:: Life on Planet Dan-E ::

:: So what Happened? ::

Not much really. I show up five minutes late. I greet Elly the bartender and like always, she leans in for a kiss on the cheek. She's been working there for a couple of weeks and she may or may not be flirting with me everytime I go there. I can never tell with female bartenders. I order my Yeungling ($3 a bottle!) and start playing some pool.

Pool Girl shows up an hour late, and it's not just her: it's her and six of her friends from school. Which is fine, I guess but I guess she misunderstood my intent when I asked her out to shoot some pool. Also odd is when I saw her earlier, she was wearing jeans and a black tank top, similar to what she wearing when I first met her. Now she's sporting a grey tank top and an attractive skirt while everyone else has the rumpled look of people who left a twelve-hour lecture. I stop thinking about it and return to my game.

We have a few brief chats, she tells me about her tattoos, and I find out she loves sharks. I meet a few of her friend but their energy is subdued. Maybe they did just leave a long lecture, I don't know. I lose a game and join them at their table. It's dead and I feel awkward. Remember Joe? There is something between them, though I can't figure out what. Every now and then she slinks off to talk to him about something. There's minimal contact, no forlorn looks, no affectionate glances... I can't get a read on them (though I'm still pretty sure I can take him). It's then I decide this is going nowhere.

She returns and says that we're moving the "party" (her word) to Zeke's Roadhouse. I love Zeke’s but this isn’t the night. As they leave and I tell her that I'm calling it a night. She looks surprised and tries to drag me along but I decline.

"Well, okay but call me, alright?"

"Don't be late next time."

She smiles, waves, and leaves and I'm left wondering whether to initiate a next time.

I walk to the bar to pay my tab and talk with Elly while I pay. I don't remember exactly how but we exchange phone numbers, agree to meet for coffee, which should have been a good thing except I'm pretty sure said something about having a boyfriend a while back. Maybe I heard wrong. Maybe they're about to break up. Maybe I need to stop going to dive bars.

Labels: bars, Beer, Dewey's, girls

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 12:46 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Books and Beer ::

There's this nice little bar over on Meridian that I like to go to called "X-treme Cafe." (Yeah, it's a horrible name; it sounds like a place where snowboarders and motorcrossers go to shotgun cans of Red Bull.) It's a beer and wine bar with dozens of beers, several of which even I haven't tried. (Also, the owner said he's going to change the name soon. He told me what it was but it was some foreign word that started with the letter "A" and I had enough trouble just saying it.) The inside is your typical dark, trendy furnishings, dance music turned up just a bit too loud, South Beach-ish type place but they have a front porch (it's a converted house) that's well lit so I can relax with my beer and enjoy a book.

I'm usually there when I have Friday nights off so I'm usually surrounded by yuppie/trendy-types who are either going to or just leaving some local club. One night literally every guy that was there was wearing a white dress shirt - untucked - with designer jeans and nice shoes. Then there's me with my gray, Monty Python "I Fart in your General Direction" T-shirt, cargo pants, and flip-flops.

And then there's the book. I suppose it's odd to see a guy reading a book at a bar (then again, it's odd to see a guy reading anything in this town). I say odd because I could be at some crappy dive bar with my laptop and no one asks me about that. Some of the more curious (inebriated) types usually ask me something along the lines of "why are you reading at a bar at midnight on a Friday?" My usual answer is "Starbucks closes at eleven and they don't serve beer."

Anyway, with the weather is cooling down, I'll probably be back there tonight and try out some of the stouts. And if I can manage to get my nose out of my book, maybe talk to a woman or two.

Labels: bars, Beer, books, NaBloPoMo

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 8:36 PM [+] :: | 0 comments
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