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Graduation went well. No real pics yet, sorry, but I was kickin' in my blue gown and gold tassle. The gold means Honor student. There were six of us in my class of 32. Only 11 people showed up for graduation out of my class, which was weird to me. I understand if it was high school or something. But, two years of actual work that you pay for... I wanted the whole thing from start to finish.

First up was a party at the Dutch couple's house. I was the American white guy. Otherwise 5 Dutch, a Korean girl, most of the Japanese School Girl Posse, a couple of Japanese school boys, and a couple of other assorted folk from indeterminal countries. It was a blast. The girls were doing a litttle hip-hop dancing, the Dutch were talking World Cup soccer and 120 pound Emi somehow drank 7 beers and looked no worse for wear.

Saturday was graduation, then surprise part for my retiring teacher. We totally got her, too. She walked in all unsuspecting and about a hundred of us were all "Surprise!"

So, it took place in this old church that someone now lives in. It looked like this:



I'm actually in that picture. Free to whoever can point me out.

To give you clues, here's me grabbing some grub:



Chillin' with my homey:



And mackin' some pinball. Or whatever.




To keep things international, this super cute, supposedly married Russian girl got completely drunk and became much more fun that her usual studious way. I say supposedly because she has never mentioned her husband when we hung out (I made a joke about her being married about the 10th time we hung out and about 5 minutes after that she fessed up); still hasn't said his name; never talks about him; and supposedly called him to come get her at the party, but I later found out a teacher took her home.

Now, whether or not she's married doesn't matter to me, but I like teasing her. Actually, I think she is married, but may have done it to get into the country or for an easier time once she was here. Girls who love their husbands or boyfriends mention them within a few minutes of meeting people. Girls who are uninterested in someone, but think you are interested in them, and may or may not love their husbands or boyfriends or may not even have a husband or boyfriend, mention them within a few minutes of meeting people.

Did you follow that last one? Like an algebra problem, wasn't it? Like they were on a train going 60 miles an hour to Chicago which is 170 miles away, and another train was going 75 miles an hour to Detroit which is 230 miles away and who gets there first?

My point is, the only reason girls don't mention a boyfriend or husband is they're interested in you. Now girls, don't try to bullshit me otherwise, because I'm old and have dated enough to know it's true. And, AND, this is the important part, it is an awesome thing. I actually like it when girls mention it (sooner the better). It sets up the ground rules, puts everything in the open and I'm not a big enough asshole to walk away from a good conversation even after I find out there's no chance of a date.

It's a good thing, from my point of view.

Then, along comes this Russian girl and messes it all up. I don't think she's really that interested. She does like to get her own way, but I'm not an 18 year old kid anymore, so I see through that pretty quickly. She's Aquarian, which means she's unavailable to me (except to fool around on rare occasions), generally weird, pretty sexy, and will most likey be married a couple times before she settles down. Which is only true if you believe in Aquarians. Which, I'm not sure yet, because as long time readers know, the only true signs I've found so far are Taurus and Virgo.

Anyway.

So, this Russian girl wants to hang out more and will continue to tease her about her phantom husband and her potentially secret crush on me until she fesses up about this husband, sleeps with me, or tells me to get lost. And, since I don't as a rule sleep with married women, I'm afraid this story can only end two ways.

See, I pulled a bait and switch on you there, didn't I? You thought I was going to say "end one way" and I was all "whoop" <<makes the "pulls the rug out" motion>>.

Sunday was a bbq at my house with my school friends (Dutch, Japanese, and big Alan), my artsy friends (Japanese, southern, Republican, German) and my old school friends (Virgo, D&Ders). They, of course, broke off into their own groups until Maki the art friend's wife and Yuzuki, the beta Japanese School Girl Posse member, started blah blahing away in Japanese. Then the art friends started smoking cigars, which made the ex-smoking Virgo join in and the D&Ds finally wandered out into the porch.

I say into, because we're on the ground floor and "onto" sounds like a balcony.

We all ate hot dogs and brauts, drank some beer (I had some Johnny Walker Blue, which is $200 a bottle blended whiskey) and smoked until we were dizzy. School chums left first (to go watch World Cup, which you would have guessed if you'd been reading as carefully as you should have), then old D&D friends, Virgo, Germans, then finally southern guy and art friend/cigar pimp and his Japanese wife. Maki, for those keeping score.

Kazuha (Japanese School Girl Posse alpha), Aki, and deadly little Miho, were supposed to be there, but Kazuha was sick (which is JSGP for hung over), so they did not attend. They, however had another party Monday. This was a going away party for the three of them, who are returning to Japan for the summer. At that party were Yuzuki and several other Japanese girls, boys, a chinese guy, and a Thai guy who spoke great Japanese. From what I was told. I know about three Japanese words.

That party I was so damn dizzy I went home early.

Whew.

That's the update for now. Next up, dinner with friends, job hunting, some cigar smoking, and a couple of freelance gigs to finish off.

Check out the new and running website dqniel.com and peace out. Or whatever.