It's your night, just one night.
"Welcome to your bachelor party!"

"Hahah, I hope my real bachelor party's a lot better than this!"

"No, this is it."

Tonight is officially my last night in town, my last night living alone, my last night in a long-distance relationship. Tomorrow I'm leaving for Jacksonville, but because I need to pack, organize the apartment, and run some errands (note to self: don't forget to drop off the rent!) tonight, my friends and I got together last night and they gave me a pretty nice send-off. According to Jeric, I'm leaving as Michael Pop but coming back as Michael Lawrence. I think what he meant by that is that I'm coming back a new man or something, but like everything Jeric says, I'm never totally sure.

Last night went like this: I got a haircut, then walked 100 yards and met up with Kelly and Jeric, who busted me for trying to primp in the reflection of a vacuum repair shop window, and had a drink at the Good Luck Bar while waiting for Daniel, Esther and Sandra to show up for dinner. Then we walked across the street and ate some pizza and then walked back across the street to the Tiki Ti. I can't remember the last time I was able to park my car and walk to four places, but it was awesome.

I'd never been to the Tiki Ti before, but Kelly told me all I needed to know: "Bring a billion dollars in cash and cigarettes. You can smoke inside!! And all the drinks are like, $10+." I think I spent an hour on their website trying to decide on what kind of drink I was going to have, but it was all for naught because I wouldn't be doing the ordering. Drink #1 wound up being a kamikaze shot on the rocks for the whole table, and then drink #2 was something called "Stealth". According to their website, it's billed as "one of the strongest! This drink flies high and you'll never see it coming!" It consists of the always ominous "various liquors", along with Kahlua, 151 rum, amaretto, Grand Marnier & Bailey's. Between that and the pizza, I consumed enough dairy to ruin my stomach for a good week.

But that drink was actually really tasty, or maybe I just convinced myself that it was, like mind over matter. It tasted like an ice cream if it was on fire -- but frosty. After my first sip I thought no way was I going to come even close to finishing it. I mean, that kamikaze shot had already gotten me a little wobbly. But somehow I finished it, even if it seemed like it took me 3 hours to do so.

The thing about those tropical drinks is that you don't really feel the full brunt until much later. That's why people are forever making the mistake of finishing one, and then ordering two more, and then puking their guts out. I was fine to drive home, but then once I got there, I was totally fucked up. I barely made it into bed. At 3am I woke up and thought I was going to puke. The room was spinning and somehow I'd ended up sleeping at the foot of the bed, sideways. I wanted to die.

Thanks, guys. Last night was awesome. Seriously.