l o n g weekend: part 1

Thursday
These u.s.
played at dc9 and hadn’t seen them in a while. jesse was sweet enough to guestlist me so i didn’t have to delve deep into my rapidly dwindling bank account. it was very cold outside and I was wrapped up in my headscarf pakistani style. we got there and it was quite packed, especially considering it was only a thursday night. so we’re there, having a woodchuck and then they start playing and they’re wonderful as usual. i wasn’t moved to take any pictures, mostly because there were about 4 photogs running around with fanciful, highly enviable cameras occasionally blocking my view. any bitterness at not being able to take my own photos instantly washed away due to the realization that these were probably real photographers whose work would be seen by lots of other people, thus affording jesse, mark and robby a good bit of well-deserved publicity. so kudos, fellows, for being popular enough to have a slew of camera-slingers eagerly vying for the best photo ops of you as you rocked and rolled your way right into our hearts. kudos.


Friday
Wonderland
after a semi-fun day during which i spent the working hours alternately working and scouring the interweb for fresh tunes, i was pumped and ready for a superfun night on the town. got home a little late, made a ham and mushroom pizza for one and dansed to stevie wonder and annie in my bedroom. ben had some ladyfriends from school visiting, so we all met up at his and then headed over to wonderland. now, save for its convenient neighborhood location, i’ve found that fun times at wonderland are hit or miss with me. sometimes, i’ve gone and had a perfectly smashing time. othertimes, i’ve been wholly underwhelmed. this time, however, was fairly to moderately fun perhaps for the following reasons:

1. all four of us had seats at the bar
2. had a couple of coke-based beverages (first rum, then whiskey. yum)
3. it was not packed to the rafters with jerks
4. ben dominated the jukebox and played a solid set of 7 excellent songs and we took it upon ourselves to sing along loudly
5. the bartender girls were all hot and dansey and that made me happy

it was funny and awkward when an older fellow sitting off to my right at the end of the bar decided to make a feeble attempt at a holla, while ben had his arm round me. i appreciated that bar fellow's audacity, but that was about it. we didn’t stay very long, maybe until 11:30 or so and then made the trek down to…

Black cat
ridunkulously fun!! it was sad that my brown partner in crime, tiya wasn’t in attendance, but we still managed to have a lovely time. for the first time since the summer solstice, we scored a prime people-watching booth in the populated part of the bar and maintained ownership of it until we left at 2. here’s a few of the notable and interesting people that i ran into that night… in bullet form…

· Tim/Mark RRR – i like those boys. it didn’t even bother me that they were slightly mocking my impaired speech. tim had never heard me use the term “speedbag” to denote how i would treat the scrotums of fellows who piss me off (i.e. “you step out of line, and i’ll totally speedbag your balls.”) i believe i also made some reference to the vas deferens. i definitely know my biological geography.

· Ian Svenonius – yes, i get a little starry-eyed whenever that fellow is around, but i try to play it cool; i think i succeeded. i liked his man-bag that he carried gingerly around the bar and his slightly ruffly scarf. i can appreciate a fellow with interesting style. he came over to talk when i was lounging guard over our highly coveted booth while the rest of my crew were in the bathroom(s). now, we are totally bff.

· My gay boyfriend Clint – i’ve seen clint out pretty regularly, but it’s never any less fun. he’s wonderful and sassy and crass and completely offensive. so, of course, i heart him to the max. for some reason, he’s got it set in his mind that ben is a semitic new yorker. this is funny because ben is not jewish and has never been to new york. we danced a little backstage and by dance, i mean clint threw me around like a fashionable brown rag doll while i giggled uncontrollably.

· Glotorious – it was so lovely to see this magnificently beautiful brown girl and her slightly jesustastic bf! we giggled, i think i jumped up and down for a while, took a self-indulgent picture of ourselves. great fun.

· Emerson – my favorite ex-tlc employee made a surprise appearance and i squealed! he was the lovely “new rockstar” who showed up one day in the office and later surfaced at taint, wearing a cowboy hat and sweating, only to be gone a mere week after he started. we giggled and snapped and talked about people and that was also lovely.