Jul 17, 2004

Leaving the house can work out well

This is such a great weekend so far! Friday I went to the gym after work and took this really strenuous class that I figured would exhaust me, but I guess the exercising-regularly thing has finally kicked in, because afterwards I felt really good and hyped-up. So when a girl I know from a past job called and asked if I wanted to join her friends to go out dancing later, I was like, "Yeah, bring it on!"

And it was excellent. We were planning to go to Five, this club I had been to once before and loved, because they play good trance, the guys there don't get all up on you, and the room is super air-conditioned. On our way my friend and I met up with the other 2 girls across the street at Lucky Bar. After a while we were talking to a group of guys who seemed fun and non-lecherous, and eventually we were all dancing in a big sweaty mess, so we stayed for a long time. The four of us kept sort of trading boys to dance with, which was funny. Happily, none of them were too talktative during the dancing, which is a trait I sort of hate because you have to stand still and scream into each others' ears, and I don't have a very loud voice and ALSO I have pretty poor hearing in these situations, so it all just gives me a sore throat.

We didn't leave to go the club until 1am, and by then the music had changed from trance to reggae and stuff, but it was a fun time.  I got home at almost 4am, making it a really late night for me, as I am an old woman.

Saturday I had an 12:00 appointment with a new dentist I had found through my new dental insurance (yay, job!) who I already was sort of in love with because A) she had Saturday hours, and B) her office was one block from my apartment. It was actually a first-floor apartment in a nearby building, which, being from the suburbs and the land of office parks, was new to me.

This dentist, I now love. She was basically Blanche Deveraux, but black, and Blanche is my favorite Golden Girl. 

I was there for like two hours, because she was the funniest woman ever. After the check-up, she regaled me with stories and introduced me to all of her friends, who were hanging out in the waiting room with her college daughter (the receptionist), and they all told lots of stories as well. When I left, the dentist wrote down every phone number she has, and said to call her if I had any questions, or just wanted to talk. How totally funny is that? I might just do it, too. She was that nice.

Anyway, this two-hour-appointment business was just fine, because I didn't have any plans for the afternoon, knowing that after a dancing night I pretty much just want to slug around the house mainlining Advils and liquids. But when I left her office (for the 10-second walk home), it was such a nice breezy day I decided to pull out my list of nearby galleries I have wanted to find.

And I discovered the two most amazing places ever! Signal 66 is down a crazy alley, past a row of garages and carriage houses. You get to the back of a brick building, ring the bell, and are buzzed in. Inside you go through a maze of rooms: one huge open room with sculpture on the floor and paintings on the walls, an installation of a bathroom, a teeny darkened room with videos playing, and an upstairs hallway. I was the only person in the place, and whoever buzzed me in never made an appearance, so I was alone the whole time. I had a moment of "in the Lifetime move about my life, is this going to be the climatic scene in which I stupidly go to a secret warehouse in a DC alley by myself and am tragically murdered?" But it went away pretty quickly, because this place was so amazing, and some of the art was really great. I have to go back and take some notes so I can remember it all better.

The other place I found was called Warehouse, and it's a little coffee shop/theatre/gallery space. I took some fliers for upcoming plays they are doing (one is about Jackson Pollock and is a pay-what-you-can show) and also I met the lady in charge of the art, who told me to send her my slides to see about getting into a show there.

I really need to try this whole "going out" thing more. Just so you know, I am not an actual hermit. It's just that my weekends are always either totally activity-packed, or I go 48 hours not moving more than, like, 6 muscles.  Is everybody like this, or is it just me?

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