Sunny Spirit

Tonight I was thinking about going to the International Happy Hour at Clubhouse Jäger, but I was kind of tired, and I had work to do tonight.

Well, I took a 45 minute nap, and that charged me right up! My friend Allaina said she was going to go at 8:00, so I said I’d be there around 7 or 7:30. Even though it started at 5:30, the HH was still very busy when I got there. It was a huge crowd.

I met a few very nice people.

It’s weird when I go to events that are not my own. People all know me. I had so many dudes just walk up to me and say,  “what’s up Justin?” It’s neat.

I met some cool gals, too, and since I enjoy this part of the story the most, I’ll describe it the most.

The first young lady I met was Stacey. Now Stacey travels all over the world for her job – way jealous. But she and I hit it off pretty well. I got her number, but she said FB is better nc she’s literally out of the country every other week. I thought that was prettu bad ass, so we connected on FB, too. After telling her about my flying for free, she suggested joining her on one of her trips. Cool.

The next young lady I spoke to was Lilly. Lilly was actually going to Mexico by herself for the next week, but she seemed really nice. Not in a dating kind of nice, but just in the “good person”kind of nice.

Eventually, around 9:15 (uggh… so late!), Allaina came. I was texting with her all night. So she and I chatted for a bit. Then we just kind of hung out by the music and has wines.

There were some people dancing, first in a dumb circle like people do, but then with partners.

Well naturally, there was a young lady not occupied but only because of a shortage of guys. I then led her in some salsa. She said she knew some other Latin dances, so I waited for a song that wasn’t just another spazzy salsa, then we did I cha cha. Apparently, I do “ballroom cha cha”, so I’ll have to learn what the other one is. But we had fun. Allaina took a picture, so I might add that later. But that was Courtney, and I got her number, too.

Then Allaina and I went to the Loop. The Loop is a pretty cool bar. We’ve gone there before, and we’ll probably go there in the future. It was fun.

We’re fun when we go out dancing. First of all, Allaina doesn’t dance with me. That’s not how she rolls. But when we’re out, we sometimes dance right by each other, but we often get separated. We actually got separated right after we came in. She went off with her Russian friends, and I got distracted. So right when I came in the Loop, there was a bunch of women.

Well I was dancing, just goofing around, but one of them was enjoying me and grinding with me. Definitely not something I’m used to, but that’s fine. I still goof around to make it fun. Then her friend joined in, and I had two women rubbing against me. Afterwards, a guy said I was going awesome because I was dancing with three women, and they were all nice-looking.

It was fun.

I also had a lady from that group take my hand when I offered it. I don’t remember if this was before or after the grinding gals. But the girl took my hand and we danced super well. It was some cool-lookijg West Coast Swing-ish. It looks really good, anyways, compared to the dancing you see in clubs.

Come to think of it, I dances with her right when I came in the door because I still had my jacket. The tri-partner dancing came after I checked my coat.

So I was dance-walking around the bar, looking for Allaina. I complimented a lady, and she liked it. I saw her standing by a table and asked her if she wanted to dance. She explained that her the  husband was sitting at the table.

“Dude, can I dance with your wife?”

Obviously, I had already explained about my kind of dancing, ect., and he was fine with it.

Long story short(er), I recruited s couple more clients for my friends’ dance studio. If you didn’t know, I love supporting the people in my life, including my friends, and I do what I can.

Sometime after 1:00, it was time to go. I talked more to Allaina. She’s going on vacation for a bit over Christmas. She works for a hotel so gets free rooms.

We went to her dt place. She was working the next morning, so we didn’t have much time. I basically got some water then left. Overall, awesome night! Way more fun than working!

There’s also this:
An awesome movie and skit. it gets funnier at 1:30.

Life is great. I’ve significantly changed this year. I told you 2014 was going to be an awesome year!

For me, I was condoned my master’s degree,  business is at unprecedented levels, I got a job, I got in the best shape of my life, and I’ve relaxed my personality quite a bit. I don’t worry about little problems that used to cause me a lot of stress. Combined with the fact that I had to buy all new business clothes because I am simply more broad, I would say that 2014 is the year I manned up. In more ways than will be mentored here.

On top of that (or building on the manning up thing), I decided to do the procedure I did on October 20 because it is going to give me better health, less illness, better old age, and is another big way I’ll help myself. This is the last side effect from my accident from 2006 that I will fix or that is a hindrance.

Overall, I am turning the page. I am putting all of the past behind me and entering in an all new chapter of unprecedented awesomeness!

There’s a reason for why I am always optimistic, and that’s because there is always something good in every event.

Let’s look at tonight’s event:
Initially, it was an idea from my friend to do a Krampus tour of terror through the Holidazzle Village. My friend backed out of the deal, which really left me in limbo. I had no idea how to pivot the event. I was thinking about just continuing the event as intended, but go to more bars, etc.

My event was a scramble. I didn’t have time to plan much, but I knew I wanted to do a pub crawl around 1st Ave. So naturally, I started at Lyon’s Pub.

My meetups are interesting because they are pretty random. Often, I host an event somewhere because I want to try something or a restaurant. But other times, it’s because it tops my list.
Lyon’s Pub tops my list. It’s nothing miraculous, but it’s like Davanni’s. It’s just part of something bigger. Like Davanni’s, it’s part of the Saint Thomas experience. Lyon’s is like that with Deloitte. I just feel at home.
There’s always a good chance I’ll run into someone I know, too. It’s funny, because I’m apparently not the only alum who goes there. I saw Bill, who I just had lunch with on Wednesday. He works for Grant Thornton now. It’s just interesting how small the cities are.

Anyways, my event was a disaster. I had a group of 3 guys and 3 girls at the beginning. I figured it was early, and it’d get better. Well after Lyon’s, the ladies went to the Gay 90’s. The rest of us went to Kieran’s. There, we waited for my friend Allaina.
Once she came, we went to the Imperial Room and Sneaky Pete’s. Eventually, the others dropped off, and she and I decided to venture off on our own.
Allaina has been to a few of my events before, and we talk well.

It’s funny – she is the kind of lady with whom I connect well:
– A little older
– Smart
– Didn’t grow up only in MN
– Open / communicates
– Smiles
– Unique experiences

Anyways, so even though the event was a total wash, some good came of it.
Allaina showed me a couple of places off of Washington. I was also able to talk to her for a little while before I dropped her off at her dt apartment.

I think it was the start of a strong and beautiful friendship.

Today was the Mustache Run. I went to it. I didn’t participate because I need to start training (just got the doctor’s okay to start running again, but I don’t think I’ll do a 5K for a while. I’ll run on my own and build back up. A 5K doesn’t make sense right now).

I did go to cheer on one of my colleagues. I usually know ppl in races. But really, I just wanted pictures of the rad ‘staches.
Apparently my phone auto rotate doesn’t mesh with WordPress.
Enjoy the pictures:

It was fun!