My computer is magically working again. It was like I'd lost a limb. The touchpad wasn't working, but Max used some of his chi to fix it, for which I am grateful.
I also managed to survive another all you can drink night at J&J's. The website is deceivingly serene. The day crowd are nice people that want to relax, have some coffee, and look at some books. The night crowd brings new meaning to the term alcoholic. After my 9th or 10th beer, I stumbled to the basement and locked myself in the bathroom, voimiting up ramen and shaking with cold sweats. Then I had a brief rest on the bathroom floor before going and napping in the bargain book room. I woke up and realized that the place was almost empty and fortunately made it out before being locked in for the night. I felt mildly ashamed about this, but Max told me he's had to go lie down there before, too. And our British friend Lee has been found passed out there also. So it's not like I did anything new.
But as a result of my disappearance, Max and I were separated and he was accosted by a "platoon of hookers" in Parque Oeste at 5 am on his way back home. Apparently, some of them were topless, but he was trying not to look directly at them while ignoring their shouts of "Oye, guapo! Donde vas?" Not that we aren't used to seeing prostitutes on every street corner in Madrid, I think he was just a little shocked by the sheer number of them. But despite Spain's relatively low violent crime rate and lack of serial killers, it's just old-fashioned hooker common sense not to hang out in secluded areas at night by yourself. Max managed to make it out unscathed, but if I'd been there, we would have kicked some hooker ass and taken some hooker names.
We are apparently surrounded by whores. The park on the other side of us, Casa de Campo, is supposed to be full of prostitutes at night, too. Our neighborhood is relatively nice, though, so I can only theorize that the parks full of prostitutes act as a kind of buffer for other crimes.
Well, speaking of whores, I have to go whore my language skills for another few dollars.
