Last weekend I went to Charleston to visit Jessie. She was having a "Periodic Table Of The Elements" party. The idea for the party is genius, and I had an idea for a fun costume (the excitingly historied-Seaborgium", interpreted as a robotic sea monster) but I ended up not having time to put it together. Jessie took me to Party City and we settled on a Noble Gas. The day was saved.

Originally the plan was for Meg and Meej to make the drive from Clemson for the party, but Meej ended up having schoolwork to do, so they couldn't make it.

Jessie lives in the ghetto. The house next door to hers was a crack house until it collapsed during a downpour a few months ago. As we arrived at 3 A.M., there were four or five guys standing around out on the curb two houses down from hers. I am not one to impinge on anyone's right to hang out on the street at three in the morning, but you have to admit it looks a bit sketchy.

Her house is an interesting linear design, consisting of four rooms aligned front-to-back. It lets you be somewhat arbitrary about deciding which room does what; she had the living room out front, followed by the dining/art room, then the bedroom, and finally the kitchen. According to her friend Tyler, that style of house is called a "freeman house," because they were originally the houses that freed slaves built for themselves.

We had one interesting incident early one morning. We had just returned from breakfast at Waffle House and were laying our stuff down when someone started knocking insistently on her front window. I admit, it was kind of alarming, and we just looked at each other and wondered what to do. She pulled aside the curtain and asked what they wanted. It turned out to be an older black man who lived across the street and had noticed Jessie had left her keys in the front door, and wanted to let her know. I was kind of ashamed that I was suspicious of ill intent when it actually turned out to be the complete opposite.

Saturday was spent driving around finding supplies for the party. We went to one place that was like a grocery store of wine. It was the size of a Walmart and filled with nothing but wine. It's a shame I hate wine so much, or it would have been awesome.

From there we went to a nice big bookstore, where I was finally able to find all the books I've been looking for for a while. I love good bookstores.

I got something to drink at the coffee shop, and we spoke with the two friendly black women who worked there. Jessie complimented them on their hair, and one of them asked if we were a couple. We said "No, why?" And she replied, "Because you'd make a good one." We kind of smiled awkwardly and then she said, "Oh God, don't tell me y'all are father and daughter." Haha. I guess I'm just glad she didn't think that Jessie was my mom.

We talked with them for a while, and they commented on how rare and pleasant it was to talk to friendly customers. They shared some amusing stories of people who were petulant and mean for no good reason, and we laughed. I like friendly people.

From there it was off to the liquor store. All in all, eight bottles of wine, three bottles of liquor, and two cases of beer were purchased. We also stopped by Party City and bought some decorations, a smoke machine, and our costumes.

The party itself was great fun. Tyler works in a Bio lab, so he brought Jessie a lab coat and contributed a rack of test tubes to be used as shot glasses. I'd never before had the opportunity to know with milliliter precision how much alcohol I consumed. Of course, before long I lost track anyway, so the experiment did not yield testable results.

Sunday was a sleepful day. I wasn't used to being awake during the day, and Jessie wasn't used to not having responsibilities, so most of the day was spent relaxing. That evening we ate at Moe's Southwest Grill (which I must say is Awesome) and then went to the theatre for Jessie's rehearsal. It turned out I wasn't allowed inside, but that was fine with me because I had two new long sought-after books I was eager to read.

After rehearsal we went to the library where Jessie was supposed to meet someone to study for her Latin exam the next morning. I took advantage of the opportunity to play around on the Macs and see how they work (but ended up wasting it when I just SSHed into BinRock and spent the whole time checking my email and chatting on IM).

Eventually it was determined that this study partner was not showing up, so we went outside and hung out and Jessie reviewed her Latin on her own for a bit. As we prepared to leave, her friend Kevin (?) showed up and we talked for a while. He enjoys going on week-long hiking expeditions, and organizes such trips for schools for a living. Last year he took a class to Greece to go hiking. When I discovered that he's into photography, we spoke for a long time about developing and darkrooms and hiking with cameras and stuff. It was very cool, and he managed to renew my desire to set up a darkroom. Perhaps I'll get a chance to do that at some point.

On Monday we got up at 5 A.M. and Jessie drove me to Myrtle Beach for my flight home. It was weird not being late for a flight. I should try that more often. The flight was uneventful and I got home with no complications. That's the end of my story.