  So we finally brought in a free-lancer to help cover the workload that has been crushing the souls of our copywriters for the last TWO MONTHS. And thanks to his magic fingers, I was able to leave work early (if "early" means 6 pm) last night to go on a urlLink Match.com blind date. And it was great! John (the date) provided everything I'd hope to find in a fun evening with a guy: effortless conversation, a ready smile, frequent laughter, thoughtful opinions, fascinating life stories, mature attitudes about life and men and the world -- and all the right opinions on politics and religion. He's going to his first urlLink Fireball event this weekend, so after dinner I marched him over to Walgreen's to get ear plugs -- perhaps the most important accessory one can wear to a circuit party -- and as we walked down the endless cosmetics aisle, I realized I still had to buy trashy makeup for my solo debut as a tragic drag queen at Saturday's spectacular urlLink Valentine's Day cabaret .
Fortunately, we'd already discussed the free-thinking gay man's occasional obligation to spend an evening as a tremendously ugly woman, so we logged a good half hour of our first date laughing at all the horrifying possibilities available to us in the Walgreen's makeup aisle. Then after another delightful hour chatting over coffee-type beverages, we said our farewells and I headed home to crash.
This morning I headed to Schaumburg for my three-week LASIK follow-up exam. My eyes are healing so well that the doctor said he didn't need to see me again for 10 weeks instead of the usual four. Best of all, the nurse gave me two free boxes of the ultra-expensive eye drops they recommend, and then the doctor gave me another free box when I talked to him. Woo-hoo! 
