Well, well, well, yesterday I was invited to and went to a work function, a formal reception hosted by several foreign liaison offices. Of all my colleagues, only two other women decided to go there as well (we'd been told that the hours spent traveling and attending the function were for our own private amusement and didn't count as work time).

So around noon, we laid siege to the bathroom at work, slipped on our little black dresses (mine wasn't so little, considering I don't have a short black shirt and instead wore a black, floor-length Godet skirt, a newly-bought aquamarine top, and a black, pinstriped vest - spiffy, if I may say so), and wielded our make-up kits.

It was only the second time in my life that I've gone all out and applied all the different make-up components I gifted to myself last Christmas (for a horrendous amount of money I still try to forget about), and while I need to cut down on the time necessary, the end result didn't look half bad.

It sure was enough to be the talk at work because we had to show up for a departmental briefing shortly before we left, hehe.

Anyway, we certainly lowered the average age at the function, raised the woman's quota, and even had a resonably good time - despite it all being shop talk (so much for 'private amusement'!). It was interesting to finally meet a lot of people face-to-face that so far, we'd only ever had contact with on the telephone.

...Of course, this morning was brutal. We shouldn't have stayed so long.