AMAZINGLY well!!

It went better than I could have expected... and yet, at the same time, deep down in the very pit of my stomach, beneath the distraction of all those anxious butterflies with their knotted wings, I think I always knew that everything would turn out okay.

Manager is pushing the T Committee to hire someone else to help reduce my workload. AND, my April 18th pay cheque will include a bonus and a raise that is retroactive to January 1st. I don't know the amounts of either yet... but I don't care. Just "knowing" is enough for me.

Even better, Manager did *not* interrupt me this time (which is generally a very nasty habit of his that I called him on in my letter.) In fact, he even asked me about four or five times if he had addressed all my concerns.

I feel good.

After work J n' I went to a place called Kelly O'Brian's. It's probably the best place in town to celebrate St. Patty's Day. All the waiters wear their kilts year round and they even have a sign on the wall that counts down to this very day.

I was embarrassed that I wasn't wearing any green, but figured I'd make up for it by ordering my first Guinness ever. It seemed like the more Irish thing to do than ordering a simple pint of green beer. While I don't know if I can actually say that I "enjoyed" the Guinness, I wasn't totally disgusted by it. It was a lot smoother and milder than I expected.

J n' I shared a plate of pachos for two with extra Emerald Isle sauce. Then we split a super huge piece of mudslide ice cream cake, and I finished our meal off with an Irish coffee.

Yeah, it was a pretty good day.

And for a girl whose heritage is mainly German and Scottish, I have to say that I felt I definitely had the luck of the Irish in my back pocket... even if I wasn't wearing green.