nightlife

Last night Diana and I met up with two of her friends, Shar and Akiba, for dinner. I was introduced to and met both of them the previous week at a local vodka bar. However it was more of “Hello, my name is Jacob” meeting. Friday night’s encounter was approached as more of a double date so I would actually get to know them. Or maybe better said they would have time to get to know and “approve/disapprove” of me. No pressure or anything.

We started the evening off by meeting the two of them in front of the restaurant Paradou, where Diana had made reservations. The restaurant was small and very crowded in fact it was so crowded that it was difficult to find the host/hostess or even a waiter. Once we found the host/waiter we asked to be seated in the back garden and informed him that we had already made reservations. He took out a piece of crumbled paper from his pocket, unraveled it and smoothed it out. This was the “reservation” list.

Although this same gentlemen had actually called Diana back to confirm the reservation he didn’t seem to write it down on his crumbled up “reservation” list so we didn’t have a reservation and all the tables were full. Instead of waiting for a table to free up we decided that the restaurant wasn’t worth the wait. The four of us walked to a restaurant just a few doors down.

The next restaurant was quite interesting. In a vain attempt to be upscale and chic the restaurant didn’t place its name anywhere on the outside of the building or have any markings to indicate what type of food they served. Not knowing the name of the restaurant not the type of food they served we asked to be seated. The hostess seated us in the back garden in a table for four that had only a single tea candle for light. As it was close to 9:30 at night it was dark and very hard to read our menus. Akiba and I had to use our cellphones as additional light sources simply so we could read the menus.

It was so dark that the waiter mistook Shar’s purse for a menu. Shar’s purse looks nothing like the menu, he just couldn’t see. Once we were able to read the menu we figured out that it was not only us who couldn’t figure out what type of restaurant this was, the restaurant didn’t know either. The menu contained items such as Thai Chili Crab, mixed southern greens and then Sturgeon. Sturgeon!?! Ok now, I have gone sturgeon fishing, many of a time, with my father. I know exactly what sturgeon tastes like, how much it costs and how difficult/easy it is to obtain. The one thing I have learned is that Sturgeon doesn’t belong on an “attempting to be fancy” restaurant’s entrée list for $30. Additionally the menu was very confusing. We couldn’t distinguish  the appetizers from the entrées or figure out what the ingredient were as they were overly described with too many adjectives.

Ok so lets recap. We are currently sitting in a restaurant that (a) we don’t know the name of because it isn’t printed anywhere (b) is so poorly lit that we can’t even read the menu and (c) contains a menu that is difficult to decipher and doesn’t have a set type of food.

We left.

Our next stop was a restaurant called the highline. The restaurant looked like a set from the show “Sex and the City”. Whit rounded tables surrounded with 70’s-ish bubbly chairs, rounded “privacy” alcoves and fluffy white mattresses raised just slightly off the floor so that you could lie down with your friend while enjoying your meal. I liked it already. The crowd was a good mix of the evil sorority girls, those trying to be “scene” and those just trying to get something good to eat. That was us, we just wanted a good meal with a bit of good atmosphere.

If this restaurant didn’t work out Shar and I were going to rebel and head to Taco Bell or White Castle. Mmm.. sliders.

Highline was great. The appetizers were amazing, our entrées exquisite and the desserts were perfect. Additionally we ordered two bottles of a wonderful French 2001 Pinot Noir.

We shall return.

After dinner Akiba took us a club nearby named “Cielo”. They was a short line outside the door and the hostess was only allowing a few people in at a time. When we arrived at the door a group of 6 was attempting to get in but 2 of them were turned away. I assumed this was because the club was full and that the hostess needed to be careful of capacity issues. Fortunately for us, however, Akiba knew the bouncer so we were able to cut the line and get into the club right away. Once instead I was quite sure why they was a line.

The place was empty.

The keeping of the line was simply a marketing ploy to give the illusion that the place was busy and “exclusive”. Their marketing ploy worked because within an hour the place filled up and the dance floor was packed. Diana and I danced for most of the night in between mingling with her friends and meeting new people.

All in all I would say that I had a great night.

Last night, against my will and unwilling persuaded by Jenson, I went to a party at Laurie's house. I must admit that it was a good way to get my mind off of my studies for a bit and that I did have a good time. Laurie and her roommate (Avie, sp?) like to have "theme" parties instead of the normal run of the mill "everyone come and drink" parties. Last night's theme was "Lie to Everyone", which meant that everyone had to be someone other than themselves; i.e. your friend, a neighbour, a celebrity, etc. I decided to lie to everyone and be a catholic priest (notice the white collar). In reality it was just a way for me to wear my cool red lounge jacket (it's dang cool, ain't it).

We arrived at the party around 10pm and left around 2am.

I think that fours hours removed from my homework is decent and didn't set me back that much. In reality I am making up for it today but I still feel that it was worth it, I can live with the consequences of my actions^*. Jenson, however, may not be so happy about the consequences. That boy drank so much that he has to be hurting today. Admittedly I did have a few drinks myself but I have never been a big drinker so I was nowhere near the spin zone. Jenson on the other hand was riding the circus cups all night.

Overall the party was a good time. I got to meet several really cool people and I married about 4 or 5 couples throughout the night (remember I was a catholic priest). The breakdown was 3 standard male-female relationships, 1 male-female-female relationship and a same sex marriage (we relocated to San Francisco for that one).

Now I must get back to my homework. I have a huge auditing research paper coming due, a second midterm on tuesday, several chapters of homework due in econometrics and a few group projects. All are due this week. If you don't hear my sweet sweet voice for a few days now you know why, I'm going to be a busy busy man this week.
Pictures from the night are here http://wiredgeek.com/v/familyandfriends/lies/

By the way, today's song is
Artist: Sebadoh
Song: Magnet's Coil

*by consequences, I mean the consequences of neglecting my homework not of any "bad" actions.