Stop Touching Things

"Miss! you can't touch the artwork..."
"He means you, too, G-ma"
"Bahhhh"

Monday, June 1, 2009

That's What the Stools are For.

You know how sometimes you plan this great evening. You know... "We are going to Snobby Bar and Restaurant and it is going be SOOOO AWESOME" and it turns out to be just average or something. It's just food and drink, after all.

Then, you have those nights where you call up your best friend and say "I'm bored, entertain me" and she says "I've got plans with my work friends from a job I no longer work at, but you can join me..." Your first thought is... 'well, I'll feel completely out of place while they're all reminiscing and will get tired and want to go home early' and your second thought is 'why the hell not, i'm bored and want to see my friend'. So you go, and have the most amazing food at a little brew pub in an obscure neighborhood and have a great time yukking it up with the co-workers because it turns out they've known your friend for so long that you've actually met them several times at various Halloween parties. It ends up being, as the kids no longer say since the invention of Homeland Security, the bomb.

I had one of those expierences about a month or so ago.

Jo and I met her friend Andrew and Chris at Buster's on 28th.

To start off I wasn't super keen on the whole night. I was kind of nervous, because I am the "out-of-town" friend that knows more about Jo than any one else, but nothing really super current. There was a mishap with a phone that left Jo and I wondering what to do. I decided to suck it up and wait at the bar... by myself... while she got business taken care of. It should only take 20 minutes tops.

"Alright, Howk, people sit at bars all the time by them selves. That's why they have stools. You can do it." I order my draft of choice (STELLA!) and hand the pretty darn cute bartender (why are they always so cute!) my ID and prepare myself for idleness.

The cute bartender returns "Where do you live?" as he stares at my ID. I name the town and wait. It's obvious to me that I'm significantly over 21, but you never know what others think. Plus I had long hair in my pic, which I haven't had in a number of years.

"Oh, I grew up in the next town over. Just didn't expect to see that here in Minneapolis".

This interchange sparked a conversation between the the older couple sitting at the bar next to where I was standing. We talked about southern Minnesota, Omaha (where their son was going to school) and draft beer. We shared a drink of each others beers and laughed at jokes. I was suprisingly at ease with these strangers and I hadn't even imbibed one complete stellar STELLA (which I was sure to text Kylie that I was consuming)!

The next thing I knew Jo was at my side and I had been talking to strangers in bars... in a friendly adult sort of way! It was liberating!

Stay tuned for the second part of this story where I reveal "The Best Thing My Toungue Has Ever Licked!"

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