Unfortunately, the journal runs out at this point, so I've got to wing it. Actually, since this section is all about pomme's graduation, this would be a good time for her to actually chime in if she remembers anything. She says she reads the blog but I'm pretty sure that's a lie, so pomme, if you're reading, leave a comment about your graduation, and I'll incorporate the information into the blog. But on the assumption that I'm on my own here, I remember driving to unlovely Utica, the only place anywhere near Hamilton that could be called a city, for a big family dinner, meaning the immediate family and a few of the Rhodies (Rhode Island relatives), namely my grandma and my aunt and two cousins. Since we've known each other for ages, it was same old, same old, although adding Somchai and Aimee's then fiancee (she goes through engagements like other people go through toilet paper) to the mix introduced an exciting new dynamic. And pomme, the thing about your engagements and toilet paper comes out if you provide your own commentary.

As I was writing about this I was panicking because I didn't know what kind of pictures to post here, but fortunately Utica is such a boring town that it only has one hotel, imaginatively named the Hotel Utica. So, another copyright infringement and I'm good to go. Now I know we had our interesting dinner at the Hotel Utica, I think at the fashionable dinner hour of 4.30. And it's all coming back to me, I think afterwards we went to pomme's sorority party, a first for me, and got drunk in a big tent with the proud parents of the drunk sorority girls. I'm pretty sure the evening then continued on for some gambling back at the hotel/casino, since Somchai and stoli can't walk past a slot machine without stopping, and then we called it a night.