the time to hesitate is through
no time to wallow in the mire

So, I’d made plans to go out with DJ* last night to see a movie. We were going to see Intolerable Cruelty, and then we were either going to go for drinks before or after. So, I pull into the garage at Pacific Place, park my car … and the fire alarms go off. I’m down there pretty deep, and so I have to figure out how the hell to get out and climb a buttload of stairs to get outside. (I hate stairs. Rotten bastards.)

Outside, it’s a total mob scene. Everyone from the entire complex has emptied out into the streets. People are milling around, asking questions, looking confused - when all of a sudden, a group of guys starts to sing. It’s this crazy funny song about Seattle whose lyrics include “the gays and the lesbos, the white folks and espressos, the something something and negros” (pronounced so that it would rhyme, of course). A huge crowd gathers to watch the spectacle, and I am completely entranced. It’s like a scene out of a movie, where people just randomly burst into song.

Just as they are done, DJ arrives. We decide that trying to wait around to eat at Pacific Place would be sheer folly, so we head over to that place whose name has the word Elephant in it. (Triptrop used to work there … anyone? Bueller?) We sit and talk and have a really great dinner - and we miss the movie. CRAP. We go to Meridian to see if anything is playing there, but nothing works out.

“Hey,” says DJ. “Do you like pool?”
“Hell yeah,” I respond. “Where do you want to go?”
“Have you ever been to the Garage?” he asks.
This, as most of you know, is a stupid question. I think I recall actually jumping up and down in the middle of the street.

Once we arrive, we discover that the lovely Miss M (our fave rave waitress) is at our table - and whose pool table should be DIRECTLY next to ours but the fabulous RACKMASTER J-Rhea. What was a really fun single date turns into a pretty raucous and awesome double date, and I get my ass schooled at pool. This is no surprise.

After a few games (and a few Obans) we head on down to Aristocrats for the birthday party of a friend of DJ’s. J-Rhea and Dude* come along, and we dance until we are kicked out. Then, we go to Contour, where J-Rhea and Dude stay until 2:30? or so, and DJ and I stay until 3:30. I drive him to his car, where we proceed to sit in MY car and smoke and talk until about 5:30 in the morning. By the time I get into bed, it is 5:45 am.

My alarm goes off at 7:00. I am feeling just about as rockstar as is humanly possible, given the circumstances. I have also had a shit-eating grin on my face all day. These are acceptable consequences for partying on a school night. Don’t you think?

* Names have been changed to protect the (currently) innocent