In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve been conspicuously absent from my blog for the last month. I had some experiences with alcohol that made me feel like I should really dial it back a bit. The week after my last blog, I tried to go to Travail. Travail is not a bar. It is a restaurant with a beer and wine bar in it. But, I knew from having eaten there, the servers are gregarious and given the place’s recent popularity, I thought it’d be an interesting experience to see what transpired as I hung at their little bar. Well, I got there at 6:00 and it was already packed full. There was only one seat at the bar. When I asked the lady standing next to it if it was taken, she said she was holding it for a friend. He arrived as she was explaining this to me. I got shut out. No place for me to hang. I guess if I want to hang at Travail I’ll have to go on an off-night or get there super early (or super late). But, I think I could cross it off the list. It doesn’t have a full bar, so I think it doesn’t technically count. Well, because I got shut out there, I was trying to think of another place I could drive to. I just didn’t feel comfortable going into a place I hadn’t done research on. I started thinking about this whole going-it-alone deal and worried about someday meeting the WRONG person and ending up dead in a ditch somewhere. Instead I went home. I drank alone while watching a movie or three, then woke up at sometime around 3:00AM on the bathroom floor. Had no clue how I got there. I don’t need to tell you the rest. Needless to say, I didn’t feel too hot the next day. That really scared me. I was alone. What if I had cracked my head open on the toilet or bathtub or sink when I passed out. I know I had bruises the next day, so I hit something. If I had died in a pool of my own blood or vomit, and nobody had found me for many, many days until I started to stink. NOT COOL! (But then again, if I died in some sort of freakish accident like that, maybe my book would start selling. Heh heh.) What I’m saying is, I let things get out of hand and I realized it and now I’m responsible again. No really, I am. I realize I was feeling pressure to go out to places to find SOMETHING to write about for this blog. I had forgotten it was just a little experiment and I was doing it for myself. I did learn a lot actually and I feel completely comfortable hanging out by myself somewhere now, if I have to. BUT, I prefer to hang out with someone else, of course. I’m not saying this blog is done, but I already fell short of my own goal of drinking at a different place every week, so that’s shot to hell. I’ll still post experiences, hopefully interesting, but even if lame, they’ll go up here too.
For instance (is it safe to start a new paragraph like that?) I went to Ike’s on Tuesday, because I had an hour to kill before I had to get my hair done. Their Bloody Marys look devine and I had to try one. Meh! Not as good as they look, but not horrible either. And, they aren’t included on their super cheap happy hour list of drinks. Yeah, it was $10 for that one drink. That was the only drink I had. I also tried the seared Ahi appetizer. That was actually pretty good. While I was there, I notice there were a lot of dating couples. The type of couples that are brand-new. A young couple across the bar kept staring at me and as I catch them staring, they would quickly avert their eyes and talk amongst themselves like, “no, we weren’t just looking at you and wondering what you’re doing over there ALONE”. After about the third time I catch them staring, I almost laugh out loud, because an evil thought enters my mind. “I should go over there and say, ‘I’ve noticed you looking at me and I was wondering if you’d be down with a threesome?’” Bwuauhahaha! I’m guffawing in my mind. It would have been fun to see the look on their faces.
The bartender’s hands were super shakey. That seems to me it would be a detriment to a bartender’s ability to pour accurately. I don’t think he had Parkinson’s, I just got the impression that I made him really nervous, for some reason. Believe it or not, there was actually another girl there who was alone. No one came to join her and she had a drink or two and left. Yay! One of my independent, bar-hopping sisters! (Maybe I’m starting a movement.) But, she seemed kind of miffed, so I think she may have been stood up L. That sucks. I wish I could say it happens to all of us at one point or another, but it has actually never happened to me, and I’ve had many dates; MANY dates in my life time. I’m something of a chronic dater. I love that “getting to know you” phase and hate that “I know you too well.” stage. I’ve been lucky, I guess, that I’ve dated guys with enough character to NOT stand me up.
Overall, Ike’s has a fun, throw-back to speakeasy theme. I liked the little “pick-up pads” they had on the bar. Little pads of paper that you can write someone’s name and number on, also little convenient pencils to write with, both of which are rolling around in my purse right now. I intend to use them. BUT, it is kind of expensive. It is the kind of place you could take a date to impress her, but not the type of place I could get serious drinking done in. I guess I’ll stick to having my birthday lunches there.
