check please!

i think i've just about lost it.

had dinner with some friends last night for a birthday, and long story short, i didn't bring a birthday gift, and there wasn't a pre-dinner email conversation about gift-giving. in new york, if we were going out to dinner for someone's birthday, everyone else pays for the birthday person, and that's the gift. UNLESS, there's a pre-celebration email conversation and we do a group gift thing. so i looked like the cheap-skate who didn't bring a gift.

but i also ended up paying more than everyone else for the dinner. in this age of plastic-everything, i paid in cash and it didn't work out in my favor. this isn't the first time this person has been responsible for the check and it's worked out in her favor.

then last night -- trying to fall asleep (and not succeeding) the darn sprinkler goes on again! so i didn't get much sleep last night. but i learned a few things this weekend.

the sprinkler is getting unplugged as soon as possible; it's not so easy to make friends in a new city -- at least not like those you've had for so many years; don't use cash, use credit cards whenever possible.