(diaryland) January 04, 2006 - 6:25 p.m.

I went to a pub around the corner last night with Paola. We went to the bistro part, and she said everybody was staring at her. I kind of noticed someone staring at me. It made me feel paranoid. It was the kind of stare you may get when you are an animal that is wearing a small jacket or hat. Possibly you are answering the phone or holding a pen and notepad like a human.

Anyway, we sat down at a little table where many people couldn't see us. Paola bought us pizza and she also bought me a glass of wine. I don't know why, as she is attempting to save up for a holiday, and I don't really drink alcohol.

But anyway, there I was, scoffing down the pizza and finishing the wine very quickly as I didn't like it much and wanted it to end. Then, noticing I'd done with my wine, she gave me half a glass of hers.

I don't know what kind of grandma I am, but I was very close to the point of being off my face. Maybe I'm frail. Paola was rambling on and on, as she does, about people I have never met and the way one person was trying to back out of a driveway at the crack of dawn on new year's day, which under normal circumstances would not be the most thrilling of things to listen to. But since I was in some kind of wine-soaked glow, I was hanging on every word, laughing, shouting, "YEAH!" a lot, and grinning. It was a creepy, "I love you," kind of grin. The sort of grin you may get when you have a crush on somebody and you can't wipe this ridiculous display of teeth off your face. However, all of this behaviour spurred her on, and I think her conversation may have revolved around the same thing for around an hour. I didn't want it to end.

However, the spell was promptly broken. We went back home to my house, and she forced me to make her chocolate pudding. Later on, she poked her tongue out at me.

Yeah, I'm her slave.