Friday night Michael picked me up from work with the ominous words, “I know you hate surprises. And I know you hate going out in your work clothes.” Ah, crap.

We met his boss, Kirk, from Big Bookstore, at a local wing place. He was joined by a manager from a musical instrument store, Eric and a mechanic named Tim. We wound up having a good rollicking time, with intelligent conversation and lively debate.

I also wound up with the hangover from hell. Above is a picture of the lunch I did not eat. All I could force down was the cottage cheese (far left, top) and the cheese cubes (far right, bottom). I drank 2 liters of water that day and 3 large mugs of tea.

As I too loudly exclaimed in the break room, “I’m never going out with that guy again!”