We left with a couple gay guys in-tow for Oktoberfest in Lincoln Square.

I got a drunken text message from Benito, and there was some confusion that lead me to believe he too was partaking in the oompa-oompa, and I craned my unbelieving neck to see if I saw my lovely man turn out a do-si-do.

Luckily it was a misunderstanding, and I don�t have the image of him folk dancing in my head. Whew!

The group (which grew and grew and grew as we encountered more people we knew) ended up at a decent bar. Two beers later, I warned Happy that I was heading out to catch the brown line el. She didn�t believe me when I announced that I was leaving at 11:45, but she was ever-thankful when the last train to the city indeed came at 11:54.

I texted with Benito a bit more, and then I went to bed.

On Saturday I was out and about and on wheels. I haven�t rollerblading that far in a long time, and it felt nice to get a little south of town and speedy-speedy down the lakefront paths. If I did my math correctly, I took in 70 city blocks. Divide that by 8 blocks per mile, and we see that I only did 8.75 miles. Bah!

I did take a look around the Lincoln Park Zoo for a bit where the most thrilling animal I saw was a bunny hiding in the grass (not in an exhibit) and this furry rodent-looking thing with a slightly fluffy tail. After making a guess on its name and having a ridiculous conversation with Benito on this the next day, Google has just verified that I am indeed correct in saying that the mystery animal was a chinchilla.

The rollerblade continued to Navy Pier and then along the lakefront path all the way to Museum Campus. I ate a nectarine near the aquarium and enjoyed the sun on my pasty and well-SPFed skin before heading back for a shower that was needed like you wouldn�t believe.

Safety Nazis will be upset that I wore a sundress with my bikini underneath while blading, although I did have on my ever-important wrist guards.

The rest of Saturday was cleaning and reading and packing up to head to Benito�s for the night.

He picked me up considerably later than usual (hence my long blading trek) since he helped a friend move, and we deposited my stuff and went to dinner at the sushi place. We tried some new ultra vegetarian roll that was fantastic, and I burned myself with the wasabi several times. It really burns so good.

We realized that the Whirlyball place wasn�t but a couple blocks away, so we walked there to see if any pool tables were open. All four were filled, so we got darts from the bartender and played several quarters� worth of games.

Anything that involved actual aim, he won. However, with strokes of luck, I won at the high-scoring games. Who knew I could throw so many dead-on bulls eyes or triple 19s? I certainly didn�t.

A couple beers later and all of our quarters spent, we went home for the night.

Sunday = football.

I was told that if it was of no interest to me, he would take me home before everything began. However, I wanted to try it out and see what I thought.

The first game was pretty interesting, but I was happy to sit in the overstuffed chair, eat watermelon, and read old copies of Esquire.

His football-watching friend left after the second game, so we lounged a bit before we remembered that we needed to do our official weigh-in for the contest.

The weigh-in. [sigh]

Very simply, in hailed glory to my genes and my current working out, I have too little to lose to enter any contest.

There is no contest. There is no masseuse. There is no glory.

However, we are tracking our weight and body fat measurements to see if we make any changes in the upcoming months, with winter coming and all. It should be interesting to see if there are any marked declines once the winter months show up.

Boo-hiss to winter!

Last night I joined Clarity25, OneWetLeg, TranceJen, and KristinTracy in the insomnia club. I woke up exhausted and very sore from the previous night�s working out.

That is all.

Tonight�s agenda: Run and lift arms, clean out the fish tank so my coworker�s friend can come and get the dang thing, do my regular chores, and read some of my new books.

It�ll hopefully be a quiet night that I can just sit back and enjoy. �