what's the difference between a 4-yr-old and a little old lady?

Talking to Hillary on the phone tonight. I've woken her from her crossword puzzle. She was working on it and when she became really stuck, she just closed her eyes... and then the phone rang.

"Imagine what I'll be like when I'm old," she says to me at 7:30 pm.

Yesterday Tobi and I wandered around Chinatown together. We had lunch at Won Kow (yum!), we went into a bunch of cute little shops, we bought random useless items for $3.98 apiece, and we didn't stop talking the entire time. We had a lot to catch up on--ourselves, of course, and then all the people that glue us together, the people we have in common.

When we were leaving Chinatown, Tobi asked if I wanted ice cream. Uh, yeah, I want ice cream. Duh.

"Okay, but you have to get what I tell you to get. Or else we're not going."

"What do I have to get?"

"A hot fudge sundae with chocolate chip ice cream. Or you can have half chocolate chip and half coffee. But that's it. No other substitutions."

So we went to Mitchell's in Homewood. I didn't even order my own ice cream because I was too busy drooling at the chocolates behind the glass. The hot fudge comes separately in a little jug and you get to control how much you put on your ice cream when. Control. Yum.

Later we were back at the house playing Scrabble and I was coming down with a very bad case of the tired sillies. Everyting was making me laugh and I couldn't keep my head up. I tell Tobi I think it might be that I'm overstimulated, that's why I'm so damn tired.

Tobi doesn't get why I might be overstimulated. I remind her that we were just in Chinatown, which is itself sensory overload, we ate a lot of MSG and a lot of sugar, and we never stopped talking. I never talk to a single person for such a sustained period of time anymore. I live alone, remember?

Tobi says, "Amy, you sound like you're describing a four-year-old."