A Decent Night Out

I have to say that I am normally not the type who likes to spend a weekend night out and about - the noise, the crowds, the prices. But it has been a while since I saw my best friend and considering I have spent the last ten years being separated by massive travel distances from her, spending time together when possible is always a good thing. Add that to the fact that we had plans for Wednesday that had to be canceled, and I was ready to head out with my best girl and have some fun. Luckily, bgf* is just my speed: she had work in the morning, so no overly late night and she understands about my 'not even a sip' when I am driving, so she does not try to harass me about not drinking.

We decided to spend a quiet night drinking at Sunset Tavern. The last time I went there was about four years ago; it was myself, bgf, and two of our friends, Vasco and Tony. We then proceeded to spend about six hours there, with the three others drinking beer and myself drinking diet coke. We were giving Tony a good send off as it was a)his last night in Miami and b)he might have been subsequently shipped off to Iraq when he got back to England. We managed to make an impressive collection of beer bottles on the tiny table, also made friends with tables near to us (and got bought pitchers of beer for the guy about to do 'his' country proud - they obviously could not hear the Scottish accent that well in their sotted state) and there were some hilarious moments -the kind that only occur when you're the sole sober and the drunken antics are beyond crazy. So the plan was the spend an evening there once more; not necessarily to remember old habits, but more to revisit old haunts.
I managed to also touch base with a couple of people and one of our friends from Uni was going to be going out in the neighbourhood anyways, so planned to pop by where we were before his other brthday celebrations and then head on over. I gave him the time of eight o'clock as when we aimed to be at Sunset Tavern, but for various reasons we were late. Some of these included the fact that I have not worn high heels in about three months to go out, much less driven in high heels in more than three years. So, as I jumped in the car, I had to take the driving a bit more cautiously than usual because suddenly, there was a massive obstacle whenever I exerted force on the gas and the brake - namely, a four ince heel (the thinsg we suffer for fashion). Add to that the sudden showers of rain after Florida had been in the grip of a dry spell since the beginning of the year, and slightly slicked roads were another reason to play it more on the cautious side. But I made it to my bgf's house in good time, only to find she was not ready, as coming home from work had been a nightmare. So tack on some exra time for getting ready to vamoose, travelling cautiously to the rendevous point, and then finding parking, and we were at the Tavern by nine.

We sat and chatted, had some drinks in the warm night air, and just generally caught up (the three of us). Then Raf mentioned that he had to get moving to his next birthday shindig, and invited us along, which we decided to spend a bit of time at. It was at a bowling alley called "Splitsville" - you know the kind that has been springing up recently: only for adults, with loads of lethal cocktails and 'gourmet' fare to eat. We settled up at the Tavern (well, Raf did as he would not allow us to pitch in) and then walked on over to the bowling alley. When we got there, the party with Raf's friend was in full swing. And from there, it just got fun. First it was round at the table of shots called "liquid Cocaine" - it apparently had Goldschlagger, Mint Midori, 151, and Jagger all mixed together. I understand the sensation was one of burning and instant drunkeness (at least, from what I could see around me). Then came the cocktail bowls (see picture to the right). Basically, thing a medium-sized fishbowl full of your choice of specialty cocktail. It was a bit like passing around a smoke at the table or something, which each person taking a sip and passing to the left :-D

After that, the conversation, good times, and good music were in full swing. I was sober (I swear) but you know me well: I don't need alcohol to just have a rip roaring good time and joined in the various hijinks (see picture to left). I am not sure what I was doing, but this may have been around the time I was a bit puzzled when I asked someone if they minded if I borrowed their bum for a photo (I was planning to pretend smack that) and was told that the person (guy) was not gay. But there was dancing and lots of getting to know strangers, and all said and done, when we left around midnight (after trying to force Raf to take some money for the drinks and snacks, which ended with me sticking bills in his pants at various locations), we had a really fun night out. Hurrah! Oh yeah, and the upside: I actually went somewhere that I got checked out at. Huzzah times two :-D

*bgf means 'best girlfriend'