Wow, so this week's been way busy...so much to say, so much to say.

Last Friday I went out with Jess to XO...nothing much happened in the way of excitement there, except for some dude wouldn't leave me alone on the dance floor. I nicknamed him Benito, because he had a "B" necklace on and that's the only Latin name I can think of that starts with B. So after about 10 minutes of trying politely to tell him to GO AWAY, I finally exited the dance floor and didn't go back. Trent was played awhile later, and I danced off to the side to him, but otherwise, I just kind of hung around and people-watched, which is always a fun thing to do at those sorts of places. Around the same time they played Trent, I spotted Benito hitting on this girl Jess and I had nicknamed "the white girl" because she was all in white, including some sort of a white mohair-looking sweater (wtf? Why do people wear sweaters to dance clubs?)..."white girl" pulled Benito's shirt off and started swinging it around over her head, so I'm sure he wasn't heartbroken by my disappearance, heh. I didn't watch long enough to see if he put the shirt back on, but my guess is he was either made to, or he was kicked out of the club.

Saturday had me going to soccer-related stuff, as did Sunday afternoon. Saturday night, I went to see 50 First Dates with some friends...was a cute movie, but one I'd not pay to see a second time. It had its moments, though. On Sunday I went to a bellydance class...it wasn't what I'd expected, but we had fun, and I learned how to do that undulation thing with my torso. I look like a dork trying to do it, so I guess I better just keep practicing.

Sunday night, I was supposed to meet up with these girls from my math class, to do a group-study thing for our test on Wednesday. Only neither of them bothered to show up or to call. I won't be agreeing to meet them again. But I used the time to eat dinner and review for myself, so it wasn't a wasted block of time entirely. I saw them on Monday and they both apologized for not showing...one had forgotten, and the other had gone out of town. Whatever. I breezed through our test on Wednesday, and was the first one done in the class, so I'll be interested to see if they fail. Is that mean of me?

Wednesday of this week was St. Patrick's Day. I got to be in the HUGE parade downtown as a part of the Renaissance Festival, and as soon as I got there, was given the task of finding "cute wenches with spillage" to help carry this huge banner that precedes all the rest of the fest stuff in the parade. I had some trouble getting people to agree to help at first, but by the time all was said and done, there were 7 of us in total to carry it. We stood there for about an hour before the parade started, just holding the banner. Soon we got bored, so we started doing that pinwheel thing that you see bands do on football fields...where they stand in a line and then all rotate the entire line...we did that with the banner. We were laughing and having fun just goofing around, and the entertainment director told us we were his favorite banner-carriers EVER. :) I'm not sure now if that's a good thing, for he had us stop and do the banner-pinwheel thing 6 or 7 times during the actual parade! Aacckk! The end I was on always had to run backwards, and the girl on the very end and I were nearly falling over each other trying to get around. It was fun, though, and my face hurt from laughing after awhile.

The parade route was 4 miles long, and when we got to the end, there were several people standing around without a way to get back, myself included. We'd been sent an email and instructed to find a buddy who we could work out car arrangements with, but not having a single phone number of any performers, I took my chances and hoped there would be enough people who might have room to squeeze me in...no such luck...for any of us. So a good dozen or more of us hoofed the 4 miles back south, through downtown, back to the cars. We were quite a sight...a dozen (give or take) pirates and wenches in full attire, winding our way through the drunken throng of party-goers. I was absolutely EXHAUSTED by the time we got to our destination, but I think I made a few new friends along the way who I'll be able to talk to this year out at fest.

Then I went to my math exam, which I already told you about.

Last night, in one of my other classes, we got our midterms back. The teacher read some exerpts from some of the midterms she thought were really good, and mine was one of them. I'd emailed the author of an article we were challenged to write about, and asked him for a picture he'd referenced in his article. He emailed me back a copy of the photo, and I had included it in my midterm paper. The teacher was all excited at having the photo, and she put it up on the overhead/document camera thing for all to see. I got a perfect score on my midterm, which made me very happy. :)

Well, sheesh, this is a long post...for some reason I felt it necessary to catch this thing up on things, though. I just heard from a co-worker that on St. Pat's day, there'd been a rape/carjacking incident, and the victim of that used to work here as an admin assistant. I didn't know the girl, but I've heard her name tons of times. I hope she's doing okay. That really had to have sucked. :(

And, on that less-than-happy note, I'll close for today. I think it's time for more coffee...the first gallon's wearing off already. :)

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Edit: I just read the story about the rape/carjacking...thankfully the rape attempt wasn't successful...here's the story, though...scary!!!

Woman injured in rape attempt

By CHRISTINE VENDEL
The Kansas City Star

Police said a woman fought off a rape attempt Wednesday night after she was abducted by a carjacker at 17th and Main streets.

The incident began about 8:20 p.m. as the 22-year-old woman sat in the passenger seat of a Honda Accord with its engine running. The woman was waiting for a friend to finish talking to a man in the parking lot so her friend could drive her home.

Police reports gave this account:

A stranger jumped into the empty driver's seat and drove away with the woman. The man who had been talking to the woman's friend chased the Honda and pounded on the windows, but the Honda sped off. The man eventually lost sight of the car.

Inside the car, the carjacker demanded money. He reached into the woman's pockets in search of cash. The man then pulled over in a secluded area and told the woman to get in the back seat. The woman pressed on the car's horn and screamed for help. The carjacker punched her repeatedly in the face and shoved her into the back seat, where he ripped off her shirt and unzipped her pants. The woman kicked the carjacker in the face and struggled away and out of the Honda. She ran down the street shirtless and flagged down a passing motorist.

Officers found the Honda about 8:45 p.m. abandoned near 30th Street and DeGroff Way. Police arrested a man they found nearby, and detectives questioned him. He was later released.

The victim had a swollen right eye and a large bump on her head.