Last night marked the first-ever Toast away game, and it was a rousing success. You are all so charming! There were so many of you (including five very brave, slightly wide-eyed males), and you wore such sensible yet stylish shoes! Nicole did 30 pushups just because we all asked her to. (Later she did an additional ten as I placed my boots on her back and laughed. It was wonderful.)

There were certain common themes: at least three of the attendees had gone as Rosie the Riveter this past Halloween, and at least one went as Leslie Knope as Rosie the Riveter. Two of you had Veronica Mars shirts on. I’ve never hugged so many women with so much warmth and mutual affection in a single night before, and I had so much juice. Also, a lot of you wore cool and tough-looking leather jackets I wanted very much to borrow. No one started an arm-wrestling contest, but there are many things in this life we want but cannot have.

Many of you were marvelously homosexual; a few of you brought your cheerful and friendly boyfriends; all of you were a damn delight. Nicole and I got there early, so as to eat some cheeseburgers, and tried to guess how many people would show up. (“Hi, I’m here for…the Internet, I guess? For my friends from the Internet?”) I guessed twelve, but there were literally dozens and dozens of us.

One of you brought nametags! Another one of you made little felt toast pins for us to wear! Someone was so overwhelmed by the strong and intense female vibes that she got her period that selfsame night, which is the greatest thing that I have ever heard.

Were you there? Did you take pictures? Won’t you post them here so we can admire one another? Did you do something else last night? Tell us about that, too.