Bad To Good

Several weeks ago while out at my usual Tuesday spot I received the usual covering of flyers on my car, which I like to call my “mail”. This is how I know what’s going on in the city. I don’t have to search websites, or make phone calls. People, they bring the info right to you! During a purging session of my back seat I noticed a flyer stating that my DJ God, DJ Dan, was going to be in town. I definitely kept that particular advertisement, in fact it got upgraded to right beneath my stereo. I was telling people about it and there was no way I was going to miss it.
When Dominick agreed to go out with me both Thursday for Hyperfunk’s CD release party and to go with me to see DJ Dan I thought I had to be dreaming. I was also a little worried that he wouldn’t be able to make it two nights in a row. Little did I know I really wasn’t going to either.
After staying up way too late Thursday, I moved like a zombie through work. The crew went to our usual hangout, and even after a couple of drinks I was seriously dragging. Dragging to the point of falling asleep in my chowder. Dominick ended up calling it off and well we spent a nice evening together instead, both of us were just too exhausted.
In some ways I kind of regret going out Thursday. I wasted energy that could have been used for going out to see someone I really admire. Then again I had a great time that night, and got a copy of Hyperfunk’s CD. So it wasn’t really a loss. DJ Dan will be in town again, and I still got to spend time with Dominick. So really I think I’m turning into an old fart. Hmmm…


So on to Saturday… I was still dragging. I intended to go home and take a power nap because that night the plan was to go out with two friends of Dominick’s. I was really excited that I was going to get to meet some friends of his, and this was to be a true clubbing outing. It was his weekend so he could cut loose.
My power nap turned into more like quiet time. Complete in pajamas, hair up, and lights off, I set my alarm for a forty-minute time slot. My boss has always boasted, and I have read actual studies proving him right, that a power nap is only good if it’s twenty minutes long. I figured that what ever I managed to do in forty would be helpful enough. One friend called with the sad business of a break up… well after a short stint of knowing a person I’ve decided to call these a “Discontinuation of Affectionate Intentions”. Then there was another friend who has been having terrible luck since relocating to an entirely different state. After all that was said and done, there was no power nap; there was no sleeping involved. It was more like organized quiet time.
I was pretty happy though, that even after all that I came out of the shower refreshed. Problem was I had to haul ass now because I was going to put the whole rest of the group behind. Funny thing was I got there when I intended to, I just misunderstood that the three of them wanted to leave earlier than that. DOH!
That was the beginning of a bad night. From that point on I really felt like nothing I did was right. We took a cab down to the club and no one said anything the whole ride. We got to the club and spent a long time waiting in line. At this point I was starting to notice that Dominick wasn’t really paying much attention to me. He would shy away when I tried to touch him. He’d walk a head of me and not really notice if I was still keeping up. The breaker was when I had to pay the cover myself. By the time we got inside the club I was about to seriously cry. Now let me back up and explain that one.
I have always prided myself on being an independent woman. My man and me should go back and forth on paying for stuff. I absolutely love an old fashioned guy that wants to pay for stuff but I don’t expect it. Yet you back up to where I was that night with the guy I’m interested in, who seems to have forgotten I’m there, and yeah I’m a little upset that he walked on into the club and left me to pay.
Back to the crappy evening, I didn’t think to bring more cash with me so I used all the money I had. Now I couldn’t do much more than check my coat. I felt so unwanted and out of place I just didn’t know what to do. When asked if I wanted a drink I said no quite automatically, because I learned quickly not to drink when I’m like that. Again I’m left behind and I stand off to the side wishing I could disappear or more appropriately reappear in someone’s eyes. When a guy next to me told me to cheer up because it was his birthday I knew that I had to be more proactive and not be such a freak.
Joining back up with the group they all seemed to be looking for direction. I asked him to go with me to check my coat, it might be less crowded downstairs. The group trooped down the stairs behind me and with coat ticket stashed in my right boot I ran to Shannon with the last of my cash for some liquid relaxant. Washington Apple shots are my quick way to loosen up and calm down. It did help, I stopped worrying about every little thing and Dominick seemed to stop being so anti-me.
As we went out onto the dance floor and started dancing, I felt more confident again. It was just he and I and, even though I watched closely, he didn’t seem to be checking the scene for something prettier to look at. Then again, just when things were starting to return to normal, the color drained out of his face and he sincerely freaked out. The ex was there.
That turned into another freaky confusing moment. What’s a girl to do? Did he want to talk with her? Should I look like a friend, or a lover? Did he want her to come over or show off that he found someone new? Was I even something that could compete with who ever she was? I never did get a look at her, Dominick only wanted to leave and leave ASAP. I felt so lost because I didn’t know what role to take for him. He seemed so upset about the whole thing that I wanted to do more than just follow like a puppy.
He apologized for wasting the money for me to check my coat for twenty minutes, and that we were leaving a club that he knew I liked. He was sorry that I wouldn’t get to dance upstairs to the House music like he knew I wanted. None of that really mattered. I was there to spend time dancing, as well as with him. God only knew I just paid a huge cover that was good for six some other clubs that I’d never been to. Going anywhere else would be nothing short of an adventure.
As we walked to the next place the strained attitude seemed to lift. Everything from that moment on was as I had hoped it would be. The next place reminded me of an old time western saloon. On either side of the place were long wooden serving bars complete with the brass rail to kick your foot up on to. They were even letting the ladies dance on top of one length of unused bar. Talk about awesome!
We stayed the longest here and I had a really great time. The DJ was a bit crappy but he played a weird mixture of hip-hop and house that you couldn’t really be upset. At one point when Darude “Sandstorm” was playing, someone, who I think was a bartender, jumped up on to bar and started breathing fire out over the crowd that was waiting to buy drinks. It looked so amazing in the darkness of the club with the wild techno music playing. That was something I’ll never forget.
After a while the pushing and shoving did end up getting to all of us and we moved on to yet another club, one that I had been meaning to check out since I was of the legal age. Stopping for the hotdogs that are so delicious when intoxicated, we stepped into the next line to wait. There was talk about previous times they all had been there, and of the bouncers that they knew. It was a busy night everywhere, each place packed but the line to get in not much of a wait.
Checking my coat once more, on Dominick’s generosity, the first thing I noticed about the place was how freakin’ hot it was. They had a topical theme but for crying out loud they should not have the humidity to match. That was awful. UGGGH! Out on the dance floor there was toilet paper trailing everywhere. It stuck to your shoes and made it hard to dance. Above one of the unused bars there was a fish net attached to the ceiling and, of course, there were drunken girls clinging to the net in order to stay upright on the bar. There were also two guys, one dressed in a full gorilla suit and the other as some sort of Tiki god in a grass skirt and Hawaiian shirt. I wasn’t sure if that was something to be proud of. Either way the guy in the gorilla suit HAD to be hating life.
We didn’t stay long, and I wasn’t really sorry about that. The place wasn’t really doing it for me, and the other three were at the end of their tolerance levels for the evening. Back in a cab we went, a lot more jovial this time and definitely more at ease with each other.
I was excited that I had made it out to two other clubs that night and got to hang out with three great people. Besides plotting this particular blog I was glad for the experience it had also given me. This equaled out to more places that I could then feel comfortable about going back to again, alone if that’s how it was. I had a lot of fun and I was glad that things turned out the way they did for whatever reasons, good or bad.