Girls’ Night Out... just like the good old days :)

Last night I met up with my friends Renee and Heather to hang out in the city. Like I said in my last blog, I used to work at a charter school with these two girls. You know what happens when three teachers have access to alcohol? Let the good times roll, lol.

We met at Renee's house and then walked to a cute little corner pub called Ten Stone. We started the evening by chatting and catching up on what's been going on since we last hung out. We sat at the bar next to a very random guy... young, early 30s... who spent his night reading a book, writing in his journal and reading Far Side comics. Oh, and snickering at our conversation. I think the books were a cover. He was definitely more interested in what we had to say. We also grabbed dinner there, and since mine was late coming out, the bartender took one of my drinks off the tab. Sweet! The bar was really fun and neighborhoody... I'd definitely go back again. Hell, the jukebox played Weezer! And Billy Ocean!! And GENESIS!!!

Onward and upward. We walked into the Rittenhouse area and found a bar called Vanga. It's next door to Bar Noir, which we used to frequent back in the day. There used to be a really hot bartender there named Seth. Turns out he's working at Vanga now, so we tracked him down. We haven't seen him in about 4 years... so when we sat down at the bar in front of him he said, "Hoooly shit." Blast from the past, lol. We had several very expensive drinks there (nothing in Center City is cheap), flirted with Seth , and then took a cab to The Piano Bar at 20th and Arch.

The Piano Bar was an excellent way to end the evening. We had one last drink and sang along to all sorts of fun songs. (Sadly, the piano man did NOT know "I Touch Myself." Sigh.) I have plans to go back again soon.

Anyway, it was an awesome night. We didn't wind up going dancing, which was our original plan, but we managed to have a very well-rounded bar tour... from comfortable neighborhood pub to upscale, trendy club to hole-in-the-wall piano bar.

We drank, we laughed, we drunk texted. It was all good.

A story

Let me preface my story by saying that I tend of think of my life, and the people in it, in terms of chapters. Starting with nursery school, neighborhood friends, grade school and high school. Then college. By then, I had severed ties with most of my high school friends, with the exception of Rick and Erin, and I met a few new college friends in class and choir (other Erin, Erica and Regina). Somewhere between college #1 and college #2, Erin and I drifted apart, and I started hanging out with Inara, Angie and Rob... and then by the time I was in college #2, I added my roommates to that mix. In the summer, I worked at Dress Barn, where I found still more people to hang out with. After college, I lost touch with some of that group and got my first real job teaching at a charter school. That's where I met Heather, Kara and Renee. By now, I was a "grown up," in that I had a car, a real job and I could legally drink in bars. I stayed at the charter school for a year, after which I got my current job at the Catholic school... where I met my good friend Bridezilla and later, Amy. And it was around that time that I reconnected with old high school friends, plus a few extra faces (Miguel, Heather, Joe) with more soon to follow (Dooner, John).

It amazes me how some things can come full circle. People that I thought I'd never talk to again now have prominent roles in my life, such as drinking buddy, roommate, or best friend (again... Erin and I picked up pretty much where we left off). And myspace has put me back in touch with Shelly (Dress Barn), Erin and Erica (college #1), Angela (college #2), Rick, Angie and many, many others.

Anyway, my story... other Heather called me today to see if I wanted to go out Saturday night. We got in touch with Renee, and she suggested dancing. That might sound innocent, but let me assure you that in the past, "going out dancing" consisted of copious amounts of alcohol and extremely late nights. Not that I'm complaining. We used to go into the city and pre-drink at Renee's apartment... then walk over to Bar Noir or the Irish Pub, depending on our mood. Some nights we cabbed it to Envy or Five Spot for a more clubby dance experience. We were regulars at a few bars... bartenders who knew us would have our beers opened before we could get from the front door to the bar. Once we had drinks, the dancing would start... hours of dancing. Our night would end after closing hours, hanging out with the bartenders or going to an after hours club. We'd end up at Wawa or a diner for breakfast somewhere in the wee hours of the morning. Then back to Renee's apartment to sleep... followed by MASSIVE hangovers. And we did that pretty much every weekend. Sometimes twice a weekend.

All good things must come to an end... and that's what eventually happened with us. We lost touch with Renee... Heather moved... you know how it goes. So even though Heather and I still kept in touch, that chapter of my life had pretty much closed. I got back in touch with Renee last year, only to find that she was pregnant and engaged! So now she's a proud mommy and wife, and hasn't been out drinking since before her daughter was born. Until now. Saturday night the three of us are going out dancing. It should make for an interesting night. I'll bring my camera.

I’m melting...

Is it just me, or does anyone else HATE the weather right now? It's so disgustingly muggy and humid. Ugh. Bring back spring.

I spent my weekend doing a variety of random things... but had more fun than I expected to have. On Friday night, I chaperoned our 8th grade graduation dance. Afterwards, I got the urge to go out. It was a hot night, and a cold beer sounded perfect. So I cranked up my dance music on the drive home and started texting people. Joe wound up coming over around 11:30 to hang out. I had no idea what we would end up doing (last time he came over, we were up til 3:30 drinking and watching "The Producers" on On Demand, lol)... but we had a very amusing evening/early morning excursion that included Pabst Blue Ribbon, 40s of Olde E and Colt 45, old school gangsta rap (Coolio, Snoop Dogg, Ice T, Kris Kross, Bell Biv Devoe, Sugar Hill Gang...), a trip to Joe's secret underground lair (filled with union workers and their chicks, lol), followed by a drive up and down Torresdale Avenue at 4 AM playing several rounds of a game called, "Guess the Hooker." Good times, lol. I couldn't have planned it if I tried, but it was quite entertaining.

On Saturday morning, I was rudely awakened by my landlord working in the apartment upstairs. It was about 9 AM and I didn't get in til around 5:30 AM... so you can imagine how thrilled I was to be awake. Ugh. At any rate, my landlord stopped down later to replace my window (which only opened from the top). He put in a new window AND an air conditioner! So now I can sleep comfortably this summer!!!

Then I headed to my parents' house to help them give my dog a bath. It's a three person job, trust me. By the time we were finished, I was a sweaty mess... and covered in black dog hair. But Tasha looked fabulous!

Today was our 8th grade graduation. I put on a yellow polo shirt and white skirt with sandals in the hopes of staying relatively cool... but to no avail. There's no a/c in church. Just fans. And they didn't do much to keep us comfortable. After the ceremony, my friend Silvia and I decided to grab lunch. We thought about heading to Freddy & Tony's for some good Puerto Rican food, but then decided on a local bar & grill. I had my heart set on a Corona, but then we found out the cook wasn't there yet (wtf??), so we left. In the end we wound up buying some pinchos from two women who had a tent set up on the corner. We ate them in the car while we chatted. Classy lunch, huh?

Tomorrow my kids have the day off, and I get the whole day to work in my classroom. Usually that's a good thing, but it's supposed to be 99 degrees tomorrow. Two fans and six windows won't be enough to cool off that room. Joy. But on the plus side, there are only 5 days of work left until summer vacation! Yay! Then I can find a summer job and work on my time off! Yay! (That second "yay" was pure sarcasm, you know...)

Okay, friends. Off to bed in my cool, air conditioned room. Later, gators!

silver linings

Today I had the distinct pleasure of hearing the Keystone State Boychoir sing in concert. For the fifty bazillionth time, lol. My godson Kyle has been in the choir for about 7 years, so I've seen quite a few performances over the years. And I toured with them as a chaperone for 3 weeks last summer, so I got to hear them sing every day... sometimes 2 or 3 times a day... rehearsals and performances and just-for-fun (once I was serenaded by one of the 15-year-olds at the Sydney Harbour Bridge... but that's another story for another time, lol).

Tonight's concert was just the graduates. Those are the older boys (high school) whose voices have already changed. The boys are talented, charismatic and incredibly sweet. Many of them know me through Kyle or from tour, and I always get a bunch of hugs and hellos after a concert.

Anyway... all of that has little to do with the rest of my blog. I just wanted to sing their praises once again, because I absolutely LOVE them and their singing. Well, maybe it does have something to do with the rest of my blog. Let's see if I can make it work, lol. One of the songs the boys sang tonight is a gospel tune called "I Need You to Survive." I've heard them sing it before, I think at their Christmas concert, and it moved me to tears. Not just the beautiful singing, but the lyrics.

Minor segue... but I promise I'll come back to the song in a bit. Did you ever feel like there's so much disrespect and violence and hate in the world that it's hard to see anything good in it? I get that way from time to time. Maybe it comes from teaching in a school where I see kids curse at their teachers and yell at their parents and blame everyone else for their problems. Or where parents make one excuse after another for their kids or can't be bothered to come to an Open House to see the work their kids have done. I don't know. But then something happens to remind me that there are still good people out there... there are still reasons to believe that the world isn't a total waste.

I know... I'm rambling, and I probably sound sappy and ridiculous. I'm going somewhere, I promise. So anyway, tonight when I heard that song, I had one of those moments when all is right with the world. And then after the concert when boys who haven't seen me in months came over to hug me and say how glad they are to see me and thank me for coming to their show... well, it just reminded me that not all teenagers are rude and mouthy and apathetic. I just felt like sharing that with you, in case you were having one of those days when it seems like the world is filled with assholes.

Here's a video of the song, followed by the lyrics, in case you need a boost today. (And don't avoid it because it's gospel music... there's something extremely powerful about gospel, and it's worth a listen from time to time.)

I Need You To Survive (Hezekiah Walker)

I need you, you need me;
We're all a part of God's body.
Stand with me, agree with me;
We're all a part of God's body.

It is His will that every need be supplied;
You are important to me,
I need you to survive.
You are important to me,
I need you to survive.

I pray for you, you pray for me;
I love you, I need you to survive.
I won't harm you with words from my mouth;
I love you, I need you to survive.

It is His will that every need be supplied;
You are important to me,
I need you to survive.
You are important to me,
I need you to survive.