poison sumac, tailgating, and halloween! oh my!

I haven't posted in awhile. So, let's see. the weekend after the wedding was the "fall colors" camping/canoe trip with the outing club. despite a fair bit of rain, it was quite fun. i do, however, have one bit of advice for the ladies. when peeing in the woods, if you get a little on the back of your leg, do not, i repeat, DO NOT, grab a leaf to wipe it off. even if you can correctly identify poison ivy, and are positive that said leave is not that, the leaf could be some other crazy poisonous bitch of a plant. the wednesday after the trip i developed a big rash on the back of my leg and hip. it is now much improved, but still not totally gone. stupid plant!

in other news, halloween is kind of a big deal in madison. so is football. so is homecoming. yesterday was all 3. well, not halloween, but "freakfest" the multi-block party where everyone gets dressed up and gets wasted. i had bravest intentions of partying like a rock star. i met mary in the morning to walk to the stadium area. i had a 6-pack of corona in my bag, and was wearing my bottle-opening flip-flops. mary was with chad, so the three of us made our way to the "tailgating area", that being a whole bunch of yard parties and bars. when we were almost to the stadium bar where we were going to meet joseph and kelly, we were invited to play beer pong in someone's yard. chad and i kicked mary and some guy's ass. during the game of beer pong, mary and i each drank 2 beers on the side. crossing the street almost at the stadium bar, mary apparantly threw up in the street (not because she was wasted, as she can hold her liquor, but because she had a lot of foam in her stomach and then burped). i missed it because i was on the phone. at the bar, it was fun to catch up with joseph. had a few more beers, and became pretty drunk. joseph and i decided to drunk-dial patrick from his phone. when it took awhile for joesph to start talking, i assumed he had hit patrick's voicemail. so, we left him a funny drunk "voicemail" only to later discover that he had actually answered the phone, and heard the whole thing as it happened. after the game, 8 of us took a cab to angelic brewing for some idaho nachos (waffle fries w/ cheese, guac, and salsa). naps were had by most during the afternoon after that to prepare for freakfest.

my costume was a bit of a catchall. fishnets with spider web patterns, a tiara, vampire teeth, fake eyelashes, and a silver cape. i wasn't that in the mood to go out by the time we got to joseph's, but off to state street we went. the frenchies and some other people from our program were at the state bar, so we went there. there was dancing, which i did for about 10 minutes, and then i got overwhlemed by the people and way too loud music. i left early (after not even having a drink), and wound up walking all the way home because all the cab services were busy. the spectacle was fun though, and i saw some great costumes. today is schoolwork day. and it's beautiful and sunny. :) pics from freakfest later. :)