Dancing in Circles
June 30th, 2007.
Previously…
So, the random funk that I was in hadn’t gone away truly. I still don’t know why I’m not okay yet. Yes, I smile, laugh, and party it up with the best of them, but something was missing. That spark of je ne sais quo that was always part of my core being was gone. Not gone, but hidden from view. Was it deliberate? Was it by strange happenstance? I didn’t know. I still don’t know. I may never know. But here we are, force fed the future, a sidereal buffet of time. Why was I at this point in eternity, looking at the night sky’s starriest of nights in constant motion? Where was this going? I don’t remember, and it was time to move on.
And indeed time did move on. One of my best mates, Super Jenn, was gone. She was happy to be gone. Her experiences here weren’t the best, and she found new opportunity and new things in the Southwest. That deprived me of one of the few people who had no problem calling me out on certain things. She was the embodiment of enjoying life, working hard, and just being human. She called herself “Nothing” but she was far from it. She was my conscience, and now she was gone. I spoke to her days ago, and it was good. I miss popping over her place and enjoying the joys of hookah, Senet, Phase 10, good music, random appearances of people, and multiple cig breaks looking out at the lake. Those were the days. And all days come to an end.
So, let’s see where we are now. Cliff’s Notes, always loved those. I was about to move in several weeks’ time. I was solo again, with no real partner in crime, bouncing from circle to circle with a smile on my face. I had survived the Army, after 10 years of exemplary service. Of course, those flashbacks will come later. Now, well, now it was all about figuring out what the new status quo was going to be. Because I most certainly had no idea.
And now…
Alicia was putting the kibosh on anyone’s idea of anyone defeating her in pool. She was quite the pool shark, taking on all comers and sending them away. She had the skills, Red and I obviously did not. I really wasn’t going to spend the entire evening at Pine Street. The Bachelorette came up with a barhopping plan earlier in the week, which sounded quite brilliant. The pit stop at Pine was just to check up on my mates, and to get absolutely manhandled at pool. I, along with Red, were the type of players who improved the more buzzed we got.
After that little turn, I headed for the corner of Pine Street and Orange Avenue, right next to the mini mart. I had no idea who I was meeting up with, as the Bachelorette talked about several people joining us, including Persephone, The Bachelor, Pandora, and Spring. I met them, intros were made, and we made our way to Vintage. I guess I should flashback, just in case.
Flashback to a few days ago: The Bachelorette and I spoke on the phone about trying new locales, at the insistence of Persephone. I-Bar was the spot, as far as I was concerned. It was one of the last bastions of bohemian culture in Downtown Orlando. Because let’s face it, the city was changing. New condo skyscrapers were springing up. And with these new condos, came the new age yuppies. The new age yuppies liked the martini bars, the trendy places, the conventional and the posh. Denizens and connoisseurs of Poptopia. And that was nowhere near what I was used to. I-Bar was my safe place.
I humored the ladies, and came up with an idea of barhopping, to see what was cool. And believe me, I was skeptical. So I surfed the web for new places, and came up with a list. Sure, the Bachelorette joked that it read like I was a critiquing restaurants, but that’s just what it was. Swap the 4 course meal for a set of 4 shots, and there you were. Instant reviews. End Flashback.
Vintage was the Bachelorette’s idea. She had been there before, I think (I was there for their grand opening months ago, with Red, M, and Alicia). Her date, the Bachelor, bought the first round and away we went with the partying. I hadn’t met him before, so we talked about New York City, my time in the Army, and pretty much everything. He was the only other guy there, so at least it was okay to crack an obviously chauvinistic joke or two. But he was also the Bachelorette’s charismatic man candy, so he’d have to catch himself. Luckily their rapport and chemistry was so good that it didn’t matter what was said. They were gaga for each other. It was one of those subtle things that I could notice.
Let me tell you something about Vintage. Nice place, clean really. Nice music, nice clientele, though it was all of the professional pretty preppy folks that I avoided in high school. The bartenders were all attractive young women under the age of 25, some with blatantly obvious breast augmentation (not that there’s anything wrong with that; though I’m not a fan of silicone). We stayed for a long while, as I joked along with Pandora, Persephone, and Spring along the way. But it was time to run off and go elsewhere.
The next stop was 23. Yes, that’s right. The place was called 23. It was right above the Dragon Room. 23 would have been fine if it wasn’t so bloody crowded. They packed them in there, by all rights. The music was fine, but the place was still new, and it was full of more pretty people. Hell, it could have passed for the overflow club for patrons of the Dragon Room (it probably already was). We didn’t last there too long. One round and off we were. Saints, I really hated being in there.
Our Goldilocks trip ended at Latitudes. I really, really liked Latitudes. The new age yuppies steered clear of the place, and it was full of ordinary people. I liked ordinary people. There was a good crowd in there, so we made our way to the back bar, which was miraculously open. And with nary the hint of precipitation in the skies, we were good to go. Spring’s boyette even showed up, and hung out for a bit.
We hung out for a good long while, and I even lost track of what time it was, which was a good thing. I spent a lot of time cracking jokes with Pandora, Persephone, and the Bachelorette. Overall it was a really good time.
Since it seemed that Spring and her boyette, the Bachelor & Bachelorette, and Pandora (courtesy of a well timed call from her man candy) were about to vanish to other quieter locales (if you catch my meaning properly), I made my way back to Pine, where I hung out with Red, Alicia, and the gang, before heading home myself.
So, a little something different from the norm. A Saturday night without I-Bar. It was okay, but I don’t know, being in a circle again, it was okay. Definitely. But I liked being solo as well, since I could come and go as I pleased. What was it going to be in the future, solo or part of a social circle. Was I supposed to be part of a circle?
Next: The case of really random things, the night before the 4th of July, and my car decides to rebel. And a flashback to my last days in the Army!