What a crazy weekend! Maybe it’s the weather; maybe it’s the impending return to employment. Whatever it is, I was definitely in the mood to go out–and so was everybody else.
Saturday night at the Bike Stop started out slow but got busy after midnight. I typically only run into one or two people I know despite Philly being a small-town big city. Tonight it was closer to a dozen, and two of those were people who moved out of Philly but happened to be back for the weekend. Some online-only acquaintances were also there in the flesh. It’s the most connected I’ve felt since coming back from NYC in 2004. So what to do when feeling so connected to Philly one night? Go to New York the next night!
V. asked me who I was going to see in NYC, but this was a no-agenda trip to just see who’s there. Turns out, everybody. From Dugout to Eagle to View, I ran into another dozen previous acquaintances and a few new ones as well. We even had a nice chat with the Dugout’s new manager: a drag queen who promised me she’d add some microbrews to the on-tap selection. You have to know the Dugout to appreciate how surreal that sentence is.
No night in NYC is complete without drama–or in this case Telenovela. My latest disagreement with R. came to an end at the Dugout, where I also discovered that he’s a close friend of C., whom I know from “elsewhere”. So we leave the Dugout, all best buddies. At the Eagle, I chat up N. who unknown to me has history with C. who sees us and storms out with S., or so R. tells me. Not being a mind-reader, I do something wrong and R.’s out the door, texting me about how he and C. are pissed at me. So I wander over to The View to end the night talking with T. whom I’d met earlier at the Dugout.
Next time on Los Ficheros De Base! C. and R. are heading down to Florida. Will they completely forget my unintentional slight or hire a Cuban hit man in Little Havana?