Party [sham]rock is in the house tonight

I am warning you now. This blog is going to be long but you may find it entertaining.

St. Patrick’s Day just passed. If you’re not Irish like me, you know that St. Patrick’s Day is just an excuse to party and drink. I mean, come on, I wonder how many people actually know the significance of Saint Patrick. I know why because of my religious background. It seems offensive to be partying, drinking and wearing silly shirts and accessories.

I’ve never done anything special on this day because it was of no concern to me. It was just another day, apart from so many people in green. But this year, even though I was quite reluctant at first, I decided to do what most people my age would be doing. So I wore green and white, drank beer and partied my heart out.

I was reluctant because I knew all that wasn’t me, but like I keep saying with all of these new things I’m doing that I wouldn’t usually do, “FUCK IT.”

I spent the evening with a friend I have never hung out with alone before so it was different but in a good way. I like different. In fact, I NEED different in my life. She came over around 8pm with a 12-case of beer. I wish I could have freeze-framed my dad’s face when he saw me carrying it in the house. Priceless.

Before I go on, let me just say that I’m not a big drinker. I don’t mind the taste of alcohol, but I prefer cocktails which hides the taste of alcohol with fruity concoctions.

I have not had any alcohol since New Year’s so I worried about how my body would handle the sudden rush. When my friend came, the first thing we did was have a shot… actually, more like 4 shots because of the amount of alcohol in the glass. When planning this, I said that we both needed a shot to loosen up. Both of us are going through breakups and we needed to get rid of the tension. I didn’t have any tequila and straight vodka is a BAD idea (I learned the hard way) so we had coconut flavoured Malibu rum. At least it had flavour, right?

One bad thing was that neither of us had eaten in 6-7 hours. Right after drinking all that rum, we went straight to a bottle of beer and talking for an hour in my basement’s bar. I am not usually a beer drinker. I like the smell of beer but the taste is…meh. However, Budweiser is tolerable to me. I’m not going to lie, it was a little hard to swallow but every gulp was closer to finishing it. All I wanted to do was finish the damn thing!

Another thing about me is that I have a tiny bladder so if I drink lots of fluid at one time, I’ll be making trips to the bathroom every 15 minutes. And may i say that is exactly what happened. In the first hour she was there, I went four times. All from a glass of rum and one beer!

To add, we were both buzzed immediately. Having not eaten and having drank straight alcohol put us there quick. As my friend and I agreed, a good buzz is all you need to enjoy the night. Being drunk is too much.

The buzz really hit me though. Getting up to go the bathroom was difficult. I wasn’t walking straight. I wasn’t even sitting on the toilet seat properly by the third time I went.

Before leaving at 10, we decided to eat so we wouldn’t be drunk. I got a frozen pizza and went up to the kitchen to cook it. It was so hard trying to act normal with my family around asking me stuff. I was so buzzed I dropped the pizza when walking in.

The mushroom pizza was delicious. I don’t know if I thought that because it actually was yummy or because I was buzzed so the 6 mushrooms on the entire pizza meant nothing to me. Nonetheless, the pizza was like a sponge for the alcohol. I felt a little better after eating. We were both more aware, that’s for sure.

We took a cab to her house to drop off the case of beer and grab her stuff she forgot, then we headed to a country/dance night club in the downtown area of my town. We were considering going to an Irish pub, but the taxi driver told us bad news about the two we were considering—one had an hour-long wait, the other went bankrupt and closed down. Now my friend has been to bars and clubs several times so I am glad my first time at a club was with her. That’s right, you read correctly. Even though 19 is the legal age to go clubbing, I have never been before. Sad, I know. Better now than never!

Green beer!

So we got there before 11pm, as my friend suggested to avoid lineups. My friend has never been to that club so it was a new experience for the both of us. After getting ID-ed (may I just say how nice American passports look with the flag and eagle compared to shitty plain Canadian ones). The place was a decent size. I expected it to be bigger but whatever. It was country-themed so we both were a little out of place in a club filled with mostly white people. The place wasn’t busy at all. Maybe 50 people just hanging around the bars and booths. We took this opportunity to take pictures and have GREEN beer for the first time! Yay!

As soon as we walked in, I recognized some faces that went to high school with me. I was quite shocked at the different sides I saw to a couple of them. One guy, oh the poor guy, was dancing alone the entire night. He didn’t even make a single move on any girl. I wish I took a video of his awkward dancing. At least he was into it and wasn’t like most of the guys there who only know how to grind make out on the dance floor.

We danced a lot that night. But it was the second time we went to the dance floor (after a 20-minute wait to use the bathroom) that things changed. All of a sudden, a random guy comes close behind me and starts dancing. I didn’t even turn around to see his face. I just go with it and my friend starts laughing. It was something different! So we’re shaking it, grinding and grooving to the music. But then he starts putting his hand inside my shirt to hold my back and my waist. Feeling a little uncomfortable, I tell him to dance with my friend and I so that he gets his hand out. We are both dancing with him now but I see that my friend isn’t interested in him and she pulls back. He focuses his attention on me again. My friend says she is going to get some fresh air to leave us alone, but I tell him I’m going to. He grabs my hand and tells me to stay and dance; he even suggests we go somewhere else. I say sorry but maybe another time. I rush to be with my friend. She was surprised I went to her. She said that when she used to go clubbing with her best friend, she hated that her best friend would always leave her alone to dance with guys or to go for a smoke break. I’m not that kind of person. If I go with friends, I stick by them unless we all end up with someone else… or I’ll quickly get the person’s number and leave. Anyways, the guy I was dancing with was not ugly. A little bit taller than me, buzz cut, appropriately-dressed, that bad boy look. I did good!

It was hot in the club. We went to get air (not fresh air, smoky air) five times to cool off. Then they finally turned on the giant fan on the dance floor. That was our spot!

Although most people there were our age, it was so weird seeing a few older people in their 40s dancing. My friend told me that one woman was trying to dance with a younger guy but he refused, saying he doesn’t dance with older women. Rude.

So at 1 a.m., we find a booth to sit and relax. After talking for some time, these two guys come and sit next to us. No invitation. No hello. The blond guy sitting beside my friend stirs up conversation with her and the guy beside me is being his wing man. Oddly, I recognize the guy sitting beside me. I think he may have went to our high school but I don’t ask. They ask us if we play hockey because they are hockey players who are being drafted to the Pittsburgh Penguins with Sidney Crosby. Clearly they are trying to score some points. The blond guy asks our ages. They say they are 19, so when my friend says she is 21, I am confused. She gives me the girl signal to go with it so I just play along as her “wing man.” She starts laughing with him and he continues to flirt…UNTIL… his girlfriend comes along and steals him away. Boy was she pissed! All my friend had to say was “Damn, why are all the good ones taken?” I admit, the blond guy was decent with his fit body, but he looked like a player—and I don’t mean hockey player. Turns out, the guy beside me also had a girlfriend who he was making out with for a very long time in the booth in front of us.

We dance a few more songs until my friend asks me if I want to go. I say it doesn’t matter. She says let’s go. As soon as we leave the club, we see police officers and police cars outside at the biggest club downtown. There’s even broken beer glasses on the street. We ignore it and walk to the taxi building where we see a line of people waiting for a cab. While waiting, we see two others that went to our high school. Then, out of nowhere, these two guys appear in front of us and start arguing over something stupid. Some random fat lady eating a late-night pita headbutts one of the guy’s stomach so they don’t fight. Then another random guy comes in between the other guy. The two walk away continuously arguing until one guy loses it and they both start fighting. No party night is complete without a fight. Sadly, the fight is broken up by strangers. I was waiting for blood, sweat and tears!

Twenty minutes later, we get our cab and head home. Successful night? I think so.