17 May 2002 - 10:58 a.m.

I will make a pie for the person who makes the best guess about how much money I owe the government.

Is it in poor taste to talk about money on DiaryLand?

Maybe not if you don't actually intend to pay any of it until you are 30 or so. I suppose there is an advantage to the length of time involved in obtaining the sacred Ph.D.

Here's another etiquette question for you all. When pouring a drink on the ground for someone, is it not appropriate to pour the whole thing?

A bit of background. When Tinsel and TDGirl moved out last week, they bestowed upon us a great deal of leftover food, including some 20-oz. bottles of Pepsi and Diet Pepsi, which have been drunk with mixed emotions by three avowed Coke (as in -ca-cola, not -caine, scandalmongers) consumers, but drunk nonetheless because free pop is free pop. But after splitting a bottle the other night, Gus and I walked back to my place and stumbled upon a 20-oz. bottle of Diet Pepsi standing proud and upright on the sidewalk. Which was odd.

Now, it was a shame to let the Pepsi go to waste, but taking it home, refrigerating it, and drinking it at a later date would have been awfully sketch. So I suggested we pour it on the ground for Tinsel, and Gus agreed, but then protested that I had poured out too much when I let all 20 ounces seep into the grass.

Now, for one, I don't think it's really honoring someone unless you dump the entire contents, because it's supposed to represent what your absent friend would have drunk were s/he not absent. Second, neither of us wanted a Diet Pepsi that had been abandoned on Fifth Avenue, even though it was still sealed.

But apparently, when people do this on TV (which I have never, ever seen, by the way), they don't pour out the whole thing.

Maybe I should be sending this to Ann Landers, but, in the meantime, does anyone have any thoughts?

What I'm wearing:

What I'm reading:

What I'm doing after this: