Out with the girls...

Listening to "Sunday Afternoon" by Rachael Yamagata

Well, your intrepid "undercover" reporter met up with some friends last night for drinks. The entire night went incredibly well except for leaving the house.

I live in a 2 unit development where our neighbors share the same front porch. Normally, that would be ok but there are no other points of exit on our side (no back door, a side door that leads out to the front and no garage, alley). So when it comes time to leave, I have to pass right by their usually open front door (and usually their dogs go nuts over the "new" person who's walking by). I really need to tell them but one of them has a small child and I'm just not sure how to address that.

So, because of that, I had to leave a bit later than I wanted (8:30 vs. 7:30). I'm on my way out the door and I get a call from one of the coolest people I know, Jody. Turns out she's hanging out at the 20's club and was wanting me to get my lazy ass up there before they had to leave for the night. Well, I had plans to meet Erin at El Mercado for a drink or two beforehand and told Jody that I would grab Erin and we'd head up there. I chugged a beer, took a deep breath, opened the door and walked swiftly by my neighbor's open door (thankfully, noone was standing there which has happened before... :) I jumped in the Gwnnmobile and headed to El Mercado.

I tried calling Erin to see if she just wanted to meet at 20's but she didn't pick up. Strange...

I got to El Mercado and did my best "walk-in-with-confidence" act. I have a hard time looking people in the eye anyway and even moreso when out as Gwnn but this time I just peered right back at anyone who looked at me on the way in. Seemed to work ok... I informed Erin we needed to leave pronto but she wasn't finished with her drink and she already bought me my favorite drink. Well, we wound up chugging both and leaving within 5 minutes. We said bye to one of the cutest bartenders in Quirksville, Brittany, and made our way to 20's.

We get to 20's and Margaret is belting out the standards (Margaret is truly one of Quirksville's best jazz singers and I highly recommend that *everyone* go and see her if you get a chance). I'm surprised to see that Cynthia, my favorite bartender, is working. I thought she didn't work there anymore as I hadn't seen her in nearly a month. I'm so glad she was there (although I was a bit rude later as I didn't get a chance to say bye...) and shared with her a story that I had been dying to confirm with her for a month (that I thought I saw her walking down a downtown street early on a Friday morning a few weeks past).

After getting a drink, I joined the girls at a table. To my surprise, Brandy and Paula were out as well and they were sitting with Jody and Sybil. It seems like forever since I've seen Brandy and Paula (even though it was only a month ago... I hate getting older... :) And with Margaret pounding out the music and our table right next to a speaker, it was a bit awkward trying to talk across the table. Eventually, I made it over to the bench seat next to Jody and Sybil. Since I'm pressed for time, I won't get into details of our conversations (which were interesting things like if you're a guy and you're attracted to a guy dressed as a girl, does that make you gay?) Hehe, I'll save those conversations for later (good for blackmail... ;)

God, I'm glad that Jody and Sybil could make it out as I just have *so* much fun with them. But the long and short of it was we left a bit early (as it is a school night for most of us) and Erin and I decided to head back. But I will share one more thing. We decided to stop in at Charlie's just to see if we knew anybody (as Thurs. they have a regular drag show). We didn't see anybody we knew but we were there a bit early so I think the girls started coming out after we left (esp. with the IFGE convention in town). But on the way back to the car, we walked by some reflective windows and I looked over. I was surprised to see this attractive girl looking back. I almost didn't recognize her but I watched how she moved, looked at the body and details and was just taken aback. It was the first time I had ever really seen Gwnn as "Gwnn the girl" instead of "Gwnn the Impersonator." It was a rush! I'm such a dork... ;)

Anyway, I'm outta here. I'm supposed to be going out again tonight so maybe I'll have something to post tomorrow.