Sometimes bad things happen, but they happen at a time that makes the impact a little easier to handle. Last Saturday I was doing some last minute running around before Dracula's Ball. I stopped at Hot Topic to get some white face powder and then bounced around the mall to grab a new pair of earrings and a necklace as well. On the way home I swung by McDonald's because it was 2pm and I hadn't eaten anything all day. As I'm waiting at the stoplight I punch my straw through the top of my Shamrock Shake, happy as can be, but when the light changes I start heading through the intersection only to have my car start pouring mass amounts of steam out of the hood and my steering to shit out on me in the middle of a busy intersection. I was just barely able to pull it into a small driveway for a propane tank shop across the street.

I grabbed all my stuff and set it several feet away from my car, then stood there watching it continue to steam while sipping my Shamrock Shake, curious to see if it was going to blow up. My first call was to my parents, who said they'd come and pick me up. Then I called my buddy I was going to the ball with later (luckily he was driving) and afterwards it dawned on me I should probably call up AAA and get a tow truck. So I stood there on the corner in the cold eating my grilled chicken classic with no mayo, just watching my car curiously. When my dad got there he popped the hood and proceeded to pull out the main belt for my car, which snapped and spewed water all over the place, hence the steam.

But thankfully I'd gotten everything I needed, and we weren't using my car to drive into Philly, anyway. I changed outfits no less than 4 times before we left, eventually settling on a black v-neck wrap top, a Morbid Threads skirt, black stockings, and my Anarchic boots. Unfortunately this ensemble provided me with no pockets, and I was fishing cash out of my bra every time I hit the bar, with the exception of the 2 times someone else bought me a drink. I mainly hung out with some friends in the basement on the red velvet covered benches against the stone walls. We chatted up everyone around, and met some really cool people. I never thought I'd ever hear anyone make jokes about the movie Secretary during any conversation I held in real life.

I hit up the dance floor a few times, and made a few random dives across the room when I heard a particularly good Cruxshadows or Apoptygma Berzerk song being played. I felt completely free when dancing, and I was pleased to note the amazing moves of those around me. Goths are sexy, sexy dancers. The outfits were all amazing, everything from the traditional poofy-shirt vampire to head-to-toe PVC and corsets galore. I even saw one guy with two sets of goggles that had crazy blonde Cloud hair. Also, a guy dressed as Jesus. I'm really sorry I don't have photos of that for you. Sometimes it was so dark you could barely make anything out. It was just like the crazy modern vampire parties you see in movies and shit. I wondered upstairs to check out And One, at which point a man came up and started dancing behind me. I mainly let it go until I felt him gyrating against me, at which point I removed his hands from my hips and walked off. I even smoked a clove for old time's sake.

A lot of debauchery ensued. A LOT. But what happens at Dracula's Ball stays at Dracula's Ball.

Since then I had a sour stomach which I assumed was due to the mass amounts of mixed alcohol I'd been drinking. Then I got sick to my stomach, then developed an odd tickle in my throat which progressed to one fuck of a cold. By Thursday I spent so much time at work sneezing and blowing my nose that my entire department kept coming by asking if I wasn't feeling well and making sad faces at me. They pretty much told me not to come in the next day, which worked out okay anyway, because snow was in the immediate forecast. I spent the evening pretty much dripping liquid mucus out my nose shaking with a high fever and at one point I got so delirious from all the cold medicine I took that I stumbled around the kitchen muttering violent obscenities to myself. I felt horrible and stayed in bed all day Friday going in and out of sleep trying to watch Spongebob. Then I watched The Little Mermaid and Pee-Wee's Big Adventure while playing MarioKart DS. It's important to watch good movies when you're sick.

I'll probably be bunkered in all weekend, but we'll see if I can at least do some blogs or something while I'm in.