Date: 24 Aug 96

Hi guys and girls,

Well, It's saturday morning and I just got home from being in San Francisco last night at Sondra's party. I tell you, I'm bushed! But, it was awesome! I had so increbly much fun that it almost seems kinda surreal now. Here is a brief rundown of the festivities as my little ol' brain can remember:

I met up with Jimbone around 8:30pm in the East Bay. He, Kathy, and I piled into his truck and headed for San Francisco (abbreviated SF from now on). About a half hour later we get to Sondra's place and find a parking space right in front of her door! If you've ever driven in SF before, you know how crummy the parking can be. So, we ring the bell, a female voice says "Who is it?", and I yell back "Open the door, ya Bastard!", which is now the new ADB super secret greeting. We go in and meet Sondra.

After the initial hugs, I meet Sully and his wife, Kate. Sully is a very funny person, and the bastard has this incredibly memory for remembering quotes, such as Python and other movie/tv quotes. Sondra boght for me a huge bottle of Skyy vodka and a bottle of Sprite (bless her heart, she also has a fine memory.) I brought a bottle of Absolute for my drinking please, but it was only half full by the time I left.

Al was also there. You might remember him from the Martini shaker story where the top of the shaker wouldn't come off. Had never met Al, but he was also a barrel of laughs.

So, We all are drinking. I had my initial shots of vodka, which really hit home after not drinking for a week. I had promised Sondra I wouldn't do another Vegas on her and black out, so I kept a leash on my drinking. The party is all going on, drinking and being merry and yelling to each other because it was so loud in there, and Vadim (Vadeeeeeeeeemmmmm!) showed up. Had never met Vadim in person, but had tried for about 2 years and our paths kept crossing. Drank with Vadim for awhile (Where *did* he go? *When* did he go?)

At this point, I need to point out some of the other characters there, because without doing so, no one would understand why it was so loud in Sondra's apartment. First, there was Yuri and his GF. Yuri was quite drunk by the time I got here, and he spent most of his time roving around saying Hi to people. He ended up on his back, partially in Sondra's open closet, GF sitting up next to him. Then, there was Terry. Terry and Rose came in together, and I tell you, Terry busted my gut. She was so damn loud, friendly, and personable. She had this huge Martini glass (no, I'm talking HUGE), and Al was making Cosmopolitans, and they were mean Cosmos. Anyway, Terry was incredibly funny and loud, and she really added a lot to the party. Sondra also had a whole bunch more people over (I'd say about 30 at the highest count), and they all added to the increasing noise level.

After a bit, Rob Fagen and new GF showed up. I didn't really talk to Rob too much. He had to leave early for some reason, but I'll see him again. At this point, it was about 1:00am, although I couldn't tell you for sure. Sondra calls up Joel and the phone gets passed around. I know we called him once, but maybe even twice. A little after that, Sondra's body gives up the Ghost, and Al escorted everyone out of the apartment who wasn't going to stay the night, which meant that Jimbone, Kathy, and I were, within 5 minutes, standing together in totally quiet kitchen, lloking at each other like "Are we suppossed to go to bed now?" So, we decide to order a pizza and drink more. It was about this time I start to black out a bit, and an eternity later, the pizza guys shows up. We each scarf down a couple of slices of pizza and crawl into bed

Next morning: I wake up and stagger around the apartment, hungry as hell. I spy the pizza box and inhale a slice. Jimbone suddenly wakes up as does Kathy, and before I know it (at 8:00am), we say goodbye to Sondra, pile into Jimbone's truck to head back to the East Bay. He dropped me off, I pile into my car and head home. Stopped at In and Out Burger on the way, and here I am, tired, but not hungover. Overall, a terrific party and a great way to end my week of sobriety.