ZOMG. I thought tonight was going to suck, but it turned out to be amazing. I had kinda-sorta plans with a guy friend to go to a “dance” (more on that later), but then he failed to return my calls and then his cell was off, so I was like, “Ugh. I’ll just stay in tonight.” Those were my plans. I was just going to watch The Green Mile on Bravo.
I texted my neighbor Danielle to see if she wanted to let the dogs have a play date on the roof, and she was like, “We’re headed to Norms, come over!” Norms is this bar/restaurant in Fremont where they allow dogs inside, so we took Leo, Danielle’s dog Cooper and our other friend Katie’s dog Lacey. Something about eating at a restaurant while your dog is beside you is so much fun. It feels like you’re breaking a rule. It’s exciting. During dinner, my friend Gillian texted me and wanted to go to the dance, so I was like, “Okay, cool, I’ll come pick you up later.”
Danielle, Katie and I were wandering around Fremont after eating, and we walked past this bar where Katie knew the bouncer, so we sat there and chatted with him. Beside him was a guy smoking a cigarette. He offered Danielle’s dog a string cheese. I was like, “Oh! String cheese! That’s Leo’s FAVORITE treat!” and the guy’s like “Really?” and then from inside his jacket he pulls out FOUR MORE PACKAGES of string cheese. I was like, “WTF? Who does that?” But then we started offering them to Leo — who always refuses to do tricks — and suddenly he was up on his hind legs, balancing there for 30 seconds, attempting a twirl, whatever. You could see his little mind whirling like “WHAT MUST I DO TO ACCESS THAT STRING CHEESE?” He was willing to try anything he thought might result in his consumption of string cheese. It was hilarious. We all laughed so hard our stomachs hurt.
When we got back to my car, I checked my phone and noticed that my friend Brett had called, texted and left me a voicemail saying he wanted to come to the dance too (it had been his idea in the first place). So I dropped my neighbors off and had Brett meet me at my apartment, we picked up Gillian, and we headed to this so-called dance.
I’m not sure exactly what we were expecting. I think we knew it would be a little lame, but we were expecting a slightly younger crowd for the lameness. When we walked in it was pretty much all folks 40 years or older, dancing to super-cheesy 80s music using super-cheesy moves. There was a DJ, and some flashing lights, but all in all it was a very lame “dance” scene. Like, my middle school did it better. I walked in and I was like, “Oh, God. We are going to sit here awkwardly for five minutes and then we are going to leave.” But Brett hit the dance floor right away, busting awesome raver moves to whichever Kool & the Gang song was playing. I couldn’t resist, and I got up there with him and started dancing. We were having so much fun, because basically whenever the next ridiculously cheesy dance track came on, we started cracking up, and then we laughed about it until the next cheesy dance track came on. And then sometimes the music would just randomly skip, and Brett would be like “REEEEEEEEEEEEMIX!” We really never stopped laughing. Eventually Brett asked the DJ if he could quit with the 80s shit and play something current, so he put on some house music, and that convinced Gillian to get on the dance floor. The older folks started filing out eventually, and then the DJ played really fun music the rest of the time and the three of us had a blast dancing our asses off. We ended up staying for an hour and a half, I think, until it was past midnight, and basically Gillian and I were dancing while a bunch of old dudes were sitting at the tables watching us, and we realized that we really shouldn’t be doing this without getting paid. Then we took our leave.
All in all, it was a very awesome night, and I feel great. It’s always the nights that you don’t really plan — nights where you’re bummed because you think you’re gonna sit at home alone — that turn out to be the most fun and memorable. (Remember Snow Day?) I like that about life. And I like my friends, and I like that when I’m with great people — people who don’t take themselves too seriously — I can have a great time almost anywhere. I am feeling very fortunate and hopeful and happy tonight.
