So Take this Night

There's a game
That I play
There are rules
I had to break
There's mistakes
That I made
But I made them . . .
My way

A guy on my team moved up here from Cali a few months ago.  Within that time he's landed a hot girl who is not a nerd* but who has a tattoo of the rebel alliance symbol.  I've been here for more than two years, and...with the exception of a few unpublishable stories, my track record in this city is well known, and dismal in comparison.

Him, this girl he's dating, another teammate and I went to a cool live show.  Like, really good music.  I'm not used to going to small venues and hearing good music.  The last time I tried that, it was set up by this girl I knew in college and the music was...not great.  Also the one act was this kid who was like singing in his underwear and felt the need to stare directly at me during the bridge of one of this songs.  I was one of about 5ish people in a room that could fit 20 or 30.  However, if the music can be good, I want to start going to these, especially after seeing Scott Pilgrim vs the World.  Anyway.  I opened with captain and cokes.  My friends made fun of me for not branching out, and I put forth as evidence that one time at the Irish bar that I got a captain and ginger.

The waitress asked if I wanted a single or double shot.  The last time I did double shots, I had a three day hangover and couldn't drink rum for a month.  Interestingly enough, I got back into rum in Atlantic City, which was the venue for Corona Night.  Anyway.  So until this morning, I've always felt like a bit of a pussy for getting single shots.  Don't tell me how I should think about it;  I don't care.  So after 3 or 4 single shots I asked to switch to double shots.  Actually that wasn't the reason at all.  I was looking around and realized that I wasn't enjoying myself...I caught myself thinking how great this would be in the future, and I could come back here later with a girl I liked.  I've been sleeping with future and later and next time for more than five years now and frankly they suck in bed.  So instead I told myself I should just enjoy the night, and this time I didn't even have my own girl there locking me in the friend zone.  I was like the plus one of a third wheel.   However, my volleyball team has lost our last game that night, ending our season only halfway towards our goal of winning two games, and I realized I'm not getting any younger, so I tipped my glass back and told myself to enjoy the night.  Which I did.

Until I asked for double shots.  I'd already had 3 or 4 "single shots" and I could barely taste the captain and I felt completely sober.  So I thought maybe the "double shot" was their word for a...real captain and coke.  The first one came in a tall glass.  It was basically as if you took two captain and cokes and put them in a big glass like pizza shops used.  Hot Rebel Alliance Girl, as I've just now decided to call her, is a bartender and told me I should asked for a double short.  So I did.

The waitress said something to the effect of "no problem" and came back with two of them.  Two double-shots in lowball glasses.  Another thing I hate doing is drinking a captain and coke so slowly that the ice melts, and I told myself that wasn't going to happen this time.  So I double-fisted and took care of business.  And that's when the night went south.

I remember stumbling back and forth to the bathroom.  Texting Laura to ask if she knew where her towel was (because the hip hop group on stage was doing an awesome rap piece about Hitchikers Guide) and saying "fucking girls" really loudly when she didn't respond immediately even though it was like 3 or 4 in the morning where she lives.  Yeah.  Its pathetic that I still think of her.  I also remember telling the waitress I didn't understand when she handed me the bill and later sitting in 5 Point Cafe trying not to vomit.

I held my liquor that night.  Unfortunately I passed out on my bed before I could drink an adequate amount of water and woke up with a hangover.  That's when I decided that I'm done with double shots.

On my way to work I bought pickles (because a Russian kid I met here insisted that pickle juice is a magical russian cure for hangovers) and a container of watermelon slices (because I love watermelon).  The pickles tasted like shit but the watermelon was delicious and made me feel better.

This is the paragraph where I was going to go on about various girls, including mentioning Jess and Betsy and hints of stories I never intend to actually tell.  While listening to this Black Lab song.  So, pretend I did all that.

The moral of the story?  Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you can choose to have a good time.  You can choose to say no to double shots.



*Where I come from, nerd is the more pejorative of the pair (nerd,geek).  I don't like being seen as a geek either, unless I find it useful.

//TODO:  learn this song