Ok, first my Navy Ball pictures.

It started out with getting my hair done, and then getting ready for the evening, my two bodyguards arrived to pick me up:

























And we enjoyed the ball, complete with new friends at the table (one of whom is here, but there were six others) and a whole new appreciation for American ceremonies on behalf of my foreign companions. They don't have a Prisoner of War ceremony/rememberance table in most other services, and were particularly impressed by this symbolism.

Some other parts of the ball were not so impressive, particularly the dj (who broke most of the cardinal rules of dj'ing, like making it about him instead of the music), so we left there earlier than expected to go to our favorite local haunt.

I had to get extra fun out of the hair since I paid a decent bit for it and I'm compusively against short-term expenses in general... it looked pretty nice the next day when I let just a few ringlets out, and then that night I took out more than fifty pins from my hair since my scalp finally hurt enough to not keep them in. Seriously, more than fifty. It was a large stack. No wonder my hair didn't come out that night!