Friday was a full day off. No school. No work. I slept in till 1:30. It was grand. The sun was shining brightly and it made the apartment seem bigger somehow. I continued to lounge around in my pajamas for several more hours, while chatting with Danielle and reading email.

Later that evening, I decided that I needed to get outside before the sun set. I went to Oakland mall. The purpose was originally to see if The Limited Too had "I Heart Clay" shirts. I'm sorta glad they didn't because it would have been impossible to hide my excitement if I had found one. By the way, I'm 24. Yeah, I must have looked so mysterious in that store, walking all fast, eyes flitting, no visible children on me. As soon as I could be reasonably sure that there were no "I Heart Clay" shirts, I high-tailed it out of there.

Can I just say that the new pink and black trend has grabbed hold of my soul and will not let go? I hate pink. I love black. Pink and black makes me salivate. Yet I am broke, so there will be no pink and black stripeys, no pink blazers with black shirts underneath, no black dress pants with pink pinstripes, hell there's not even going to be any pink and black scarves. Sigh. Maybe I can permanently borrow my mother's stripey. She's not going to drive to Detroit to come and get it.

You know what I hate? When I've steeled myself against purchasing anything in the mall and I end up making an impulse buy anyway. You see, one of these lotion bitches in the middle of the mall offered me lotion. I'm cheap and my hands were dry, so I took her up on it. Next thing I know, she's buffing one of my nails. And DAMN, did it look good! So, she gives me the spiel about how normally the kit costs $45 but today it's $30. So I as her if I can purchase the buffer, because $30 is way too much for me to spend. "Well," she confides to me in a secretive whisper, "I can take the lotion out and sell it to you for $20". I, of course think I'm getting a deal. So I took it, and she tells me that she'll include the lotion anyway. Oh, how nice! You think that's what the kit is really worth? Ha! Anyway, the point is, I could have gotten a really cute shirt for less than that, but instead I have this manicure kit. It's actually very nice, but it sure as hell ain't pink and black.

So after that genius purchase, I decide to call Joe from a pay phone. Turns out he, Nichole, Troy and John would all like to go out to Dave and Buster's. This actually starts my stomach turning because as I said, I'm broke. But I agree, because it's Joe and well he would have bitched me out if I had said no. So I drive the billion miles from the mall to Joe's house, having to do a detour because BOTH the expressways I take to his house are closed for work this weekend. I get there about 40 minutes later, to find all four of them standing in the living room with their coats on. "What took you so long!?" they all shout at me. I reply incredulously, "Hellloooo! 696 is CLOSED!" I am then informed that if I had driven a mile more, I would have been able to get on and save myself 20 minutes. Sigh.

On the way out to John's Blazer, Joe and Nichole take me aside to tell me that they've decided to treat me to dinner and games at Dave & Buster's. This is a really big deal because dinner at D&B's is expensive and the arcade games ain't cheap either. We have a group hug and all pile into the Blazer. Joe, Nichole and myself are crammed in the back, while the two skinny fucks are in the front seat.

I show Joe my gleaming nails and he's excited. I just so happen to have the kit with me! Touches my nails and says, "Do mine!" Despite being called a fag by everyone in the car, he seems delighted with his glassy nails. I'm apparently hired to do them for his wedding day, as well.

At D&B's, there is always a dilemma. Ticket awarding games vs. Arcade games. I actually like both, but our group was split. Nichole likes getting tickets so that she can trade them in for prizes. All the boys like arcade games (especially Golden Tee�which I will get to later). I played both sides of this fence because I cannot avoid the "coins on the edge of the ledge" games, nor can I resist boxing till my arms fall off. I also tried out one of the dancing games, which I failed miserably at, proving once again that I ain't got no rhythm. Also fun is the old timey shooting gallery. The shotguns shoot beams of light but you get to shoot bottles, old derby hats and a piano stool.

Toward the end of the night, the Golden Tee game began. This has become a ritual. Boys play Golden Tee, girls sit around and sigh because Golden Tee is the longest, most boring arcade game in the world. Of course by this time girls have run out of money on their cards and must sit around with the boys because there is nothing else to do. Actually, Golden Tee isn't boring if you are playing it. When the guys realized that they had accidentally bought a full 18 holes, they gave up on it. So I shot 2 holes with three guys. Not bad.

Today was my last day at the Ferndale Public Library. Surprisingly, I didn't cry. People around me cried, and yet no tears for me. I guess I had accepted it a few days after I was told. Still, I was there for almost 6 years. That's a long time to work with the same people. I will miss them. In fact, I think I'll write a list of things I'll miss and things I'll be glad to be rid of.

Things I Will Miss about the library

*Free movies

*The bitchfests that only happened when the boss and Circulation Chief were at lunch

*There are many patrons that I loved, and will miss

*The jam cake that my supervisor made for birthdays

*The Avon samples

*H's constant flow of jokes

Things I am glad I won't have to experience again

*Mr. Snow

*The constant flow of terrible body odor that saturates the place

*The Hilarious Sisters (Boss and supervisor) cackling in the back room

*Checking in t-slips

*Being shushed by my boss

*Telling people that they can't check out books without their card

So, now, feeling strangely calm, I am unemployed.

Kelly