colons: a lazy writer's crutch

Thursday was…weird. Two weeks ago I was quietly pining for a night on the town, 1997-style. On Thursday night, it happened. Originally, I was planning on dancing with Dirk in honour of his birthday (a.k.a. Dirktoberfest). But because of that dratted Book of Faces, Seth had a chance to invite me to "party like it's 1995." I convinced Dirk to check it out for a half-hour before moving on to Velvet; thus it began.

The crowd at Sneaky's was a wash of half-familiar faces, many of whom I had seen at St. St's wedding last fall. They were all overjoyed to see Dirk, somewhat less enthusiastic about me (oh well), but I found conversation immediately. I recognized three girls from my first year at Ferg, none of whom said a single word to me the entire night (so much for thinking that they had liked me then, either). So I talked to the boys, which is my MO anyways. And I tried to hide my embarrassment at the fact that I could vividly remember the last time I had seen a few of them, and what I remember of my behaviour was neither respectable nor sober. Eeep.

I employed my usual tactic when dealing with social awkwardness: I started drinking. Dirk took my keys & promised to drive until I sobered up, which meant that I had pretty a free hand with the circulating pitchers. (Ahh, the good old days.) The edges melted. The room warmed. My volume increased.

And by contrast, Velvet was incredibly understimulating. I'm not fond of sitting by myself in goth clubs, even if I'm too tipsy to really work myself into a temper. So I persuaded Dirk to take us back to Bloor Street and the Dance Cave, where we rejoined the 90's party.

The rest of the night was spent sobering up, dancing, laughing, dancing, shouting a few words of conversation, and fighting through the enormous crowds to find the bathroom. I was hit on during a Prince song (happens every time I go to the Cave) and I stood listening patiently while an old acquaintance confided that he was tired of picking up women in bars. It was a completely satisfying experience.

Best of all was the fact that I was there with Dirk, and that it was more like old times than it has been since we came back from Nova Gothic. In fact, it was better, because the camaraderie was overlaid with a level of maturity and understanding that's hard to describe. I felt more solidly connected with him than I have in a long time, and that mostly comes from the fact that he is almost healed of his long illness. Also indescribable is my relief at this simple fact.

It was the best Dirktoberfest ever.

Labels: dancing, friends, outings, res

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- Rocketbride's adventure of 4/07/2007 07:54:00 p.m.