Oops, Did I Do That?

2 Bartenders in 1 night. And, completely unintentional.

Let’s start at the beginning. I started looking for jobs. Not too actively, but I sent out like 3 resumes and interviewed with one. I had 3 interviews with their company and over 6 hours of getting grilled AND a test.

Tuesday afternoon, I found out I was first runner-up. Whatever!!!

Anyway, this was the first job in 5 years I would have taken. I’d interviewed 3 times while I’ve been at my current job, but declined all 3. Now, of course, this one I SUPER wanted and didn't get. I then felt as though I’d been broken up with.

Tall K and I stopped our weekly drinking session with the end of the summer, but having that bummed feeling in the pit of my stomach, I needed some solace. Poor Tall K gets my non-stop jabber-jaw.

I had an appointment after work. It ended earlier than expected, so I had tons of time before meeting Tall K. I decided to walk across town. On my route was my old favorite bar, Cheers, home of the infamous, Obsession.

I hadn’t seen him in a few months. I wasn’t eager to see him after my romantic vision of him was shot to hell when he cheated on his GF with me (again, initially unbeknownst to me). I had to go to the bathroom, so I thought I’d stop by, use the bathroom, and say a quick hello.

He greets me. We chat for a minute. He asks for my phone number. Are you fucking kidding me? He’s asked for my number like a hundred times. Apparently he lost his phone. In a light-hearted voice, or maybe a little annoyed tone, I said, “why do you need my number?”

He quips, “never mind,” and walks away.

“Obsession, you’re kidding, right? You have to know I was only messing with you? I’ll give it to you.”

“No, it’s okay."

“Wow, I didn’t think you’d react like that.” Um, acting like a child! “Ok. So, anyway.”

We proceeded to talk for a little while. He told me how he and his girlfriend were about to break-up. In my head: oh right, I heard that statement after we hooked up 6 months ago. If my eyes weren’t looking at him, they’d be hardcore rolling!

“All right. I gotta’ go” I tell him.

“Don’t be a stranger.”

This story doesn’t end here. You’ll get the rest later in this post. This is all chronological order.
I continue my walk across town listening to some inspirational tunes, so I didn’t feel like such a loser for not getting the job. And also, for being so hard on myself because I did get far in the process. And, I’ve had much success in the past, so whatever.

I reach Tall K’s house. He comments, “did you see who’s working at the bar?” Tall K lives next door to iBartender's I-quit-there-I-work-there-again bar, so I could feasibly see in the bar, but I didn’t care to or think to. “iBartender.”

“Oh. I haven’t seen him in ages,” I nonchalantly reply. A tone I actually mean.

“Yeah, he hardly works there anymore."

We get to the bar with our whole two steps.

iBartender was looking his cute-self with an adorable little hipster t-shirt. He’d luckily put on a pound or two and no longer looked like a junky. We said huge hellos and I’ve missed you’s. We're both those over-exaggerated personalities. They now have a juke-box, so no more Miss Curious iPod on the bar speakers. As I stood there selecting my songs, iBartender came up behind me, wrapped his arms around me, and proceeded to kiss my cheek a hundred times. His whiskers tickled, sweetly. I stood still.

For the rest of the night, he told me about all his life problems and gave plenty of hugs and compliments on my song selections.

Unlike ages before, I left there knowing his game. I finally fucking got it. And I realized just how much younger than me he was. 3 years in actual numbers, but years and years as to where we are. It was so strange to me that I’d been as interested in him as I once was. I still think he’s rad because we have a strong music connection, but that’s as far as it goes. End of story.

Well, not end of this blog story.

I hadn’t eaten dinner. It was 9:30 pm. I’ve only been drinking once a week, and my tolerance isn’t high. Needless to say those couple o’ beers did me in. Was I just saying above that I’m more mature than a 26 year old boy? Maybe not.

I decided I had to drunk dial Obsession. I was annoyed with how childish he’d been earlier. I thought I’d laughed it off when I walked away. But for some reason, I needed to call him.

An old dude in my life, Kansas, has the same name as Obsession. I accidentally called him. When I realized it, I quickly hung up and tried to dial Obsession (key word: tried). Oh wait, oops… who’d I call again?!?! Kansas. Hung up again. Oh my god.

3rd Try. Got Obsession's voicemail, as expected. I just told him, “here’s my number loser.” Okay, I didn’t use loser, but I commented on his overreaction.

Why the hell did I do that? I never cease to amaze myself with what a complete ASS I can be. But, when life’s boring, I gotta’ stir shit up. Guess I'm one of those personalities, and unfortunately conscious of it.

Then, oh, next morning I got an email from Kansas saying that he saw I’d called. He’s going out of town today, but wants to get together when he returns. I didn’t mention that I accidentally called him. His email was so sweet with those "great hearing from you... oh my god, how are you... this is what I've been up to, etc." So sure, it’d be fun to see him if he does call upon his return.

There you have it. No ground breaking moments (?), but interesting encounters with my two ex-favorite-bartenders where things got messy! Well, it is kinda' ground-breaking in the fact that I don't quite understand why they seemed so "great" at one point. Weird.