Saturday, March 19, 2005

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

Dude! St. Patrick's Day (night?) rocked. I haven't had that much fun in a verrrry long time. Hell, I don't think I've ever had that much fun. I talked to so many people... it was a veritable orgy of communication. I'm just so stupidly happy about it.

Started the night at O'Brian's with the parental units. Crowd there was mostly mature with a few young'uns sitting at the bar. Earlier in the day I emailed Angela inviting her to drop by after she got off work. She showed up for a little while and I bought her a beer or two. We had a long overdue conversation catching up on all the events since our last meeting. Chat #1! She had to go to a friend's house way the hell over in Springfield, so she took off.

Shortly after I got there, I recognized a girl I went to high school with at the table next to us. Actually, I had bumped into her just a few days ago, but we couldn't talk. It was Sunday around lunch, actually, and she was waiting tables at CJ's. The place was packed to the gills with the church crowd and she couldn't talk. Anyhow, after Angela left, (and my high school acquaintance's name is Angie. how funny is that?) She came over and introduced herself again which turned into a good hour-long conversation telling each other what we've been doing since 1996. Is there anything better than mutual beer-buzz verbal intercourse? Lots of Romy and Michelle-style "Really? Me too!" going on. Chat #2!! We talked so long over the din that I got quite hoarse. Her people left and so did she. Mom bought me one last Harp Lager and then we left.

I hear things are hopping over at D's, so I cruise there. Ho-Lee-Shit! It was just like in the movies! Teehee! Pounding music, drunk 20-somethings stumbling around, everyone packed like sardines. I grinned ear to ear. :-) Let me tell you something... if you want to be popular at social gatherings such as this college-style beer bash, wear a nice camera around your neck. Suddenly, everybody wants their picture taken. I meander back and forth between the bar and the tent erected out back, all the while deflecting slurred (and quite rude) women who want me to buy them drinks, snapping photos of the drunken merry debauchery, and consuming green beer (because as we all know, authentic Celtic ale is a watery emerald color). Dionysius would've been most pleased with the scene.

I strike up tons of chitchats with random revellers between dancing to bad karaoke and almost bystanding right in the midst of a fist fight. As bouncers drag the combatants away I shout "Why can't we all just get along??" People look at me weird. I laugh. As the evening is winding down, a particularly tipsy girl and her friend and I start talking about my camera. They want their picture taken and ask if I'm from a newspaper or magazine or something. I tell them I'm nobody important, just a hobby photographer there observing the party. They contradict me saying I'm not nobody and they're observers too. Tres cool. Solid conversation #3 ensues. I recall that it was deep and philosophical, but as we were all pretty intoxicated, I'm sure it was probably all bullshit. :-) They still want their picture taken, so we go inside and they stand up on a bench and pose on either side of a Rolling Rock neon sign. I aim the camera, but then as somebody is passing by they want them to hold the camera and me to pose with them. I hop up on the bench and bump the sign with my elbow, causing it to emit a brief soft buzz and then go dark. Oops.

I leave and wander over to Tim Horton's two doors down. Diet Coke and a crueller later, I decide to walk off the buzz a little, so I am aimlessly wandering around the streets of Troy at 2 am passing people's houses and taking pictures of the front doors. In retrospect that was really creepy, but I have a thing for outdoor lights in the middle of the night. They look so lonely as they nobly perform their duty even if nobody is there appreciating the effort. I tend to personify inanimate objects.

St. Patrick's day 2005 was thoroughly perfect on so many levels. I hung out at a classy bar and had not one, but two intelligent conversations with classy people. I went to the beer bash party of my dreams. I had dialogue with more people than I ever thought I would. I look for chitchat like other guys look for sex, so feel like I got laid multiple times in one evening. Most of all, somebody wanted me in their picture, and so soon after lamenting about that very thing.

Fate? Maybe. Maybe not. But it's fun to imagine that my agonizing was answered and blessed.

3 Comments:

Blogger Grover said...

This is the closest I have ever come. I feel like I reached out and actually touched the face of That Rarest of Treasures. If there is anything that can sum up how I feel, it is the opening lines of the poem "High Flight":

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings

It's like a drug. My lust for life is not one bit sated. Rather, given this taste of blood, I only crave more.

11:46 PM  
Blogger Orbling said...

Well apart from the drunkeness, which I disapprove of, that sounded fairly entertaining.

Definitely know what you mean about the conversation instead of sex thing, much more satisfying.

I'd be too nervous to take a camera in to a bar, it might get bust, or nicked... On that subject - where's the photos? ;)

Glad you slipped your chains, just hope this taste of the forbidden fruit doesn't make you overcome with the lust for more. :)

12:20 AM  
Blogger Nan said...

OOOHH, that sounded like so much fun. I'm living through you.

7:43 PM  

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