It seems easier for some people to hit bars alone. I suppose it makes a difference if you know the bartender or the regulars. I don't. Anywhere. Today is the first day of the NCAA tournament, and I have a half-day off at work. I would like nothing better than to watch the bevy of basketball brilliance at a sports bar with high-tech HD televisions, but going alone feels ever so much like I'm entering a meat market. Hey, I figure if that old guy, Tom, with the missing tooth in front and the scruff around his dirty chin can be smutty at the entrance of Walgreen's, I don't want to enter an establishment with the less than sober, who probably have better vision, more equilibrium, and won't be so easily dodged by a a quick left down the cosmetics aisle. The only time I haven't been put off by comments at a pub is when that lady bartender told me I was pretty. And she made sure to let me know she wasn't trying to come on to me. Of course, Nick was sitting right next to me...so maybe she just didn't want to make him jealous. That's what I like to think.

But then there's laundry and plenty of housework to tackle here at home...computers to network, surfaces to dust, blah blah blah—but my mother always told me that the dishes and laundry will always wait for you. I should hit the gym. It's been almost two weeks...the last days being bogged down with post-work activities and utmost lethargy in between. I went to an info session for Edgewood College last night...trying to right the one and only one part of my own history that I truly regret...especially, as I told Nick last night, now that my Mom (who knew the whole story of why I left school) isn't here to rally on my side while I'm rallying against. 20/20 hindsight really is a bully sometimes. Makes you forget the ugly stuff and you start questioning your decisions. Truth is, my decisions now couldn't have been my decisions then. A divorced nearly-orphan with medical issues can't possibly have the same hold on her life as a fresh-faced, first-time-away-from-home college kid whose parents are picking up the bill.

But anyway, I'm drifting. We're leaving early tomorrow morning to head to Chicago to watch the Badgers play their first (and hopefully not last) NCAA game, so I want to have a fun time this afternoon...before the stress of Illinois traffic and crowds make my temples throb. Where to go? Bug Jeff who is probably catching the games somewhere? Risk another Tom? Tough one.