here's where i try to make up for lost time

right. it's getting late in the year and a lot has happened since my last post. so i'm going to attempt to give you snippets (and maybe some details if i can remember them) of the closing days of 2004.

my last day of work before winter break was december 16. so naturally i had to spend some extra time hanging with the work peeps for one last hurrah (read: drunken spree) before we parted ways for the holidays. i ended up working a double shift (got in at 10 in the morning. got off work around 11pm. blech.) because my department comes in later than i do. and i wanted to make sure i got in some quality time with those that weren't going to make the christmas party the next day.

anyways, after work we decided to to go the good luck bar. it seems we always end up here for drinks. it's close by, is a decent space, and has a pretty good jukebox. that and i am so out of the cool, hip bar scene that i don't know where else to go.

"hungry hungry" and i got there first because" MPP" and "smarty" had to be complicated and drop off cars, get "ready," and then carpool together. hmph. so there we are at the front door of the good luck. and there's a sign informing us that there is a private party going on and the general public weren't allowed to grace their space until midnight. bugger. and at the tone the time will be 11:20 and 31 seconds. great. so the round of calling begins. hungry and i weren't exactly sure if the others would show up, they were being slow-footed and moody a little earlier. so we thought it might just be the two of us. so we were trying to come up with a backup plan if things fell through. luckily for us, other people from work showed up. people we hadn't exactly planned on meeting, but people we knew all the same. so we waited out the minutes until entrance time with them.

i don't know what tipped me off, but i think these other people got some pre-party time in. maybe it was the glassy eyes. or the aroma of tequila on their breath. or the slurred loud obnoxious behavior coming from the usually poised women. or perhaps it was the heightened sense of machismo which caused "knight" to want to pick fights with everyone he encountered. i dunno, i could be wrong. but these people were pissed.

midnight finally arrives and i'm about to make my way into the bar when i run into one on penquin's coworkers. we exchange pleasantries, i accuse him of being elitist, he looks down his nose at me and calls me a commoner. i'm kidding, of course. it was swell (if not surprising) to see each other in a public space without our binding link to ease the awkwardness between us. also the people from work were getting incredibly embarrassing (no doubt anxious to get more drunk and annoying.)

we walk in and take a couple of tables near the entrance. hungry and i sat with knight and "frenchy" while the other louder group sat at the table next to us. i have never gone out with these people before. and i soon discovered why. they are LAME when they are drunk. i'm sure most people get lame when they are drunk. but i wasn't drunk yet. i hadn't even had a drink. so being in any way associated with them got me on edge. i was expecting a quieter, tamer evening with just the graphics crew. we'd order a few beers, toast to the holidays, have some conversation. you know, low-key. not so. 10 minutes in and MPP and smarty still hadn't shown up. where are you guys?? help!

i drink a sidecar (which was crap) and sit staring at hungry with wide eyes. i can't believe how the other table is acting. "big k" is licking knight's face, "stage dude" is talking loudly of scoring some pot. they are using my camera to snap pictures of themselves in their revelry. knight is asking me who i want him to punch. it's all incredbily bizarre. finally MPP and smarty show up and i look at them with wild eyes that say "quick! sit down next to me or i will kill you!"

it ended up being ok. i stuck to the safe table for most of the night. when things got a little too much for me to handle (read: when they were acting up and i needed to run away) i just went to the jukebox and picked some songs to play. or went outside for some air.

a couple funny things did happen that night. like knight pinched the cheeks of some random friend of big k's. really he wanted to punch him in the face. kept asking me if i dared him to do it. but i talked him into pinching his cheeks. potential fisticuffs averted. good on me. but then i faux started a fight between MPP and "greaser clove guy" (some dude i befriended while outside.) i started talking to him because knight was trying to bite people, and i was looking for protection. GCG was kinda bigger, had tattoos, looked menacing if he wanted to be. and he asked if i needed help. i said it was alright, that i knew knight, that i worked with him, that he was just drunk so he was being an ass. but GCG stood with me just in case. joy! i made a friend i could help me fuck with other people. hooray!!!

so hungry and MPP were outside talking. GCG asked if i thought hungry needing saving from what looked like an advance from some creepy guy. i told GCG we all worked together so it was cool. but then i had a brilliant idea. i was going to play a joke on them. it went a little something like this:

GCG walks up to hungry.
GCG: is this guy (pointing at MPP) giving you any trouble?
hungry: no.
GCG: are you sure? cause he looks a little creepy.
hungry: it's fine. i know him.
MPP starts to look a little nervous
GCG: alright, you just let me know if he makes any trouble. (gives MPP a long hard look as he walks away)

GCG walks back over to me and we start talking. MPP yells over so i can hear, "she tried to get my ass kicked!" and i start laughing, saying i don't know what he's talking about. he says more about me sicking some thug on him. i tell him GCG is just a gentleman and he was making sure hungry was ok. GCG interrupts and asks me if i want him to kick the leprechaun's ass (MPP was wearing this apple green windbreaker jacket at the time). that just makes me laugh harder. and MPP continues saying how happy it would make me to see him get his ass kicked for my entertainment. hahahaha, funny shit.

we hung out at the good luck bar for maybe 2 or 3 more beers when the lights come on signaling the end of our night. or not. there's this japanese bar that stays open after hours that smarty frequents. but you've got to know the right people to get in. since we didn't really get the low-key evening we were intending to have hungry, smarty, MPP, frenchy and i head over to this place; leaving the rowdies behind.

we hung out, drank more beer, had some shumai and japanese sausages. we talked about books, christmas presents good and bad, childhood memories, mental dysfunction. it was nice. and by 4 in the morning we were ready to head for home.