Cold City Winters

Eventful weekend, or somewhat.

On Friday I went to an office holiday party with Kim. Kim is a colleague who sits in the same office as I do. BTW, did I mention that I am currently stationed in the corner office with windows. This is because I was shipped to the “other” office because nobody had any use for me in my old office. Anyway, the new office has a nice set of windows, which means that I actually get to see daylight and people walking by during the day. Kind of nice, but not really ‘cause the kind of work that I am doing these days is really crappy. Reviewing folders. And not just a couple of folders but over a thousand folders. Sigh! the sacrifices one has to make to pay sky-high rent and live in this country. Anyway, Kim is really cool, even though she talks continuously, and we spend most of the day bitching about work and the people we work with, which makes the work we are doing somewhat bearable.

So, office party. Yes. It was fun and sort of nice to get to know the people that work with me. Met this really cute guy called John, a UVA alum from 2001 and rumored to be gay, even though he casually mentioned that he had a girlfriend during college. But he didn’t come off as gay maybe because of the facial hair or because he was “trying” to be straight at an event where only two people had endured the joy of sleeping with men (him and I). Regardless, we talked for a while, and that was it. I didn’t want to make any moves, after all, it was an office party. I did drink even though one of my resolutions on turning twenty-two was not to. Yeah, there goes that one. But seriously, I’m trying to pursue my goal of staying perpetually sober because I want to. And want to because I promised myself that I would stop drinkng after college. And that is because of many reasons but mostly because of my inclination for drinking to get drunk. And when I get drunk I get sloppy and sometimes even dangerous. Not going to dwell on that too much right now, but you get the picture.

After spending most of Saturday feeling guilty and hung-over, I went out later that night on a date. Yes, a date. Surprised eh? So am I. Actually I’m not sure if it was a date or not but it felt like one. I went out with this guy from my building who lives on the first floor. His name is Gabe and we met at our landlord Matt’s orgy party. Yeah, you read that right. ORGY party (details later, maybe). The night of the party I was extremely wasted and remember feeling utterly disgusted by the shameless display of sex in front of me. And apparently, on deciding to leave, Gabe was nice enough to walk me back to my apartment, only to return to the party after that (even though he promises to only watch and not have participated). Anyway, we went out to Cosi, which is this restaurant-cum-cafe located on every other block in Dupont Circle. Not too formal, not to casual. Just right for a first date. We ordered our drinks (I had a hot chocolate and he had cider) and engaged in casual conversation in an attempt to get to know each other better. Later I went back to his place but didn't stay that long since nothing interesting was on TV. And thankfully nothing sexual happened, which was good. Only a warm sort-of-uncomfortable hug on my way out.

I had a good time and would like to see Gabe again, but only as friends. I don’t think that I am ready for more. I mean Gabe is cute, intelligent and fun. But I don’t really feel butterflies in my stomach. Or not yet. I’m sure I’ll run into him since we live in the same building. And we’ll just have to take it from there. But yeah, the sparks ain't there.

It’s really cold today. In fact its fucking freezing. Can’t stand outside for more than a minute. It’s going to suck walking home today from work. I’ll just have to suck it up. Or take a cab.

It’s Christmas next weekend and Borchini is coming to town. Again. And then Charles is coming to visit me for New Years. Looking forward to good times.