't actually do anything yet outside of an emergency situation or her residency hospital, she can still sign her name with "Doctor" in front of it.

Scary.

It was a pretty good trip, all told. Everyone else who went down seemed to have a Murphy's Law thing following them around: her parents were having problem after problem with the moving van company, and another friend of ours accidently wound up at the wrong graduation ceremony. Fortunately, none of that happened to me. The red menace was visiting, but it was keeping a low profile.

Last night, however, was hell for me. Now, I'm not much of a drinker. When I drink, I like to go to a quiet pub or cafe, have a beer or something, and talk with my friends. Sammy, on the other hand, likes going to very crowded, noisy bars and getting trashed. Not my cup of tea at all.

So I volunteered to be the designated driver. We used Sammy's parents' mini-van, and drove up to some upscale yuppie hangout. We dropped off Sammy (who had a broken leg, poor dear) and I parked the van on a vertical cliff (or so it seemed).

The first bar that we went to was nice. (Actually it was the second bar, but we were only at the first one for half an hour or so.) They had some lounge singer duet thing going on, and they were really entertaining. My friends got progressively more drunk as the night wore on. The singers left and a metal band started played.

That's when my head started pounding.

I have this whole thing about crowds. I really don't like them. I don't mind crowds in places like auditoriums, because the building is large enough to hold many people without being too crowded. However, I do not like large crowds in tiny, confined places, especially when everyone is drinking. I just don't feel safe.

Anyway, this bar started to get rather crowded. I molded myself into a corner, so that my back wasn't exposed, and waited. And waited. The band played louder and louder, and the place got more crowded.

Sammy finally called "Next bar!" and we moved onto a new bar down the street. This was even smaller and more crowded than the last bar. I was in there for about 10 minutes before I bailed.

"I'll be waiting in the car," I yelled in Sammy's ear.

"But we might not be out there for a few more hours," she replied.

"I don't care," I said. "My head is going to explode if I don't get out of here."

And so I left.

The streets were quiet, because it had started raining. I climbed into the mini-van and sat there in the quiet. It was nice. The rain pattered a soft rhythm on the roof, and it was dark, and there were no drunk people.

About 45 minutes later, all my friends poured out of the bar and came to the car. Apparently Sammy had gone to that particular bar because she knew the bartender and expected free alcohol. Whatever. I was just glad to be going back to the hotel.

Of course, sometime during the night I transformed from designated driver to designated mommy. "No, put that down. Shhh! Don't throw that!" After security paid us a visit, the drunks quieted down a bit and I was finally able to go to sleep.

Until one of the drunks stumbled into the bathroom and started retching.

What did I do? I did the only thing I felt capable of doing: I put my head under the pillow and went back to sleep.

No Speeding

I left to come home around noon, and made pretty good time, considering that it's a major travel day. I was slowed down quite a bit because of the staties all over the place. I swear, there was a grey and black waiting in every single turnaround in the state. I must have seen over fifty people pulled over just today.

But as much as I wanted to get home as quickly as possible, I'm glad that I didn't speed (much) and get a ticket. I really don't need another ticket. I only have one on my record, and no points were assessed on my license, but I just can't afford it right now.

Yeah. Glad to be home. No drunk people to deal with and no crowds. I love it.