...In which our heroine alphabetizes.

One last stream o' consciousness, only because it's the end of summer, and last night deserved it.

"Take Me I'm Yours" by Squeeze should never be made into a mash-up by a DJ. Nor should "General and Majors" by XTC. I see a lot of the same faces over and over again, re-meet them, and then do it all again. One girl, Sophie, has been incredibly drunk every single time I've ever seen her. My left forearm is still stained with faded highlighter flowers. Fruit soaked in everclear is impossible to ingest, although the hairy buffalo/jungle juice we made was delicious. One bite of pineapple set my chest on fire. It was the first party I've been to in a while where no one made a total disaster out of them self, which was a nice change. Julia, one of my old roommates, came all the way from Rock Falls for the party and we talked forever about bills and boobs and boys. Ben came, and everything is okay. We talked for a while and I told him to take care of himself when I hugged him goodbye. He looked well, but his new phone and wallet made me realize just how removed from his life I am. I still struggle with the concept of spending all day, every day with someone and then being reduced to bullshit party banter. But it was okay, and I'm just glad he's doing well, truly. I felt bad for Emily that Lane didn't come, but that wound is still fresh. People amaze me with their alcohol tolerance - that fruit was lethal and they were eating it by the cupful. I was the perfect level of drunk and had enough sense to stop myself before words began to slur. It was a chilly night but I kept laughing and stayed warm. There was a drunk bro outside of Emily's window screaming so loud and violently about losing his phone I started to get nervous. My back ached from sleeping on one pillow. McDonald's is the ideal morning after food, and "Rhythm is a Dancer" is the ideal music for the morning after. It sunk in, between sips of punch and catching up with new and old friends again how I'm growing up, again, again, again, once more with feeling. School starts Tuesday and I am glad.

And just to keep you from being too bored, my favorite bands from A to Z, with a second choice for each:

A -  Arcade Fire (Alice in Chains)

B - The Beatles (Beastie Boys)

C - The Cure (The Clash)

D - David Bowie (The Decemberists/Daft Punk/Depeche Mode)

E - Elvis Costello & the Attractions (Elton John, before 1980)

F- Fleet Foxes (Foo Fighters)

G - Grant Lee Philips (The Gossip)

H - Hole? (terrible letter, no second choice)

I - Interpol (Iggy Pop)

J - Jenny Lewis (Joy Division/Johnny Cash)

K - Kings of Leon (The Kinks)

L - Led Zeppelin (Lucinda Williams)

M - My Morning Jacket (Modest Mouse)

N - Neutral Milk Hotel (Neil Young/Nine Inch Nails)

O - Of Montreal (Oasis)

P - Pixies (Pink Floyd)

Q - Queen

R- Radiohead (Roxy Music/Rilo Kiley/The Replacements)

S - The Smiths (Sisters of Mercy)

T - Tool (Talking Heads)

U - U2 (Urge Overkill)

V - Violent Femmes (The Velvet Underground)

W - The White Stripes (Wilco)

X- X (XTC)

Y - Yaz (The Yarbirds)

Z - Warren Zevon (c'mon, it's Z)

For whatever reason, this is still my most played song on iTunes. Aretha just knows what's up: