I didn't finish the book...

so you know the "P word" side of me is irritated with myself. But 34 out of a goal of 35 is still acceptable. I think that is part of what the uberlisting has taught me, that it's okay to just try your best and accept that sometimes every goal either cannot be accomplished, or accomplished in the allotted time frame. Also, the long list has taught me that some things are just not as important as I think they are. For example, "Find or make a covering for the kitchen window" has been on the list for three years, yet never accomplished. AS I washed dishes the other night and watched the forest through the window I realized that I probably never do it because I really don't want it covered! So that one will come off the list this year! Of course, then I will probably create some fantastic thing for the window...

Dad is out of hospital. I guess they decided it was probably a mild heart attack, but couldn't really tell. They told him he needs to start walking. I talked to Mom about them going to the mall and walking and she sounded really receptive to it. Their mall is owned by the same company that our is and they have an official program and it sounds really nice for a lot of the older people.

Last night was interesting... Michael wanted to go to Gillian's party, but not stay until midnight. Emily didn't want to go out until later, so Michael and I went to Gill's then about 9:30 I came home to trade. Before we went back to Gillian's I called Pat and he said he wanted to come with us, so we drove by Jake's and picked him up because he had been drinking. When we got back to Gillian's MANY of the people had already left and it was kind of too relaxed of an atmosphere for Pat. Emily said she didn't care where we went as long as she got to drink for free. I said I didn't care as long as we were somewhere at midnight and not driving around in the car. We went to the Office Lounge and were there at midnight. They had the WORST, NASTIEST sparking wine EVER for the toast. It seemed like a really different crowd than usual, like the average age was 65... so we just had one drink (and even my diet Coke didn't taste good last night - strange!) and the midnight toast and left. We went to Jake's, which I usually hate. It is more of a dance club and they have "Retro Night" all the time with old music. I didn't hate it as much as usual. I enjoyed watching everyone and danced some and we saw some other people and it was okay. Pat drank too much as usual, true to his Irish Catholic roots... Emily drank too much... That's the problem with going our with Pat and he always pays for everything... Emily ran into a gaggle of friends from HS, though. I was glad she didn't have to hang out only with us old people all night. Even after Pat left I stayed much later just so Emily could be with them for longer. Finally at 2:30 I decided I couldn't take it anymore. We left and when we went to the car there was a girl on the sidewalk so drunk she couldn't stand up. We sat and watched her for a while and I decided if she really couldn't stand up I was going to call 911 because she was probably in need of medical attention, even if they would arrest for for public intoxication. She finally managed to stand up so we drove her (and her asshole boyfriend, who had walked off and LEFT her in that condition) home. Emily said we should go back today and put a note on her apartment door saying, "Break up with Cameron. He is an asshole who treats you like shit." And even though Cameron is young and had been drinking too, there is no excuse for treating someone like that. Pat drinks too much and he is NEVER not nice in any way. Emily has been drunk with her friends and her friends have called me and told me what is going on, where she is, and asked me to come and get her on one occasion, when all Emily would say was, "I want my mommy." So yeah, Cameron was an asshole who left a drunk girl on the sidewalk, but drunk girl was nice enough to him to ask us to stop and pick him up when he didn't deserve it!

So after all that, I was awake until after 3:00 in the morning, but slept straight through until 8:30 and then went back to sleep until 11:00. I am too old for all that. I am glad Emily got to see some friends. She hasn't really hung out with them much since she's been home. I am also glad we got drunk girl home safely. I hope she didn't die of alcohol poisoning in the night. then I would regret my decision to not call 911. I hope Emily learns soon that you don't have to drink to have a good time, but I probably don't set the best example. I usually don't drink when we go out, the night after Halloween was a strange exception, but I do go out with Pat all the time and he drinks when we go out. That is one reason Emily doesn't mind going out with us old people while she is here, because she and Pat are kind of drinking buddies AND he has enough money to pay for everything. He always just opens a tab at the bar and then it's kind of like anything is okay. I probably ought to not take her with us when we go, even though she is old enough now. The reason she doesn't really want to hang out with her HS friends is a good one, though, a lot of them use drugs and she doesn't want to be around that... maybe the day she realizes alcohol is also a drug, it will hit her. Perplexed mother decisions to make here maybe... I think this is one case where even though I don't want the black and white thinking of NO ALCOHOL EVER OR YOU ARE UNWORTHY, I need to determine better what is my particular shade of gray.

The end, Michael wants to use the computer and I want to check H-T online and make sure there's no headline about drunk girl found dead in her apartment.