I mean, I could tell you all about visiting the FIA Expo going on next door that I wandered thru in search of the free drinks and tasties (OT, but what's up with the current Asian-food trend in catered buffet munchies? I am starting to tire of chicken satay and it's tasty peanut sauce, OT), and found myself walking out with the following:

~2 pens that light up when you click them (useful for writing notes in the dark to your neighbors in the middle of hideous plays and/or movies)

~A cute clippy-thing koala with a Santa hat from the Sydney Exchange (they sent their hottest reps, too, let me tell you. An Aussie offering me Foster's? I'll gladly drink the beer..."and while you're at it, would you please read me the list of services the Exchange provides? Slowly, in your gorgeous accent? Thanks")

~A Super-Ball that, when bounced, lit up and made sounds normally found on a Bop-It!, which later rolled off the bar into the tub of ice behind the bar, requiring me to surreptitiously hang over the bar to retrieve said ball before the bartender became suspicious

~a bottle (not can, a honest-to-goodness glass bottle) of some Squirt-like drink with some sporty name (which quenched my thirst during the later lecture)

~a beautiful glass-thing from Eurex which, not only containing good German beer, fit perfectly in my bag and will look wonderful with a milkshake in it

~some other odds and ends and candies of all shapes and sugars

But the #1 present from this adventure was *not* the t-shirt (and it's a great shirt, I had to be a total girl to get it and sometimes it's just good to be a girl) but the toreador hat from the Spanish Financial Futures.

A TOREADOR HAT!

The hat is a nice felt-covered plastic, but, boy howdy! it's fun to watch people wear it at the bar. Because they did. But we restrained the 'Ole!'s from coming out...we *were* in public after all. I'm totally in love with this hat. I think it's the best souvenier ever. It's like Mouse ears, but somehow cooler since it's imported.

So, I guess I did tell you all about these things. I skipped the whole architectural lecture and subsequent feasting and drinking episode because, honestly, unless you're there--it just ain't funny. I can't vouch for anything more exciting in the previous days. However, the night was capped by finding fresh cookies on my bed from my roomie.

Not the Doofus.

So, except for the waking-up-at-6:30a thing, life is good.