clubbin'

Hey all, strap in to your seats and get ready for a bit of an experience. It might run a little long but last night was hilariously awesome so sit back and lemme tell you all about it.

Yesterday's good times started at 4pm when a bunch of people from the team that I work with went down to a lounge/bar area in the building we work in and had a few happy hour martinis! I've never had a real martini, and that's probably true even now coz I had a CHERRY CHOCOLATE MARTINI. Now, if you like the sound of that, you'll probably like the taste even better. It was yummylicious. Well that was the end of my work day, after which I went to work out and then went home. Well I get home and I was thinking I wouldn't do anything but I still had my clothes on thinking perhaps I'd go to the grocery store nearby and get a spatula (gotta make myself some eggs in a basket!!! >.<). That didn't happen though. I got a call from Jeremy (my friend who's also co-op'ing at Sherwin) and he reminds me that the other weekend I wanted to hang out and go out and about too so I say, yeah, cool, let's do it! After this I had dinner (coz I had a hankerin' for some of the spaghetti I'd made the night before) because it was better than spending an inane amount of money at a bar to have some food outside.

So I ate up and waited for Jeremy who was gonna drop by to pick me up and then we'd figure out where to park and where to go. I already had a few places in mind but we knew we just wanted to check out places and hang out wherever we liked. Now as I'm waiting I think to myself, meh, I don't really feel like changing my clothes, my work clothes are nice enough. But then, Jeremy lets me know he's going to take a shower and I begin to think as I wait if I'm gonna go out I might as well do it right. At first I was just gonna change my shirt but then my I eventually changed everything and pimped myself out. I was gonna go with my pin-striped jacket but I opted instead for my cool hat. And, in a while you'll see why this was obviously the better choice. If you wanna see what I wore, check out my facebook for a picture. Anyway, soon after, Jeremy got on his way and picked me up and we started the night.

I live on Saint Clair Avenue, which is intersected by a bunch of roads that go from W9th then W6th and so on and so forth. The places I wanted to check out were mostly in W6th so we tried to find a parking spot there. We found a pretty nice spot where we wouldn't have to pay for parking or anything so that worked for us and we set out. This was around 9:30, which, granted, is pretty darn early to be headin' out but we really didn't have that much to do so we went for it.

First stop: The Mercury Lounge
This place was alright, there really wasn't much going on, and, again, it didn't surprise me because it was really early but we checked it out. We went to get our coats checked but when we went downstairs there was pretty much nothing but the bathrooms and an employee only area there so we went back up and checked out the place a bit more with our jackets on (it was about 18 degrees, by the way). The music was ok but it wasn't very loud, and when we tried going upstairs to see if it would be nicer we were met with some free food! We thought, awesome, but at the same time we realized there was probably some sort of private party going on, so we pretty much booked it outta there. Later on we realized we probably could've melded in there if we hadn't said anything, but even then, we both had just eaten so that's not what we were looking for.

Second stop: Starbuck's
Now, I know what you're thinking: "what the heck, that's not a club!" but if you know me, and chances are if you're reading this you do, then you know I had to get my fix, hehe. It was cool because I had starbucks about 2 days ago and the barista recognized me, though she almost didn't because of the hat. If you must know, I had a tall peppermint mocha (deeelish). I'm actually pretty sure that the other barista, even though she's cute, isn't really that good at making coffee because each time she's made mine it's been "ok", but whatevs. We sat down, sipped some coffee and went on our merry way.

Third stop: My apartment
Now, this was pretty much because we walked down 6th and saw that places weren't really doing much yet so we decided to crash at my place for a little while until it became later. I found out that Jeremy hadn't seen Advent Children (the FFVII movie) and I didn't hesitate to immediately put it on so we saw that for a while until 11 moved around and so we head out again.

Fourth stop: Blind Pig
This place seemed pretty interesting, in spite of its unusual name. When we went in it was pretty packed and the had really loud live music playing Jungle Boogie (paranananaaaa paranananaaa <- the horns section after the line jungle boogie). Upstairs it was too packed so we checked out downstairs so we could check our coats and just to see if there were fewer people. Well there were fewer people and the music was actually different. But there really weren't many people dancing and the music was kinda blah and to top it all off, the coat check cost $3 Jeremy and I were not going to spend so we just bumped that joint (lol, thanks Missy).

Fifth stop: Bar Flyy
This place's music was about the most bouncin' from around all the places we had walked by so we went in to check it out. It wasn't really full but it was going somewhere and it seemed like a good time. Jeremy got a beer and we started the night. We sat around a bit enjoying the music and just hangin' out. I was a bit hesitant about dancing coz I had to take off my jacket, which I hadn't checked and because I was a bit bashful, of course. Jeremy convinced me though by saying he'd take care of my jacket so I found myself with no excuse and I got up there. The music was pretty darn fun and loud, and that's fine with me. It was nice trance/dance mix which I love (honestly, so long as it's not reggaetton!). One thing I noticed, since I'm pretty new to the club scene is women usually at least travel in pairs. Well there were these two girls that were pretty cool. One of them sorta asian looking had either had a bit more to drink than she should've or just wanted to have some crazy fun because she was dancing like a maniac (NO! no footloose reference). Well she noticed my dancing and went up to me with her friend and we danced some, it was fun and funny to me. At one point I was dancing between the two of them haha, TaT sammich. Well after some good fun I was pretty tired so Jeremy and I hit the road again.

Revisit: The Mercury Lounge
I was still curious about the Mercury Lounge coz it's the place I wanted to go to from the get go so we checked it out again, this time much later than the first. Well, it was rather lack-luster again. It was pretty cramped, the music wasn't as loud, there really weren't that many people dancing, and although the party upstairs was over, the only thing waiting up there more of the same as downstairs. Of course, Jeremy and I left that place. On the way back down W6th a guy stops us and asks us what club we recommend. Of course were like the worst people to ask since that was our first night out and we had only recently started living in Cleveland. Still, we tried talked a bit. Jeremy asked him what kind of music he likes and he said hip-hop, which I'm sure made Jeremy pretty excited coz I know he loves it. Well the dude in fact knew more than we did and told us Club Shadow, which is actually right next to my building, but since there was a cover (entrance fee) of $10 at the time the dude told us about we just skipped on it. He also mentioned Spy, but apparently that place had closed down because there were shootings in it twice a year. Gosh.

Revisit: Bar Flyy
Well I really enjoyed Bar Flyy, hehe, so we decided to drop by again. This time we hung out for a longer time. We went downstairs and discovered that the coat check here was free YAY! But there wasn't much downstairs except a free bathroom, which is the reason I went there to begin with. Worthy of mention, I guess, is this hilarious pull quote of the night:
guy A (urinal 1): dude, don't look at my penis it's got bumps
guy B (urinal 2): *lol*
me (urinal 5): *thinks LOL wtf? haha*
Anyway, we drop off our coats and go back up and I get on the dance floor again. At this point the asian lady from earlier was still there and still dancing like a fiend, although at this point I believe she was dancing even more crazily. But there were now more characters on the dance floor. Actually, I forgot to mention him earlier but there was this asian looking dude doing his thing and I'm glad coz then it didn't look like I was the only other dude doing his thing hehe. Now there were these two middle-eastern looking girls and sometimes they would bend and wave their heads in a circle waving their hair everywhere and it was interesting, funny and even funnier when the guy they were dancing with started to do it too. Another occurrence on the dance floor was this guy that was obviously drunk go up to me and ask me some things along the lines of "have you seen this guy's web site?" and I'm like "oh yeah.... lol" then he shook my hand and kept dancing. At this point there were also a trio of asian kids, two guys and a girl and one of the guys, I could tell, could dance, when I first saw him. He was staring at everybody as if measuring their skills not even dancing yet, just standing there staring at everybody. Eventually I did see him bust a move or two and he was poppin' and lockin' like a breaker and it was cool. He was better than me but I didn't care, I wasn't there to compete, I was there to paaaaartay! haha. After dancing until I was parched Jeremy and I went downstairs again to unwind a bit and then we got a drink. I didn't know what a tab was or anything but thankfully Jeremy was more well acquainted with that sort of atmosphere and I got us some drinks and opened a tab and we were happy. Of course, I had a good ol Midori Sour, as delicious as usual (and for $6 it damn well better be!!!) and Jeremy got a gin and tonic, which was strong and interesting. Well we hung out with our drinks a bit and then went up. I finished my drink and got right back on the dance floor. Pretty much we danced till 1ish and that's about the time we were tired enough to call it a night. So we went down to pick up my tab and the coats. As I'm picking up my tab these two attractive blonde girls were next to me as I'm there waiting to get my card. Well they approach me and asked if one of them could borrow my hat and take a picture with me HAH! Therein lies the very reason why the hat was the right choice! Well, I'll never have that picture but at least I'll have the memories and the laughter because I was amused to no end. Se we got our coats and said 'see ya' to Bar Flyy.

Oh but the night isn't over yet! As we were walking back to Jeremy's car a girl latches on to our arms. "Where are you guys going?" Now, I was like, whoa, but we were honest and just said we were going home. So this girl tells us about how she lost her friends and now she's alone and she has no idea where she is because she's only just started working downtown and so we were nice and offered to help her out. We didn't really know what to do cept offer to take her to her car and we didn't really know where Mulberry is but luckily, Jeremy has a GPS and we made it no problem. Well on the way there we realize that girl (Nicole) was rather drunk. Endlessly saying "look at you guys, you guys are so nice" and being bubbly while extremely floaty, it was truly apparent. Which is why when we got to the parking lot we decided it was probably best to convince her we should drive her home as we didn't want her to die/kill anyone trying to make it there. Well, we finally convinced to take her home and I'm glad we did because she was so drunk she almost didn't remember her address. But we made it there. It was about a 15 minute or so drive and I was just keeping from laughing because she kept asking us if we went downtown often and where we worked. I think she probably asked us about 3-5 times, and it's likely even today she has no idea who we even are haha. She also pretty much told us her life story and it was pretty amusing hearing her rant about the girls at her work place wearing hoochie mama outfits and how she plays volleyball on her job. Again, no idea. On the flip side, she invited us to a party she's having 2 weeks from now at her house and it seems Jeremy and I may have made an unexpected and amusing friend. So we drop her off and head back. On the way back one last interesting thing happened. We were driving down and Jeremy was putting on his seat belt but it was stuck on the door so he opened it slightly to pull it back in. Well, of course the streets are swimming with cops on a night like that and a cop saw it. Well, at the light the cop stopped next to us and asked us if everything was alright. Thankfully we both drank responsibly and were as sober as it gets and it was pretty much done when Jeremy said "oh yeah, I was just putting on my seat belt, it was stuck on the door."And with that, the cops were satisfied and left.

Well last night was an extremely interesting night. I wonder what adventures wait for us next week ^^ Till then, seeeeee ya later!