Preparation: Late Night

Tonight, I had plans to meet up with Katie. She and Anna Marie were going to see Ted Leo, but found out he wasn’t going to go onstage until around midnight. Well, the two of them were going to try to make Justin’s DJ gig (he’s doing Clubfoot again tonight), as fast as they could after the show. So… most likely, they’d get there around 1:30 or so, close to closing.

So… since I was planning meeting Katie late, I figured we’d all close down the place. So I decided to try to get a nap in prior to. Instead, what I did was just plop myself down on the couch with my eyes closed for about an hour, arm over my eyes. No sleep, no dreaming. Just resting with my eyes closed. Ah well.

Showed up around 11:00PM, got a drink and stopped in to see Justin in the DJ booth. Looked around a bit, and spotted Howard and Mykal (Justin’s building-mates) sitting at a table with some friends. I stopped over and sat with them for a bit, chatted some.

A bit later on, Chris and Will stopped in, along with some friends of theirs from out of town (Nate and Kara). There was a sort of changing of the guards at this point: as Mykal and her friends left to go to Neo’s, Chris and his friends sat down to the table.

Played some Tetris with Will, and shot a bit of pool as well. And then… earlier than expected, Katie and Anna Marie show up. Turns out the show did end up starting earlier than advertised, and the two of them were able to make it to Clubfoot with time to spare.

The next thing I know, it’s 2 AM and the lights are coming on. Everyone’s a little stunned by the brightness, but the overall mood and energy seems to still be pretty high. People talk about heading to Neo’s, and everyone present decides they want to keep pushing on (this is like maybe 8 of us by this point).

We stop by Justin’s place so he can drop off some records and whatnot, and head over to Division to catch a cab (it’s me, Justin, Katie and Anna Marie at this point, as Chris and his group set out on their own). By the time we make it out to Division, we see Chris and his group walking up Damen towards us. Much waving and yelling later, a few cabs pull up.

Chris and I decided we wouldplay Rock Paper Scissors to determine which group got the first cab. Unfortunately, as we were battling it out… the rest of my group hopped into a cab. :|

Traitors.

I hopped in with Chris and Nate and Kara, and we all made our way over.

For posterity, I’d like it on the record that I played three games of Tic-Tac-Toe with Kara on the fogged up taxi window. First game was a tie, but I won the second and third. Sure, this might be a petty thing. But I’m a petty guy like that.

Neo’s was a bit of a blur. Partly because of the lateness of the hour, partly because I was pretty tipsy (depsite the fact that I didn’t feel like I was consuming all the much).

We met up again with Mykal, and I ended up chatting with Katie and her friend Leslie a good deal. I really don’t dance, so I just hung out by the bar and people watched for the most part. When folks would take a break from the dancefloor or wanted another drink, they’d swing by where I was… so I had a continual flow of people to talk with.

Again, next thing I knew… the lights are on, and the bouncers are yelling at everyone to get the hell out. Chris, Will, Nate, and Kara all left around 3:30AM, about half an hour before the lights kicked back on. 4 AM, the rest of us stumble out to the street. Much hugging ensues, and everyone says their goodbyes. I know Katie’s in town for a few more days, so I see if she’s got time to hang out again before she goes. We promise to call.

By the time I’m back home, it’s damn near 4:30AM. Good lord. And on a work night, no less!