My sad but convenient Buckhead refuses to quit.

It had been like two weeks since I was permitted to get back out into the Atlanta night scene. Life has a way of throwing serious stuff and responsibilities and junk at you at very inopportune times. After successfully dodging a few more, I got a chance to run around my sad but convenient Buckhead.

It’s growing into its new shoes I guess. I spent most of the night at "The Pub," Fado’s temporary joint while they finish there more permanent location. I remember Fado’s proudly declaring "We aren’t leaving!," when the developers bought out all the leases/property in the area. All of "Our dirty Buckhead" was smashed and cleared for "Their shiny Buckhead." Alright, that’s fine. I wasn’t looking to get malaria from my vodka tonic anyway. But "The Pub" was a really good time and it was just another reminder that it’s not going to be what it was.
The band was really weak Saturday night. They needed a break after every third song. Who can blame them? It’s hard singing depressor alternative when everyone around you is stamped, amped, and ready to have a good time.

"Excuse me guys, can we save Black Hole Sun for another night, it’s not helping me find excuses to grab this chick’s ass and pretend it’s part of my ‘moves.’ Can I shoot myself in the head tomorrow? I promise I’ll do it during the climax of White Rabbit…"

Well, the band sucks… ok… reassess, regroup, and adapt.

The crowd was fantastic. A perfect cross-section of ages, classes, and attitudes, maintaining a minimum hotness level throughout about 85% of them all. Have you ever gotten the attention of someone by doing something really stupid? Probably not… women are usually the victims of our stupidity in the art of attention getting. But yeah, I went old school Saturday. Have you seen that beer bottle trick where you clank the bottom of yours on the top of theirs and it makes it foam over? What?!? You haven’t done that? You are all mature and shit? Well I find it hilarious and I’m getting up in years.

Well I don’t know where it came from, but I actually attempted to get this girls attention via that bit of absurdity. She clearly looked like the type of woman that would not be impressed by this display of immaturity. She was dressed conservatively, appeared to be older than I am (which in woman years is even more significant), and was drinking water… no bonus drunk points. I felt like I was back in high school trying to impress the cute smart girl from the advanced English class via ball-racking the guy next to me in the hall. Good times… It couldn’t possibly… Holy crap it worked.

This is just shameful. I got a laugh pulled a devious smile and then reaped the benefits of a frustrated friend. I told him I’d grab him another beer, of course offered to get her anything while I was over there for being such a great audience and scored a conversation along the way.

Really interesting woman as well. Already owns her first home (OTP style…) which is quite impressive to an urban apartment hopper such as myself. Has a great job where she travels a lot, like I do, and loves animals. Oh boy does she love animals. I visited her house to pick her up for a lunch date and it was Doctor Doolittle. Dogs, cats, birds, and fish. All plural! Now I really hate cats, and I hate cats whose owners try to pass them off as "just like a dog!" No way. That is a cat. It smells like a cat, sneaks around like a cat, and if I call it to pet it, it will certainly run and hide and skulk at me like a cat. Freaking cats man. Anyway, she at no point tried to pass her cats off as dogs, which earned her street cred in my book. And we had a genuinely fun afternoon. Park, lunch at this Mexican OTP place I know, and an afternoon drive.

"Very tame Blake!"

"Yes I know!" You see, I have to take this one a little slower than usual because…

There is an ex-fiancé of four years very much still in the picture. This is a new one for me. Ex-fiancé can mean anything. Maybe they were younger and thought they were meant for each other when they weren’t. Maybe he was a genuinely great guy but they just fell out of love. Maybe he was nuts, and she’s just as bad… It could mean anything or nothing at all. Which is fine… I don’t discriminate! Now from what I’ve gathered, quite cautiously, the breakup was very one-sided. One-sided where he didn’t want to leave and she did. So she punted him out of her OTP house. I’m imagining it was a bit hairy for a while there. Still, many many months down the road they still talk and he baby-sits the animal farm when she’s out of town. And yeah… Hmm… I’m not saying I’m not game… I’m an equal opportunist in love! As a friend of mine said, "Sometimes the hottest porn is in the "Little Mermaid" case." However, I will be proceeding with caution.

Regardless, it’s fun getting to know someone who’s led such a different life up until now than myself. It kinda keeps me guessing as to what she’s going to respond to and what I’m losing points for. Not to mention… she’s quite pretty at that. I’ll keep you posted.