Smoke and mirrors, vodka on ice.

In my mind, May 1 cannot come fast enough. That is now the official �butting out� day in bars and restaurants across the province of Qu�bec, la belle province. Last night I was once more subjected to smoke and volume beyond measure as the music students held a fund raiser battle-of-the-bands at a local bar, the same bar where my daughter�s band played a few months ago. Her group was in this show, as well as four others, and while I really didn�t need to go, or stay as long as I did, my darling husband somehow got co-opted into being a judge on the panel.

My plan was as follows: a) wear earplugs; and b) get drunk. The first worked for the noise, the second worked for the smoke inhalation. I managed to down two cranberry Smirn0ff vodka coolers (I was really quite drunk after the second, which suited me perfectly) and I spent the evening wandering around the crowd, hanging with different people. These included various music students, friends of my daughter, a billiards game between a former student of mine and a group of young men (all of whom I know) with various young ladies posing provocatively at the pocket where one of the young men was attempting to sink a ball (that was pretty funny, actually), being accosted in the toilet by a very drunk girl who had been at the Java the night before and just gushed about how good I was, stepping out in the freezing night onto the roof patio to breathe and get away from the constant noise inside, and just bopping in place trying to see over all the people in front of me who are always too tall.

My daughter�s band did not win, but they were second in line. The winners have the unlikely name of The Water S0IubIes, a rather good band, actually, except that with my earplugs in I couldn�t really get much (and remember, I was two sheets to the wind too). The earplugs managed to block out most of the treble and alot of the volume, but the bass was turned up so high that I could feel my whole body vibrating. One band, called C0re, was so loud (how loud were they?) that I felt a little seasick when they were done. When Hubby and I finally went to bed (around 2:00 a.m.), I fell asleep quickly enough, but he had the ringing in his ears for a long time.

This afternoon I spent a good two hours at the arena skating with my daughter�s BF (she chose not to go), my Latin buddy, and the other guy (the one Hubby was so upset about last time). It was a very good time. I only fell once, when a man chose to come to a complete stop right in front of me and I didn�t have the chance to go around him, so I slammed right into him face first and went down on my right knee. Otherwise I did all right. We got there later than normal and the ice was really getting chewed up by all the skaters (the rink was incredibly crowded), but the Zamboni guy came around once and we got to do another quarter-hour on the fresh surface. Now, that�s my dream job: Zamboni operator.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of my last year before I can join the half-century club. How do you like them apples?

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