Best Birthday Ever

I've been back under the Dome for about a month now. It's cold. There's lots of work. I have responsibilities. Adjusting is a bit harder than I thought. I'm getting there, though, and having fun in the process.
Over winter break, I turned 21. It was the best birthday I've ever had because Jess, Caitlin C., and Caitlin I. all came to visit me in lil' ol' Stow, Ohio. I had no idea Caitlin I. was visiting and she surprised me by popping up from behind a chair in my family room. I was SHOCKED! It was a lot of fun getting to show my friends around my hometown. I took them to the fake-dome at Hoban High and to the Rhino and my dad's shop and to the "nice" mall (so not Chapel Hill). The night of my 21st, Shannon joined the 4 of us and we went to Lux, which used to be Poss. I was so excited to hand over my adult, horizontal I.D., but the bouncer didn't seem to take notice since he marked my hands with giant black X's before I could say anything. I have no idea why he marked me under, but it was a bit difficult to get a drink the rest of the night. Something like that was bound to happen on my 21st. I just have that kind of ironic luck.
Now that I'm back at ND, I've had the opportunity to sample the fine bars of South Bend. I went to Fever the first week of being back. So did everyone else, apparently, since I had to wait in line in the cold for 45 minutes before getting in. The crowd was all Notre Dame people--girls in slutty black tank tops, leggings, ugg boots and boys in button downs or polos with an ND baseball cap. We are a frumpy bunch. The Backer has quickly become my favorite place for its sheer griminess and ignorance of popular music. Finnigan's is not as fun, though I did do some great people watching there. The law students dancing there were very good and enacting every lyric of various Madonna songs.
When I'm not bar hopping around South Bend, I'm hosting Late Night ND (formerly known as The Mike Peterson Show). The first episode went pretty well, the second one was good, and the third one was even better. I say "umm" a lot and I need a better sign off than my last one of "I should go! Bye!" but I'm getting the hang of being host. If you want to check out the episodes, go to ndtv.net.
A slightly awkward situation arose the other day in conjunction with the show. My dorm had an SYR the other weekend, and instead of picking a date, Jess invited a bunch of her friends from the Australia program to share with me and some other girls. It was a fun night, but I seemed to especially click with one of the guys. Long after the last verse of piano man (the requisite final song to any SYR), this boy and I were still talking in Lafortune. He walked me back to my dorm and kissed me. All very sweet. The next day, I found out that he is rumored to have very poor hygiene (supposedly, he has a strong dislike of shampoo) and, since he is one of the student-body presidential candidates, I was to be interviewing him for that week's show. Excellent. I was a bit worried about potential awkwardness in the interview, but our brief history actually made the interview funnier. However, I recently received confirmation on the hygiene rumor, and though my friends tell me that I can teach him to be cleanly, I'm not too interested in dating a 4-year-old. Alas, perhaps I will find love at speed dating at Legends this Thursday. That's right. I'm going speed dating at the on-campus bar. Huzzah!