Sunday, October 14, 2007

more bars, more dates

Friday night I found myself at a weird happy hour at the Tribeca Tavern drinking expensive greyhounds, at a weird club getting free drinks, and then back at Odessa. I called it an early night because Beauty's Boulder hipster crew were making me pine for San Francisco. It was also freezing out and I was tired of drinking and not being drunk.

Saturday I went to a wholly uninspiring CultureFest at Battery Park where Muffin and I basically went to each booth and filled out raffle tickets and got free buttons. We wandered out back into the world and, noting that it was almost five o'clock, decided it was time for a drink. Muffin took me to a great bar by Union Square called Revival with a cute outdoor area for us smokers and decently priced drinks.

After that I returned to Odessa to meet up with my new CL date, whose name is Polish but is actually from the Ukraine. He had suggested meeting at Tompkins Square Park but since I hate waiting for people without a drink in hand, I suggested the bar. He has a cute accent and has lived in New York since Chernobyl. I was excited about our date because my fortune cookie on Friday told me that everything would come my way, and I just got a good feeling from his emails, and he seemed stoked about meeting me even though he lives even farther away than Boy; he lives by Coney Fucken Island. At CultureFest, Muffin and I got to actually make our own buttons at the Bronx Children's Museum's booth, and I'd made him a button that said "I heart CL.org." I gave him the button. He seemed pleased.

The Ukrainian and I met up at 6 p.m. and continued to drink until 2 in the morning. He knew a lot of great spots to go to. After Odessa we went to get food at the Yaffa Cafe, a surprisingly large restaurant with a bohemian interior and a grand outdoor patio with a smoking section. The food was nothing special, but it was relatively inexpensive so we drank a bottle of wine as well. After that I led him on a wild goose chase to look for my buddy's birthday party, which apparently got switched to Monday night without my knowledge. So we ambled over to watch an accordian player in some park on Avenue B, and then had some more cocktails at a bar I think was called Luca Lounge or something; it had a photo booth in it. And then we went to Mona's a few doors down to play some pool. Mona's had a great jukebox and a pool table, and The Ukrainian and I played several rounds of pool with various people. I was so drunk that I almost adopted a rescued daschund named Louie that this girl had brought to the bar for the express purpose of introducing him around. I spent about two hours all over this dog; he was so fucken cute and mellow.

I liked hanging out with The Ukrainian because: (a) he knew a lot of places to go (b) he insisted on paying for several drinks for me, and dinner, which I appreciated, though of course I bought us about twenty drinks (c) he was mellow and could hang with other people easily and (d) I felt safe with him, especially when he put his arm around me as he walked me to the subway. He's definitely cooler than Boy, and I hope to go out with him again.

I had brunch with Boy today at a mediocre "mexican" restaurant called Agave on 7th Avenue South and W. 10th. I'd been craving some decent huevos rancheros and this was not the place for it. It was pretty much fauxican, and who the hell is going to pay $10 for guacamole? We did get a sunny table without having to wait (a bad sign, in my opinion). I struggled to keep up my end of the conversation because my whiskey-heavy sleep was not a good one. I rehydrated with coffee, mostly, and after brunch we sat out in Washington Square Park for a while and I felt my brain twitching.

Boy was in my former backyard, Dolores Park, in San Francisco this weekend, and yesterday he'd called me to see if I wanted anything from the famous truffle man who sells delicious pot truffles out of beautiful copper pots; one for $4 or 3 for $10. I asked him to bring me back two ginger-cayenne ones, and he did. That was sweet of him. I'm still unsure of how I feel about him, and I'm wondering how long I should keep this up. This Friday will be our sixth date. Earlier he mentioned something about hanging out with a girl mostly because he knew she liked him, and he liked the way he felt around her. I wonder if I'm doing the same thing with him. I wonder if that's why he brought it up.

1 comment:

keetens said...

ohhh my god fauxican! i love you. i don't know Boy, i should totally meet him! then i can evaluate whether he's good or not. honestly, i think maybe the benefits you're getting from dating around and putting yourself in new situations far outweighs monogamy right now...so just keep on rock-in-it.