~~**WELCOME, TENTH VISITOR**~~

Yes, according to my newly installed site meter, I now know that I had 9 unique visitors today! Give yourself a pat on the back for your good fortune at being the 10th visitor to Laughing Wild!

Since I was so giddy from learning that I have hosted nearly tens of visitors, I had to celebrate. I went to a spur-of-the-moment St. Patrick's Day party thrown by my friend Liz. Liz's mom, Edith, lost her housing today and moved in with Liz. They were both feeling down about Edith's situation, so they thought the best way to raise their spirits was to have a bunch of friends over and celebrate St. Paddy's the way it's meant to be celebrated - by getting ripping drunk. By the time I got there, Liz was already halfway to sloshed, and she was dancing to Irish music and entertaining everyone. We sang some Irish songs, ate some corned beef and cabbage*, had a few drinks - so much better than the evening I had planned, which involved A) the waste of time activity of trying to discuss the Spanish election over at CalPundit, where Kevin Drum's reasonable, moderate attitude has made Freepers and LGFers feel safe to spew endless mountains of crap, and B) sitting on the couch and finishing the back of the sweater I'm knitting.

But I did get a chance to talk a little politics. Edith told me that she isn't very politically active, but she heard a man on the radio saying that Kerry would capitulate to the terrorists by pulling our troops out of Iraq and stopping the efforts to find OBL. I told her in no uncertain terms that what she heard was a boldfaced lie. Liz's husband backed me up, even though he said he's also not politically active - he said it was crazy talk to think that Kerry doesn't want to eliminate terrorists and told her to stop listening to AM radio because it warps your brain. (Thanks Barry!)

*My parents are from Ireland (although my mother grew up in Brooklyn, NY). We never had corned beef & cabbage. Special occasions demanded leg of lamb. My grandmother used to crack the bone open afterwards and eat all the marrow out of the bone. My sister and I used the get the dry heaves at even the thought of leg of lamb.