Life is a dream that keeps me from sleeping

The interns ball took place on Friday. They changed the name to 'Tanzania ball' to be more inclusive and to show how much they loved Tanzania but I stuck stubbornly to the original name. It was OUR ball godammnit, we didn't have to change the name just to prove we love Tanzania. Some of us don't, but let's not get into that.
Anyway I was fortunate enough to share a table with the three interns I feel most comfortable with- Anne-Cecile, Nikki and Hannah. Talk inevitably drifted to girlie matters like complaining about ill-fitting shoes. My views on the matter were that if you were wearing shoes with the express purpose of walking in them, surely you should pick shoes that fit you? It was this genius approach that I had applied to choosing my own shoes for the night.
An unrelated shoe problem plagued Nikki so much that she started walking around barefoot. She was wondering aloud whether this was appropriate which is how the two of us ended up having the following conversation:
"Well I am a rebel you know"
"Your surname name is Palmer" I told her "What kind of rebel has a name like Palmer?"
She defended the kick-ass credentials of her surname with a reference to President Palmer in the TV series 24 (inadvertently giving away crucial plot twists to Anne-Cecile who had only seen the first series)
"I've got a group called Nikki's rebels" She said "You haven't heard of it because it's top secret"
"So what are you fighting against exactly?" I asked.
"Well I can't tell you obviously" She said "It's a secret"
"Well how does one join?"
"That's a secret as well" She carried on in mock seriousness "But you'll know once you've joined"
"So your'e the one leading this group then, are you?"
She looked shocked "Me? Dear Lord no. Nobody knows who the leader is. That's another secret"
"Well the group is called Nikki's rebels" I pointed out "If you are trying to keep the leader's identity secret, it's probably not a good idea to go around calling yourself Nikki. That's a bit of a giveaway"
She said "Nikki? Who is Nikki?"
The conversation carried on in this vein as our table went up for dinner.
"This might be the most deranged coversation I've ever had" She said as we stood in the food queue. I was too busy laughing to respond.

The night quickly moved from a loud, colourful affair into a hazy blur. My first unclear memory is having a long, interesting conversation with a guy who had come down to Tanzania to propose to an intern called Alice. I don't remember his name, but he was English and he supported Crystal Palace. Then right afterwards we went to Masai Camp at around 1.am- the three girls, Christian and I- and from there everything became even more distinctly unclear. I dimly recall playing darts with Hannah and Anne-Cecile. I had never played darts before, but I recall giving it a pretty good go. I nearly hit the bulls-eye once and I turned around and saw a Korean-looking girl cheering me on. For a split second I wondered what was going on. I stumbled to the bar and ordered another drink. I felt completely fine, but unbeknownst to me, I was roaring drunk. I had to keep an eye on Hannah who looked pretty gone. I recall bumping into Eve and telling her that I would miss her. Eve is my neighbour in our crowded office and she's made me laugh quite a few times. She's leaving soon and I'll miss the little rambling monologues she used to have with herself sitting right behind me.
And then somehow I got home. I don't recall directing the taxi driver, but it seems I did. The girls were also in the car and Hannah was already asleep. Needless to say I had the hangover from hell the next day- my first official hangover in three months- but it had been worth it. Hell of a good night.