stranded at ri ra
I am still a bit hungover, so pardon the anticipated lack of rhyme or reason.

This is a good story. Promise.

Last night I went to the Mahers as promised, with a six-pack of Guinness. Siobhain and Dennis were there, as well as Siobhain's boyfriend Chris. The two were planning on going out, and we decided to go to Ri Ra (big shock (I think I'm suffering from Irish overload (if there is such a thing, ha!))) Anyway - one of Sean's ex-girlfriends, Melissa, came along with me. When we got there, it was insanely packed. Saturday night, cover band, $5 cover charge. A first for me. We snuck in the side door so we wouldn't have to pay. (Later, I went out to get my cloves and on the way back in, they'd locked the side door. I went to the front and told the guys, "I was just here, but the side door is locked." They let me back in without charging me :).)

We got our drinks - from, of course, my Two Favorite Bartenders - and tried to find seats. We couldn't, so we resumed our standing spots by the bar ("Whatever's closest to the booze!"). At one point, this guy came over to order a drink, and in the process brushed up against Melissa. He vehemently apologized - "I am so sorry, for whatever that was!" He said, "I'm not exactly sure what I brushed up against - don't tell me! I'll get red."

To which I replied, "You already are!" He covered his face and turned away in exaggerated embarrassment.

This brought about the introductions. His name was Bob, which, he said, was just his "stage name. He said he performed on bar tops to get the crowd going. Total bullshit, of course - and for that I immediately liked this guy.

We found a table and grabbed it, sans Bob. He kept coming up to us, though - and he sure was making the rounds. He admired my tattoo and did some silly moves emulating a dragonfly - "Is that part of your act" Eventually I made some actual conversation with him. He's from Long Island, here temporarily, here in town making a film with some brothers from Federal Hill. We talked about the biz and life and whatnot, and eventually he went back to making the rounds.

When I turned back to the table, Siobhain was giving me The Look. "What's up with Robert?" she asked. I shrugged.

It was a great night. I loved hanging out with them, especially, of course, Siobhain. As I wrote in the last entry - yeah, we're very different, but we also connect in many ways. We have similar senses of humor, and she brings out my female side, which has been dormant for how many years?

That's another thing. Because as much as a tomboy as I am, as often as I feel I was born into the wrong sex, the women thing has sometimes been working for me lately. And I don't mean the girl thing. I mean the female pheromone thing. It's the not shaving, I tell ya!

Back to Bob, as that sort of came up. He was talking to Melissa, and afterwards he came up to us and said, "She really turns on the girl thing, doesn't she?" "How do you mean?" I asked. He proceeded to demonstrate how she got really touchy-feely when talking to him. I laughed. "That's funny; I don't have that at all."

"No you don't!" he replied. "You're just yourself."

During an Irish drinking song, he pulled me off my seat after a few flirtations and dragged me around in some random dance. At the end he gave me a big hug :).

At the end of the band's set, me and Bob went outside for some air. I told him I knew a good spot - on the river.

Oh, wait - but before that. As the set was ending, I knew I wanted to get his phone number. I went up to the bar and asked Corky for a pen. As he gave me one and a sheet of receipt paper he said, "Writing again, are you?"

Outside with Bob, all I had was the pen and paper. My shoes and cloves were back at the table. These are important details, I promise.

So Bob and I sat by the river and talked a bit. Goofed off, had an ice-spitting content, the whole slam. Shortly I said, "We should probably head back." Siobhain had mentioned needing to be back, because she had to work at 6:30. I felt bad running off, so I didn't want to stay out of sight for too long. On the way back, I got his phone number. He said he hoped to hear from me and we parted at the door. He ran off to the Biltmore and I ran into a brightly lit, quickly emptying Ri Ra in the process of being cleaned.

They weren't at the table. Neither were my shoes or cigarettes. I looked all around, outside. Their car was gone. "Oh, shit," I thought. I wandered back into Ri Ra. (What was terribly amusing is that I live a 10-minute walk from Ri Ra, but my stuff was in Warwick, which is 20 minutes away and I'm staying in Rockville, which is an hour away.)

Colin asked as I approached him, "Coming tomorrow night?"

"Of course!" I smiled and told him my "however I have a problem" story.

He said, call a cab? I said, they have my money. He said he'd give me the fare, granted I'd pay him back tomorrow. "Oh, thank you, thank you." With his $20 in hand, I took off for the Biltmore. How lucky I am to be a regular, eh!

I hopped into a cab. He got me there for $14. I kept laughing at my situation. He joined in on the laughter when I told him.

The pheromone thing, I'm telling ya. A regular damsel in distress. While searching outside, some guys in a truck asked me where the party was. In the cab, some other guy in a van motioned for me to come and join him. At first I thought, maybe I know him, but then I knew I didn't so it was pretty weird. Then the cab driver started saying some subtle shit (wow, that was good alliteration.) This is probably not a big deal for most women, especially if you're dressed like one (which I'm not usually, but I happened to have been!). But - I never get that. Ever. And like I said, lately it's been working for me. Now the next step is attracting someone who doesn't just ask me where the party is ;).

When I got back, Chris and Dennis were up. Apparently, I'd been at the river with Bob a helluva lot longer than I thought. But they took my cloves and my shoes and my bag, which had been in the car.

I still had the paper. I'd given the pen back to Colin.

At that point, I wasn't at all tired. It was about 2:30. We all had another drink in the basement, talked, saw 4 a.m., and crashed. I awoke at nine, and no one was up. I got my stuff and drove back to Rockville.

I am waiting to go to Ri Ra. It's Sunday night, and I promised Colin I would pay him back.

The nights, they just keep getting more interesting. If this keeps up I'm going to have a full social life just in time for me to leave the state.