I have failed my people. I'm half Irish and I was asleep at 8:30pm. On St. Patrick's Day. On a Friday night.

The day started off great! We mentally closed the office at 10ish, physically closed up at 2pm. The first stop of the day was Rosen's on First Ave. This bar can be very hard to handle on weekends, due to the abundance of 'Steves' and 'Dudes' in white baseball hats and puca shell necklaces. On Friday at 2 in the afternoon, however, the bar is quite pleasant. We all enjoyed drinking with no crowds to battle, most of us singing along to the awesome late 90s tunes the entire time. Those who didn't sing along did so in protest, not because they didn't know the words. There isn't anyone who doesn't know the words to Ironic by Alanis. Anyone old enough to be in a bar on a Friday afternoon anyway. We were the only ones in the bar, aside from a group of Wisconsin guys loudly playing quarters. An hour after we were there a very nice 3-some of beer promoters showed up. I wasted no time whoring myself out to them to get not just some crappy beaded necklace, but a beaded necklace with a Killigan's Irish Red shot glass connected. Yes! AND I got a green feather boa and a green plastic hat. My outfit was complete. I couldn't have been happier. Did I mention I was wearing 3 green shirts, plaid shorts and GREEN tights? If only there was a "Most dedicated to her cause" award.



After Rosen's my group walked over to the Local on Nicollet. It's one thing to be drunk, dressed in a ridiculous green costume, and parading down Nicollet with 6 other people doing the same on a Friday night. It's a totally different story when it's only 3:30 in the afternoon. Every time I passed my reflection in the window I started laughing all over. Don't get me wrong, I liked what I saw, but man did I look foolish. Almost asinine.

The Local was terrible. They had a tent outside, but it wasn't crowded enough for it to be full so everyone was still inside. Making it impossible to get to the bar, bathroom, or anywhere really. I stood for 10 minutes spinning around trying to figure out which way was my best bet to get to a not-so-crowded area. Then we rounded up the troops and aborted our Local mission. The News Room across the street is enormous and looked a lot less packed.

After the News Room DC and I went to Chipotle for some mid-party refueling. Then we hopped on a free bus (they were all free from 6pm to 3am. Whoo hoo!) and stopped by his house to recharge our cell phones. The plan was to stop there for 30 minutes or so, go to the Bulldog, then CC Club. Except I accidentally laid down on DC's bed and promptly fell asleep. I guess I wasn't really sleeping, but that kind of lazy drunken state where laying down feels SO good and it's hard to imagine getting up and going out in the cold again. At 10:30 we finally got the motivation to get up and walk back to my place. We were in bed by 11.

It was nice not to be hung over on Saturday, but I felt I let my people down. Maybe I should look at it this way - I'm only half Irish. So I only need to go 50% crazy on St. Patrick's Day. 5 hours of drinking... that's about 50%, right? Right?

At least I have a boa to wear with my tights next year. Maybe a Saturday St. Patty's day will be even more fun than a Friday one. Here's hoping!