10:12 p.m. | 2003-03-04 The Firm. I attended a special Grand Opening tonight. BFB and GuyFriend officially opened their new business, The Firm. It�s not actually called �The Firm� but that�s what we�ve been calling it for the last 2� years or so. I can�t even begin to tell you how many lunch hours were spent discussing The Firm and all things related. Most of the time, it was boring as hell of course, but creating a business plan is, well, boring. But it�s quite exciting to see a plan hatch and come to fruition. It�s fun to see a patch of dirt become a building and then an office. A very nice office. I wish them the best and I�m quite sure they�ll be successful. Below are some highlights. If people chose to, they could don a nametag when they came in. I watched as one woman wrote out a tag and stuck it on her coat. When she turned around, I saw that her name was �Alpha�. Let me just say that when your name is Alpha and you wear it on a badge, it kind of marks you as �leader of the pack�. Know what I mean? One woman in attendance was in my law school class. She befriended me back then and asked me to introduce her to some of my friends as she was new to the area. I did and they were very welcoming. However, she had an odd, and rather juvenile, idea of friendship. She wanted all my friends to like her �the best� and stop hanging out with me. As she was immature and rather obnoxious, she managed to alienate all my friends without my help. When they stopped hanging out with her, she blamed me. The last time I saw her was six years ago. Apparently, she�s still mad at me. Ironically, all of the people I introduced her to have moved away over the years so, as a consequence, I no longer hang out with them. In fact, I don�t even know where most of them are anymore. However, the fact that neither of us hang out with them hasn�t changed her feelings. I said hi to her, gushed about her baby (very adorable) and asked about her and her husband. She looked over my head the whole time and then excused herself to go feed the baby. See, I can be quite the bitch. Along those same lines, GuyFriend�s new wife refused to acknowledge my presence at all, notwithstanding the fact she was a hostess of this event. She didn�t look away from me, however she did look right through me repeatedly. She doesn�t actually know me but I�ve been informed that she�s extremely jealous by nature and she actually dislikes all of the women who have befriended and/or dated GuyFriend during his lifetime prior to her arrival on the scene a mere two years ago. I�d like to take the bitch award here but, as it�s not personal, I can only take it as a representative of all other females in GuyFriend�s former life. And, I�ll gladly step up on their behalf because they�re all very sweet ladies. I know because I�ve met and/or talked to them all during the course of my relationship with GuyFriend. He�s a nice guy and people like to have him in their lives. I got to see one of GuyFriend�s law school buddies and her husband whom I haven�t seen in some time. She�s an attorney and he�s a former professor turned author. Besides being really fun people, their first names rhyme. I�ll call them Happy and Pappy. Here�s that. (Happy:) Oh CI! How are you?! Oh, I haven�t seen you for so long! So, how are you?! (CI:) I�m doing good. It�s great to see you. (Happy:) Oh, it�s so good to see you too! You look so good! How are you doing?! You look so good! It�s good to see you! It�s been so long! (CI:) How are you? (Happy:) I�m doing great! I�m really busy! Oh here�s Pappy! Look Pappy, it�s CI! (Pappy:) Hi CI! It�s been years since I�ve seen you! (CI:) Hi. Yeah, it�s been a while, however, I did see you last year over here where you were stocking your book. (Pappy:) That�s right. I did see you there. Oh, that book is everywhere now. (CI:) Wow, that�s great. I remember when you wrote it. Have you written any more? (Pappy:) Yeah, I�ve got three more in the works but I make my living by speaking now. Then Happy drug Pappy off. And yes, Happy talks like that all the time and she�s actually genuine and sincere. Just very, very bubbly. Like champagne. The most interesting introduction involving me went like this. (BFB:) Hi CI! This is Lola. (CI:) (Shaking hands.) Hello, it�s nice to meet you. (Lola:) (Shaking hands.) Nice to meet you too. (BFB:) CI and I� well, we�ve done so many different things together. (Throwing up his hands like our relationship is impossible to explain.) After a huge pause, he started listing them off (law school, work, community activities, etc). We�ve known each other for around 6-7 years and have ended up working together in a variety of circumstances and oddly, I�ve been present at many of the momentous occasions of his life. However, he is happily married and none of these circumstances have ever been of a romantic nature. But many seem strangely inexplicable. And, for a minute there, I was a little worried about what she might be thinking. your thoughts? seed flower