I had a good hour or so until our date�so I walked co-worker Alice to the train�along the way we decided to go for a glass of wine.

We parked it over at Otto's and asked for the list.

Everything was pretty much in Italian - so we elicited the nice bartender's advice - tried a couple and settled on the better of the bunch.

We thought we were each getting a glass - but soon learned that we had each ordered a quartino (maybe the Italian equivalent of a pint).

This was a lot of drink for a pre-drink to my real drink date�but whatever.

I sucked that down with some sausage�continued walking Alice to the train�hopped in a cab and ended up on the West Side.

I got out of the cab totally disoriented�got on the cell, phoned Jules, who informed me that she was watching me and all I needed to do was cross the street. I'm sure I looked like a total fool�I was definitely not in my best of outfits. This was an impromptu meeting.

Arrived and downed a couple of glasses of White Sangria - totally munching on the fruit. Gabbed, gabbed, gabbed.

Decided to go over to a gay bar for a couple more of something�ended up in Chelsea (normally a total yuck in my world) but fun with Jules�the bars are pretty and she appreciates aesthetics.

Trouble ensued.

Two for One until nine o'clock.

Well, four Martinis later and I'm falling off the stool.

Met up with Joey and got something to eat. Being trashed in a restaurant is one of my nightmares�this is probably where I look most sloppy.

While eating, Jules telephones and say that she fell asleep on the train and totally missed her stop and now she is somewhere in the Bronx.

I say, "That's terrible!" and hang up.

The rest of the night is a little fuzzy, but I know I made it home and sort of feel surprisingly okay this morning.