Read this disclaimer first!!
Monday, Nov. 11, 2002 - 10:04 a.m.
For Crystal

I was going to talk about the weekend in more detail, but first, let me talk about my unofficial host.

I was scheduled to go to Toronto and stay with my friends that I have known for almost ten years. We are a good group of friends that have been together through thick and thin. Other than me, we are all married. We have been to each other weddings, seen each other's children start to grow up, and shared a cumulative 700 000 pints of beer. We're good friends.

I was there Friday night with some of them in Oakville. It was fine. I decided to see Crystal Saturday afternoon. I got to see her in action.

First, we hung out at hers for a while. For me, there was no weirdness or anything. It was like I've been there before, like I used to live in the area and am now back to visit one day. We were cool together. We took a walk out on the boardwalk, and then back to her place, but not before stopping at the beer store and Timmie's. She spoke to the people there like they were human beings with feelings, not servants. At first they might have been a little startled, but then they warmed up to her within about 2.3 seconds. People like the way she treats them.

When we lined up for the "Joker", a fucking club, I had to go to a friend's car to pick up my proper shoes. When I got back, she had engaged in a side-splitting conversation with two complete strangers next to her in line. It was like they were old friends. Crystal can connect with people.

The next day my friend Matt said the she is "one pretty cool chick", which is a high compliment coming from him. Nic, who I consider a superior judge of character, said that he "really liked her". They both wished they could have hung out with her more. (They're both happily married, it's not like that.)

My friends didn't really talk to one another, or me for example, much that night, that day or the next day. Granted, there was something going on that had nothing to do with me, but still. I felt a little abandoned by them that night, by one in particular. Crystal took care of me and we had a fucking blast, even though I am still paying for it today due to her damned cat. I mean, damned cute cat, heh.

I am trying to say two things: good friends can be shits sometimes, but that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with you, or that you have less inherent value than anyone else. Secondly, we all know that she is really good-looking, but the way she treats those around her is what attracts good people to her, and she can attract a lot of people. She is as full of life and spirit in real life as she is just in Diaryland. You can't always be happy, and neither can she (every sunbeam has a shadow) but she really is all that. Simple.

You should all try to meet her. I am lucky that she is only in Toronto, not 15000 km away.

0 scrawls at the end of this hall

The look:
The feel:
The taste:
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