Time for hibernation?

November 30, 2007

"What in the world…?" I wondered as Steph and Liam approached my car with Steph holding a blown-up medical examination glove with ice water above her right eye. Apparently Liam's elbow was responsible for that. I couldn't see the bump under low lights, but obviously both of them thought ice was a good idea - especially with an upcoming flight and low cabin pressure, which comes along with that. As I drove to pick up Cyrille next, Liam must have said he'll make it up to her tonight at least three or four times.

I was playing songs from the Bachata CD I obtained from Daniella and Tony in the car stereo system. When Cyrille entered the car, he seemed quite taken aback by this. He speculated that I must have fallen in love - with Daniella. Hmmm. Funny. Let's just say that I'm not in love with Daniella, and Daniella is engaged to Tony. In fact, Daniella talked about having little Tonys and Daniellas (although not necessarily in the very near future) while conversing with me on Tuesday evening. I must say that I am enjoying quite a few Bachata songs in the CD - in love or not.

The idea was to go out for a drink before heading to Club Salsa. That hasn't been done in a while. A few options were debated including Sauce of course. Liam was interested in eating too. After finding parking on the far side of Parkers Piece on Parkside, we tried the Fountain Inn first. Steph tossed her blown-up glove before entering. No good though - no place to sit. After waiting for Liam to retrieve some cash (what's with Liam and ATM machines?), we started back towards the car with the idea of going to Sauce. Instead we ended up at Mai Thai - completely deserted by now (past 10 PM) but still serving food and drinks, and where Steph found a replacement for the glove in a trio of spoons and a cup of ice. The bump was more obvious under brighter lights.

The food at Mai Thai was good in quality but not in quantity according to Liam, who supposedly had something to eat earlier in the evening. Liam considered getting a burger before going to Club Salsa but opted against it. Meanwhile after a couple of sip of a Lychee-flavored drink, Steph was feeling quite tipsy. Cyrille was blamed for this. Liam apparently was affected by his wine - supposedly it affects him more disproportionately than pretty much all other forms of alcoholic beverage. I was fine - so was Cyrille, who had something more concentrated.

By the time we arrived at Club Salsa (past 11), things were on the quiet side. There was a super-slick sports car parked near us. Cyrille hoped to meet the owner (although I think he had wrong expectations), but we never found out who came with it. The atmosphere at the Club was not bad, but it never became especially packed. Notable people in attendance included Polly and Rajiv. Draco is still around - a month or so after his leaving party - I liked the way he danced the Bachata one time I saw him dancing tonight. I was beginning to wonder if Ashrafi has disappeared altogether but I caught a glimpse of him tonight. Mark and Jane showed up later and stayed til closing. I also danced with Sharon and Anastasia among others. Three Bachata partners had to be a record - one of them called me brave.

I liked the music in general - some notable ones included Rumbon Melon (Joey Pastrana), La Toalla (Tito Rodriguez), Guaguanco Margarito (Tito Puente) along with a few I almost got around to asking Vish for additional information. The most interesting dances had to be the first Salsa with Steph when she was still feeling quite tipsy and the last one with Steph to La Llave (Grupo Latin Vibe) with very little spins. I might have made Alabanciosa (Manny Oquendo) with Jane a little too busy. The evening ended with Two Cha Cha followed by Caballo Viejo.

Perhaps because of my poor experience with San Miguel last time, I found myself drinking Corona this time. Cyrille and Liam took the lead.

Around 1:30, Liam decided that he had to have a hamburger, so he took a little break while the rest of us stayed and danced more. I'm not sure if what I was supposed to do about it, but he came back well before we were done so no harm done.

On the drive back, there was a talk about finding a party for Saturday - not sure where. Liam was preoccupied with photos in my camera - and glancing at the Reggaeton video of now dubious youtube fame. For the second time, he was struck by the photo of Marianne - no memories of previous occasion. Other folks talked about regarding the photos included Mimi, Quentin and Sergio. We also noted that Steph will be gone til mid January - so that's about 6 weeks, right? Big loss. I'm glad I'll be away for 3 weeks during that time.