The bomb threat.

Finally all those court issues are behind me and I can concentrate on getting some more tickets. Just kidding. But seriously, I am done with it and couldn't have been happier. It was supposed to take about an hour and I planned to be back at work by 11am, but did not get back until after lunch. Guess why. Apparently some dork called in a bomb threat and they had to evacuate the entire courthouse before cops showed up with those trained dogs to search the entire building. Although it was kind of amusing to see how relaxed everyone was after they found out (no one was panicking, people were laughing - I guess they get those calls every week or so), it wasn't all that hilarious having to wait outside for over an hour until they were finished. When I asked the bailiff what was going on, he told me about the threat in such a casual manner as if he was talking about the light bulb going out and them having to replace it. Seriously? Did we really get so used to these situations that we no longer react properly and think it's all just a big joke? Do we no longer think it can actually happen again? Or are we simply convinced that it only happens somewhere else but never to us?... Naturally, they did not find anything and could resume their proceedings. At least I had enough time to have a decent breakfast and rest a bit before going to work... And a drive was a breeze. Although it's been like that these past two weeks. Must be due to holidays.
Once I got to work, I got even more bad news. Apparently my Florida trip fell apart and we are staying in DC this year. Which is not the ideal solution but I guess not a bad one after all. Honestly, next time I try to plan anything, I need to hire a personal planner because I am absolutely incapable of organizing something bigger than a dinner or a night out. First we wanted to go to Caribbean but ultimately decided against it. By the time we settled our sights on Miami, it was only two weeks till New Year and plane ticket and hotel prices skyrocketed. Factor in party tickets, food and other entertainment and we were looking at a $1000 plus per person for three days. Even though it was a bit much (a bit?) we still were going through with it, but by the time we were ready to book tickets, prices went up by another couple of hundreds dollars. At that point it was so unreasonable to go there, we decided to drop the idea. The problem is, we decided it today and since New Year is the day after tomorrow, we have no plans or tickets for a night out in DC. Which could present a huge problem considering everything is pretty much sold out. Oh well, we'll see what happens...
On a brighter note, I got a text from my boy toy R. a few hours ago inquiring how I have been lately... Are you kidding me? I just ignored him but it sure made me laugh. Did he really think I'd reply or want to see him again after all this time? Seriously, he should just move on... Which I am sure he has already.

A follow up.

Just a quick follow up on my Sunday post, before my senior gets back from lunch. I did indeed meet up with my friend Sunday night and we again went to my favorite bar near my house. We planned to go to Dave & Buster's at first but they were closed and we had to pick another place. Duh, it was Christmas, what did we expect. Anyhow, on our way there I told him my Sunday story and asked him what he thought about it. Well honestly, he just shrugged and the only thing he said was "You are over him though, so it doesn't make much difference". Thanks, that's a big help. He then asked me about The Guy and I said I haven't heard from him. Thanks for reminding. After that though, I had a great time chatting and we once again did not leave until the place closed down. It's becoming a tendency now...
As I predicted, yesterday was dead at work. Only a handful of people showed up and not a single manager. As a result, I spent my day paying my bills as well as running some errands before leaving at 3pm. Nice! I like this kind of work.
OK, I have to go now, my senior is back. And that reminds me, I have a court date tomorrow concerning that stupid ticket I got back in July, so I have to tell my senior I am going to be late for work...

Not feeling the spirit.

You know, I was hoping for some snow for Christmas, but now I doubt it'll even get cold enough for me to wear my winter coat. This is unbelievable. I cannot even feel that the holidays are coming and therefore am in no mood to celebrate. I had a great week though...
I have been doing pretty much nothing at work. As you remember, I didn't go back to work last Wednesday because of luncheon. I guess after that I just slipped into holiday state of mind and didn't feel like doing anything for the rest of the week. As a result, I showed up for work late and left at least an hour early on both Thursdays and Fridays. In addition to that, I took a three-hour lunch on Thursdays to go to DC to see my friend and went to movies on Friday to see "Apocalipto". Not bad, but not what I've expected... Next week should be even slower, and tomorrow is supposed to be dead so I plan to leave around 3pm, but not before I take care of a bunch of personal stuff I have been postponing...
That same Friday I went out to this place near my work, and even though I don't think it's a particularly good bar, I still believe it's a great way to start the night before moving on to DC. Which is exactly what we did. I also found another reason to get my own place - it only cost us $15 to get to downtown DC without the hassle of having to drive intoxicated and risk being pulled over by a cop... You know what? DC was dead. Even though we went to the lounge that gets jam-packed on weekends, it was fairly empty. Well, empty compared to the usual situation. It felt like we were out during the week when a lot of people prefer to stay home and relax rather than going out. I really enjoyed myself and I think my friend was also having a good time. At least I did not see any signs that he was bored or uncomfortable there. I honestly planned to spend the entire night dancing but had to excuse myself to the bathroom and, as I was going back to my friend, met some guy. What a surprise. I was trying to get rid of him so when he asked if I wanted to dance, I replied that I am already dancing and simply looking for my friend. He was persistent however and asked if he can follow me and join us. At that point, I did not care one way or another, so I agreed. I thought the guy was going to run away when he saw that my friend was also a guy, but seemed to calm down when I told him we need to get a girl for my friend. I don't understand why, but I noticed that many guys find it weird or suspicious if they see a girl out with another guy friend. Is that fear? Rivalry? I don't get it. Anyhow... he stayed. To my astonishment, I found his company entertaining - he was funny and could sustain a decent conversation. Besides, he was a good dancer and we spent the rest of the night talking and dancing. Can you imagine? Talking... when do you ever get a chance to talk in the club? All in all, I had a great time and didn't leave until the lights came on and the bouncers announced they were closing the place down. The guy I met (I am so embarrassed to admit I don't remember his name) invited me to a house party he was heading to, but I was pretty tired and my friend had a long drive home, so I decided to leave after all. We agreed he'd call me the next day so we can set something up. Instead of going home however, my friend and I went to eat since I was starving. By the time I got home I was exhausted but at the same time I had this feeling of excitement which I haven't felt for a while when I met someone during a night out.
The next day, Saturday, was my uncle's birthday so my day was occupied with that. I woke up around noon, had breakfast and went back to bed since I was still sleepy. The next time I awoke, it was 2:30pm and I had to hurry up to make it to the dinner on time. I mentioned already how I feel about my family gatherings, but I have to admit that home-cooked food beats all the negative that I feel about it. Especially if it's my aunt's cooking. That is simply amazing. Another good thing is that all my cousins and I had a separate table which meant we can carry on our conversations without running into the risk of being overheard by parents, and as a result did not have to censor ourselves as much. The Guy from yesterday (I am calling him The Guy until I find out his name) called and texted me inviting me for a dinner, but I explained that I am already having one and we settled for drinks afterwards. By the time I got home however, it was almost 10pm which was definitely not what I planned or expected. I was half-contemplating going out, but I ate so much and it made me so relaxed and it was so late that I did not feel like going anywhere and settled for spending the night in front of TV. I texted The Guy telling him we have to postpone our meeting since I was staying home. However, I have not heard back from him that night...
Sunday afternoon, and still no word from The Guy. Even though I do not understand why he didn't respond, I decided not to think about him anymore or waste my time on him. If he calls, fine, if he doesn't I won't stress about it. The thing is, when he sent me those messages on Saturday, I actually felt sorry for him since he probably wore down his fingers typing out those long texts all night long. He also called me when he said he would which clearly indicated he was interested and wanted to meet up. On my side, I let him know I wasn't going to be able to meet up that night and apologized for that, before suggesting we meet another time. Therefore, I have no clue why I haven't heard back from him. Any ideas?
But the funniest thing happened a mere two hours ago. As I mentioned earlier I was really upset about a particular thing. As you probably guessed, it involved a guy. A quick story: I met this guy a while back and we have been talking a lot and met a few times, however he disappeared at the end of November and I had no idea what happened to him. Then I noticed (or I thought I noticed as I later realized), that he deleted me out from online messengers which was exactly what pissed me off. I am usually very comfortable with myself and am able to handle rejection pretty well. What I cannot stand is when someone goes behind my back and does something like this. I mean, if you don't want to talk to me, be a man and just say it. I'd much rather hear "I don't think we should continue seeing/talking to each other" then have him completely disappear on me. That is why you have balls, so use them. (Now, on a side note, I recently realized that he did not delete anything, but rather it was Google's way of making my life easier, or so they thought). Therefore, imagine my surprise when I was reading something online and he started talking to me again... The conversation was very casual and did not mean much, but i was just startled at the thought that we were talking, period. Another thing is, the last time we spoke I got mad at him and did not try to hide it, so I thought he stopped any contact with me because of that. And honestly, up until today I was almost OK with it. I mean, I was still bummed out about the whole thing, but mostly just disappointed in him. Basically, I crossed him out and stopped thinking about him. You know what's funny though? As I am writing this, I realized that my feelings did not change with him talking to me again, rather I am perplexed with his behavior but nothing more. I do not mind keeping in touch with him but I doubt I'd ever want something more. Once again, any ideas as to this kind of guy behavior?
I am supposed to meet up with a friend I told the entire story to two weeks ago and I cannot wait to see what he thinks about the entire ordeal. But that is going to be later today...

The second Christmas party.

So we had another Christmas party at work today. It was actually a luncheon at Maggiano's for just our department. Instead of making it easy and just feeding us and letting go, someone came up with a version of a Dirty Santa game that was to be played after we were done with food. The good thing was that we could leave immediately after the game which implied we would be done by 3pm or so. Not bad, considering we didn't have to go back to work.
I am not even going to talk about the food because it was delicious, although I haven't expected anything less from Maggiano's - those experiences that I had there were always positive... The game was much more interesting. I decided not to spend much time on picking a present and settled for a gift card. Had I known what people actually brought, I'd come up with something else. However, I genuinely thought everyone took it seriously and was going to bring decent gifts. Oh boy, was I wrong. Here are just some of the "unique" presents, and please keep in mind I don't remember more than half of them but I am sure the list could go on and on:

• Four rolls of wrapping paper
• A harmonica
• Tea
• "Barrel of Monkeys" game
• Dog knitting kit
• "My Little Pony" DVD
• Nutcracker.
• Home-made greeting cards set.

Seriously, I should've bought condoms or something. At least it would have been funny. And definitely useful for our department considering a lot of people are young and unattached.

I got lucky drawing the number and got 51 out of 70. Not bad, if you ask me, and it gave me a pretty good chance of picking a nice present. Well, I got a home-made greetings cards but was able to exchange it for a liquor dispenser. However, I lost it and ended up with some kid's DVD. The worst part? Are you ready? The last person exchanging the gift took away my dispenser. The last damn person! And I almost thought I was going to keep it... This blows. However, I wasn't particularly upset because it was only a game and everything was actually pretty funny, but every time I'd look at that DVD I'd laugh. And it wasn't a good, happy laughter. More like, "Shit, how did I end up with this?"

I have a theory about it now. Since my first Christmas present was awesome, my second is supposed to suck. Just to keep things in a perfect balance...

A break.

I finally took a break from my constant party mode I've been in in the past few months. I noticed that from time to time I fall into this kind of melancholic mood when I don't feel like doing anything except laying on the couch watching reruns of "Law and Order". A pizza and a beer is a great addition too. That is exactly how I felt this past Friday and the splitting headache I got while driving home did absolutely nothing to elevate my mood. Nor did yet another fight with my father. I have to move out... I know I am getting side-tracked here. Anyhow, I basically ignored all calls that I got from my friends ans stayed home. I couldn't have been happier. As much as I like a company of other people, it definitely pays off spending time by myself sometimes away from everyone and everything. I was surprised, but the next morning I woke up much earlier than I've expected relaxed and rested.
I decided to repeat the entire scenario Saturday night (did I like it too much?) but, as I've said a million times, we don't always get what we wish for. My friend actually insisted on picking me up so I couldn't come up with a valid excuse fast enough and was forced to go. In my defense, I must say I was deceived into believing I was going to movies. Instead, we went to a bar next to my house. Oh, that place definitely holds some good memories. This is where I had my first underage drink and no one cared. This is where I celebrated my 21st birthday... well, this is where the celebration started. This is where I used to meet A. when we were going out. Whoa... yeah that's a bit too much of memories, I agree. Anyhow, the place is still great and looks and feels nothing like its branch in Chevy Chase and DC where it is either impossible to get a table due to a terrible service, or impossible to get one due to a very limited space. Anyhow, back to the bar. I was surprised to see that the place was half-empty which actually played to our advantage. We were able to get a complete and undivided attention from our bartender who turned out to be hilarious and skillful in drink-making. Seriously, those were the best mojitos I've had in a while. Just the right amount of mint, rum and lime. Makes me wonder why I always go for vodka cranberry whenever I go out? I should definitely rethink my drink choice. I was having such a great time that the staff had to almost kick us out long after they closed... Sunday morning I knew exactly why I always go for vodka cranberry. That's because vodka doesn't give me a headache! Must be cultural... In any case, some water and Advil did wonders and I was feeling like new again in no time. Which was quite useful considering I was supposed to meet a friend at Starbucks around noon. Well, noon never happened since I woke up around 1pm. It just slowly morphed into 4pm. Close enough. We still had plenty of time to catch up though and managed to keep our work talk to a minimum. Now, imagine my surprise when I raised my eyes only to see my Saturday friend standing behind my chair. When I asked him, "How did you know I was going to be here", he responded, "I just finished working out and decided to swing by hoping you'd be here." That's a lot of swinging by, if you ask me, considering the gym he goes to is located at least ten miles from the Starbucks I was at... He then asked me to come outside, where we talked for a while and then he gave me a Christmas present... My first Christmas present this year... I was so excited. But i got even more excited once I finally got home and opened it up. At first, I thought it was a teddy bear but it turned out to be a beautiful diamond and topaz pendant, and a bear was just a nice addition. It was just then when it hit me that the reason he kept having those conversations about jewelry at the most random times was to figure out my tastes and preferences when it comes to it. This present just made my day, hell, probably my week since it was the first one I received for holidays.
I am looking forward for more...

Sensory overload.

Alright, this post is going to cover the remainder of what started out as a great weekend. And I'll try to keep it short too, since I've got some work to do believe it or not.
So last Saturday I met up with a friend of mine and her boyfriend and a few other friends to go out. I didn't really feel like going anywhere because I was in the shittiest mood possible (I'll talk about it when I feel more like it, so far I just bitched about it to my friend over the phone which temporarily helped), but decided to go out despite it to lift myself up a bit. One thing I didn't know was that my friend was bringing her ex-sister-in-law with us. Big mistake. My friend's boyfriend and I both agreed that if she were ever to come out with us again, we are staying home. Seriously, the girl looked like she was high on something. I mean, don't get me wrong, I understand all the excitement about finally being out on the town, but it doesn't mean jumping around in the back seat of the car like a yo-yo or talking like she's trying to talk over a crowd of a hundred or more. Once we got to the club, I felt great since I didn't have much interaction with her. Oh, and guess who I met? If you said M., you are right again. First words he mouthed off when he saw me? "Oh shit". Yeah, not the greeting I expected, but we managed to have some small talk and then go our separate ways. Honestly, how many more times am I bound to run into him?
Anyhow, from funny to this girl again... Our ride home was almost unbearable. My friend's boyfriend actually started singing at some point just so he couldn't hear her talking. And seriously, some of the things she was saying were grossly inappropriate. It's one thing talking about your sex live with friends (which I am all in favor for and do so myself), but it's totally different discussing those details with people you barely know who specifically ask you not to talk about it (that wasn't me, mind you, but the poor guy). In any case, I was so relieved to go home, I couldn't wait to get out of their car. And it is extremely unusual for me because we usually manage to have a blast when we go out. I was in total sensory overload during my ride home and only calmed down when I got to bed... Crazy...
I am mostly in training all this week so I am pretty bored at work. I am not really complaining about it since it gives me a perfect opportunity to catch up on a million things. Just stating a fact...

'Tis the season...

I dare anyone to tell me young professionals don't know how to party. Last night we proved everybody wrong. By we, I mean our department at work. As you probably have guessed, yesterday was our annual Christmas party. The first one. I think we are having another one in a week and a half... I am surprised to admit I actually liked it. Shall we start from the beginning though?
I could most definitely feel the pre-party rush in the office upon my arrival. Everywhere I turned, people were discussing last-minute details and dates and whether they should leave work early in order to make it back to DC by 6:30pm. Which, if you ask me, is pretty stupid. No, not making it back to DC but starting a party this early on a Friday, when most people don't get off work until 5pm. This is precisely why I arranged with a good friend of mine to go to her old apartment to change and head to the party from there. It worked out perfectly fine since it only took me ten minutes to get there. Heaven! I still cannot believe I managed to get ready, catch up on some news with my friend and change my shoes three times all before my date even arrived. Oh, and with all that getting ready crap - thanks God to whoever invented fashion tape. It's a life-saver.
Anyhow, my date was very late and as a result we did not get to DC until 7:30 pm or so. Which actually worked out quite perfectly since it was about the time everyone else got there. The party was great, nice drinks, delicious food, good company... what else do you need? Apparently, nothing, especially after the forth drink. Did I forget to mention everyone was pretty much wasted there? I mean from people jumping up and down because they got promoted to dancing by themselves to licking a chocolate fountains. Damn great times. The funniest part was when one of the guys I work with tried talking to me about a report of mine. Are you kidding? On a Friday night? I told him I don't even want to hear about it until Monday no matter what happened to the client.
Now, my story wouldn't be complete if I hadn't spent a minute or two talking about my date, so here goes.... I am never, ever seeing this guy again, nor do I want to hear from him. The guy is an idiot. As I might have mentioned, he is from the same country as I am which was the main reason I invited him - I figured it would be fun... shared background and all that shit. Well, first off, he trashed the government and people and politics during a conversation with my co-worker. Now, let me tell you something and it is totally cultural. Russians can talk trash about their country among themselves but if they hear someone else talking about it, that someone else can end up with a broken nose. Simply put, we just don't like when other people talk bad about us in our presence. So me hearing him do exactly that pissed the hell out of me. Honestly, at that moment I wanted to slap him... multiple times too... what a jerk. To top things off, he went home early leaving me at the party. Point one - he drove. Point two - I told him to wait till the end (which was about thirty minutes) so we can go home provided he didn't want to go to a bar afterwards with my other co-workers. Point three - how can a guy leave a girl at the party and go home? Seriously, maybe I got really lucky with friends, but it had never happened to me. On the contrary, if I am riding with a guy, he'd go with me even if he doesn't feel like it just to make sure I am not by myself. But anyway, bottom line is, the guy is an asshole. Who cares. At that point, I just told him to go home and joined my crew who were contemplating continuing celebrating.
And boy, we did. We decided to go to this bar not even six blocks away from the hotel that hosted our Christmas party. That was hilarious... First, it was a college bar so, naturally, everyone was wearing jeans and T-shirts. Imagine their surprise when they saw a bunch of people dressed in suits and cocktail dresses crushing into the club, going straight to the bar and then to the dance floor. Plus, there were so many of us we took about half of the dance floor, no doubt. Since it'll probably take me forever to describe everything that happened there, I decided to use some bullets to convey the most important information only:

• I got hit on by some military guy, but after talking to him for five minutes and realizing that he is a complete idiot, I abandoned him and joined my friends on the dance floor. I did catch an angry look from him at some point during the night, but as you might have figured out, didn't care.
• Everyone had even more to drink which definitely helped us to "bond" which translated into some serious grinding on a dance floor. I just hope no one remembers anything on Monday.
• I decided to share a cab home with my co-worker and went outside to wait until he gets some money from an ATM machine.
• While waiting for him, I saw a guy from my team going home with a girl from our department. Nice! I also hope they pretend nothing happened on Monday.
• I called a "sober ride" to get a cab home, but was told I have to wait for an hour before they get there. Since my co-worker was nowhere to be found, I decided to take a regular cab instead of freezing my ass off outside.
• As I was about to hail a cab, I saw another guy from work getting into one and offered to split a ride with him since it turned out we lived close-by. He agreed and so, I could finally go home.
• By the time I got home, it was 5am and I was so exhausted I couldn't even walk. Seriously, I was limping all the way from the parking to my apartment door.
• I don't remember what happened next, but apparently I fell asleep since I woke up twenty minutes ago in my bed... Yay, I woke up in my own bed! Alone!

Great times guys...

More good news.

You know what I realized today? Never say never. The past few weeks at work have been pretty, should I say, intense due to a usual office buzz about upcoming promotions. It's like Christmas, it always comes at the end of each busy season and it's inevitable. The number of people they promote depends on the number of openings in the higher-up positions and who they promote usually depends on a team and combined with individual performance. So after weighing all these facts I came to peace with a thought that I would have to suffer through another quarter in my current position. I was a bit disappointed but not really surprised since it's usually takes a year or longer before the management actually considers you for promotion. You can imagine my surprise then when I was called to my manager's office today and offered a new position. Oh, I was ecstatic... almost high... I was offered to think about it until Monday and give my answer then, but Are You Kidding Me? There's nothing to think about. Let's see, should I stick with an old position and spend another quarter working on stupid reports or move ahead, decrease my work load and, obviously, increase my salary? In my opinion, there's nothing to think about, which is exactly what I told my manager. I still think I need to give an official answer next Monday... oh well. I must admit though that this new position is probably the toughest in the career path at this company, but at least it gives me an opportunity to move on to bigger and better things... faster.
The downside? The main reason I thought I wasn't getting promoted was the fact that there was another guy on my team who has been working there longer than I have and who I honestly thought was getting promoted before me. So now that I have been and he hasn't, the things may be pretty tense on the team. Even though I know it has nothing to do with me, I still feel guilty because I know how hard he worked these past few months and how much he was hoping to get promoted. As I was walking back to my work station, I kept thinking about facing him and of a better way to tell him the news. Finally, I wrote him an email saying that the management must be idiots if they decided against him (which I really think they are, since this guy is pretty damn good). Just as I expected, he replied with congratulations, telling me exactly what he thinks of our manager and all the higher-ups. Then he told me I should have been promoted anyway. Which, again, I agree with since we both busted our asses to get ahead... what sucks is that at the end they omitted him. My current senior was really surprised when he heard that, and said he was thinking we both were going to get promoted. Bummer... once again, good way to spoil my joy.
So seriously, next time I go out, drinks are on me.
Oh, and hopefully tomorrow things will be better at work... everything will settle down and come back to normal... yeah, right. Like that's always the case.

Some good news, some bad news.

Do you ever wonder how one day, or must I say, a mere hour can bring both good and bad news totally unrelated to each other but somehow connected to you? Well, I experienced this first-hand this morning. It all started with an arrival of the twins (not mine, but some random family at work) - I am sure everyone gets this corporate, company-wide email once someone gives birth. Very important and unimaginable to miss, I know. In my department, an arrival of a baby usually means new client subscriptions, which in turn means more work for us. Seriously, my co-worker has been tracking it down and so far it proved to be true. So when the twins arrived, I got a follow up email from him congratulating me on an increased quantity of new clients we were supposedly getting. Great news at ten in the morning, don't you agree? Now imagine my surprise when half an hour later I found out that one of my client terminated their relationship with our company and I no longer will be working with them. Honestly, I was always wondering why they were using us in the first place since we did not do anything they couldn't do themselves and were charging a lot of money for it. I guess it finally hit them. Good for them.
But, as you are probably aware, all cannot be good and peachy. Another half an hour later I found out that still another client of mine requested an urgent meeting which meant I had to prepare a report for them in the next 36 hours. Umm, kind of impossible and a great way to ruin my mood. I guess the scales of destiny or karma or whatever the hell you call it, have to be in a perfect balance...
OK, back to work, I only have 35 1/2 hours left...

Good morning.

Oh, another weekend is almost over and I can't wait till I go to work. Just kidding...
Don't be surprised at a name, it is morning for me, since I slept all day today. Literally, all day. Which doesn't come as such a shock if you take into consideration I went to bed at 7am. Yes, 7am. Saturday night rocked.
First, my friend drove down from Baltimore so I could introduce him to my party scene. Finally! Only took him three months. We decided we wouldn't drink a lot since both of us had to drive home afterwards. Anyhow, we decided to visit an old party spot hoping it improved from the last time we were there. To my surprise, it has. Or maybe I just haven't been there for a while. I can only tolerate that place if I go there every other month. This time, however, was really fun. First, I saw a bunch of people I know but haven't seen for a while. It was truly amazing to catch up with them. The downside? They kept buying me shots so my promise not to drink too much was shot right then and there. I mean, how can I turn down a drink if my friend is telling me we have to drink for running into each other. The music, however, was really nice and new, so before we knew it, we were dancing again. Big surprise... My friend was also dancing with us, but did not seem very happy or excited to be there, or at least it was an impression I got. Maybe it's because he actually kept his promise and only had two drinks and a bottle of water (which doesn't even count). Or maybe it's because he didn't find any girls he liked. Regardless, I don't think it was that bad. Besides, I soon thereafter I got busy dancing with another guy and left all my friends to entertain themselves. Unfortunately, the night was almost over and I didn't get a chance to spend a lot of time with him. So I told him to call me in about an hour since we had some catching up to do. And then I was gone with my friends in a quest for some food. Let me tell you, all that dancing definitely made me hungry. While I was eating, I decided I definitely want to meet up with my boy. He was a pretty good dancer so I figured I had to check out what else he might be good at. I guess my wish came true, since he called me while I was driving to pick up my car to tell me he'd meet me in about fifteen minutes. Well, those fifteen minutes turned into forty five which is why I am so grateful my friend waited with me until my boy finally showed up. Apparently, his friend got in a fight and was taken in by police, so he was trying to straighten everything out. As if I care. Anyhow, by the time we got to the bedroom, it was around 5 am. Now you understand why I didn't get to sleep until 7am? And you also know now why I slept the entire day... Oh, and I usually don't share, but I thought his performance was much better after we woke up. I guess those doctors were right when they said a good rest can do wonders. As I was about to leave, he told me he'd call, so I replied "Please don't". I know it was kind of harsh but c'mon, why make it something more than it actually was? It's so much better keeping things simple. No muss, no fuss. Just a mutually beneficial one night stand...

Weirded out.

So I have about an hour to post this one before my family comes over. Don't you love family gathering? Twenty people in one room talking at the same time plus a couple of noisy kids running around? Yes, I like it too. Not only I was woken up at 11:30am, but I also had to make a run to a store for some last-minute-I-forgot-we-didn't-have-it stuff. Finally, I am home and I figured I have to share what happened yesterday before I hop into the shower and go entertain my family. Who is pretty amusing and whom I love no matter what... most of the time... preferably in smaller doses.
I finally ventured out to this bar I heard about last night. I must admit, it was pretty damn good. Although it kind of reminded me of a frat party (oh, sweet college years) with an elevated quantities of college guys drinking enormous amounts of beer and dancing to a bad music. The good thing about this place? Their drinks are amazing. As in strong. It took me two to feel the buzz, and I was certainly impressed by that. I came there with a friend of mine and was supposed to meet another group of people, who turned out to be all guys and mostly boring. Big deal... I decided to stick to people who I know. And so I did. And so I asked one of them to come outside with me to have a cigarette (since apparently you can't smoke inside. Who do they think they are?) The moment we came out and I lit one up, I saw my co-worker standing close-by. It wouldn't have mattered if I wasn't smoking at a time (here's a little history. Very few people at work know I smoke and I prefer to keep it that way. Well, a lot of them know I smoke socially, but I don't want them to know I do it on a daily basis. I am playing nice at work. However, I may have to reconsider it taking into attention the fact that I saw my manager smoking and consuming excessive amounts of alcohol at our company outing). Anyhow, it was too late at that point since he has already seen me and I had to say hello. And to prove my point, during the first ten seconds of our conversation he glanced at my cigarette three times. No kidding, I counted. To my defense, he was shit-face-drunk and probably didn't care anyway. He also glanced at a guy I was with twice, so maybe it's just a habit of his. Glance at people or things while having a conversation with someone he knows... We didn't stay there much longer and my friend, her boyfriend, myself and a guy who kept me company while I was smoking (also a very good friend of mine whom I will further refer to as Mansur) decided to party further at a Latin club in downtown DC. Where I ran into another guy I work with... What is it? A company holiday where everyone runs into each other? Although I should've known I'd run into this guy since he was rumored to frequent this particular club. Long story short, the music was great, the crowd even better, my friend got hit on by a girl which totally freaked her out and we had to leave. Bummer. I was having a great time.
Now, the thing that freaked me out, or more like weirded me out, happened during our ride back. And here I have to share a little more history. Mansur and I have known each other for about year and a half and have become good friends, or so I think. It all started out with him liking me and trying to ask me out when we first met, but I was seeing someone else at first, and then didn't see him as a potential boyfriend, but just as a friend. He, however, kept pursuing me which, I have to admit, was a bit annoying at times but totally harmless. And then I started seeing another guy. He then met and fell for a friend of mine, which was a relief for me since I didn't have to explain myself. However, my friend rejected him and there was a big scene and it didn't work out... So now, just when I thought about us as friends, he asked me out. I swear, if I were walking at a time, I would have fell over. At first I thought he was joking. Apparently not. Haven't we been through this last year? Apparently, he switched back to liking me again and wanted to try it out. Seriously, I was speechless. I did not see it coming since I was positive he still liked my friend. Oh boy, was I wrong. The problem here is, this guy is probably the nicest one I know, but I don't see him as more than a friend. I am sure everyone's been in this situation before and knows exactly what I am talking about. Great guy, but only perceived as a friend. Definitely a bummer. Definitely weird and totally uncomfortable. I guess now we will have to pretend it didn't happen or downplay it and move on, since I definitely plan on talking to him in the future. See, if he were just another guy, I would've just moved on and stopped seeing him to avoid feeling uncomfortable. Unfortunately, I don't want to lose him as a friend hence I have to deal with it. Because that's what friend do. They stick together during good times and bad. Right? Right.