Tequila and I have a love/hate relationship. I know that for a good portion of the night I will be the most fun girl you could choose to be around. Jokes: I've got them. Shapes on the dance floor: watch out. Friendliness standard to strangers: at a level 10. These are the great parts of the relationship. The down sides to the relationship? EVERYTHING seems like a good idea, and clearly everything is NOT a good idea.
It had been awhile since we had all gotten together for a proper dinner so we organized one at a French restaurant in Chinatown (sounds strange I know) called Taratata Bistrot. Val was leaving for the States in the morning for two weeks and we were glad that we'd all have time for a catch-up before she left. When I arrived, Kathleen, Adrian, and Val had already been seated and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc was being carried over by the waiter. I said my hellos and sat down next to Adrian. We started filling each other in on what had been going on in our hectic lives in the last week and half and before we knew it we had made through the first bottle. The waiter came over to see if we were ready to order and we stated that we hadn't even looked at the menus. He innocently followed up with a second question of, "Would you like another bottle of Sauvignon Blanc?" Val looked at him with a hopeless stare, smiled and just gave a single nod. He clearly did not know that we are big wine drinkers. Anna rang to let us know that she was running late and to not wait to order our mains as she might still be awhile. I informed her that we hadn't even ordered starters yet and to not worry or rush. Eventually we ordered a cheese plate and a few others appetizers to start and I was extremely happy by the time they arrived.
We ordered our mains and Anna arrived shortly after. She filled us in on her latest news and let us know that she was late to dinner because of a work conference call. She works for a company that is based in the US so timing of calls cuts in to social hour for her since we are a full day ahead in Asia.
The waiter came around and let us knows about our dessert options for the evening and we decided to get a few to share. The soufflé was my top pick and it delivered in both presentation and taste! I sent the below photo to my friend Paul in Shanghai and he said it was the most boring photo I have ever sent him. Obviously Paul was mistaken!
We settled the bill, and took our drinks to sit outside at the tables that were directly in front of the entrance. We had called taxis but none of us felt like calling it a night just yet.
Somehow, Pangaea made its way in to the conversation and we all agreed that it would be our next (and final as it always is) stop. We had just rounded 12:30am so it was still a bit early to head over, but we decided to go anyway. As we arrived we decided that we would not get bottles as none of us wanted to have a massive night. Val stated that she was only going to have one drink as she had a 9am flight the next morning. How naive we were to think that we would be calling it an early night.
After ordering a round of drinks we made our way to the main area and started to take over a table. It was still early enough that it wasn't packed and we were able to sit, chat and sip our drinks.
Adrian asked if I wanted another drink as he was going to the main bar to get one for himself and Kathleen and I said I'd walk over with him. As soon as we walked up to the bar, I made eye contact with my friend Lev (one of the bartenders) and he came right over to give me a hug. I introduced him to Adrian and we ordered our drinks. This is the EXACT moment that things started to take a turn for the crazy. Adrian suggested we do a shot. Lev seconded that thought. I reluctantly said okay but quickly asked what shot and said the only way I'd do one is if Lev did one as well. Both the boys, no surprise, wanted to shoot Patron. I gave in. "Uh oh, he we go" I quietly thought to myself. The three of us took our shots and the boys rebounded like it was water they had just drank. Lev started laughing when he looked at me and gave me some actual water to help ease the burning in my esophagus. We carried shots back to the table for Anna, Kathleen, and Val. It made me feel a world better that their reaction was very similar to mine pre and post shot.
Gareth had been in contact with Kathleen and was on his way with some friends. Anna was preoccupied talking to someone that she had met a couple weeks back when we were all at Ying Yang and Kathleen and I were trying to get her attention to let her know we were headed to the bar to get a drink. Mistake number two was about to happen. Lev walked over and before I knew it there were two shots of Patron sitting in front of Kathleen and I. I shot Lev a look that signaled "Seriously?" and his reply was a huge smile and a nod. I replied, "You know the rule". Lev reached down for another shot glass and poured himself one. One, two, three and we all raised our glasses. My throat burned more with this shot than the first, Kathleen slapped her hand across her mouth and ran to what I could only suspect was the bathroom, and Lev was just as fine as could be. I realized Kat might not be back for awhile so I picked up our drinks and headed back to the table.
In the midst of all of this happening, the table that we had so slyly taken over was about to slip out of our possession. The group of guys that had reserved it were incoming. Enter one of the benefits of tequila - - Friendliness standard to strangers: at a level 10. I walked over to the guy I suspected was the most social and started up a conversation. Two minutes flat was all it took to solidify that we could share their table with them. I looked over to my left and Val had struck up a conversation with another one of the guys.
One by one we were all introduced and I promise no one remembered anyone else's name. It was past that point in the night to legitimately care. Kathleen had re-emerged from the ladies room and said, "Yup, it came right back up." Enough said; no need for further discussion. Much to my surprise she rallied like a champ.
This is a great thing because we were about to learn a very useful party trick from one of our table-mates. You take you camera and set it on the timer function. Set it on the ground with the lens facing to the ceiling and everyone crowds over and smiles. You would have assumed that with the amount of photos we take we would have thought of this already! None-the-less we were stoked about this new found camera angle.
Our group continued to grow as Gareth arrived with his friends in tow. We were throwing shapes on the dance floor left and right, and suddenly I concluded that we did not have enough room for the shapes that I felt were necessary.
Gareth widened the circle of free space and started twirling me around. This would normally not be an issue but I started to become dizzy and nauseous.
I spun out of his grip and walked up to the bar to grab a bottled water. Lev took one look at me and reached in to the fridge and handed me a Fuji water. He commented that I looked like I needed to eat something. Note to self: this is a bad sign. He looked around to see if there was anything he could give me and handed me a glass of cut strawberries that were obviously there to garnish drinks. He said very firmly and slowly, "Eat these and drink that water." I nodded and complied and happily walked back to the table with my new goodies in hand. Mistake number three happened in the short distance from leaving Lev to returning to my friends. I pulled out my cell phone started texting everyone and their mother. Why wouldn't someone want to hear from me at 4:30am? I had important things to say, how dare they not answer my quick witted text messages. FAIL.
When I returned Val was nowhere to be found. Anna, however, had a full bottle of Patron in her hand and was pouring shots and handing them out. I knew I needed to escape before things got further out of hand. First, I had to finish my strawberries! I gleefully finished my make-shift snack, then grabbed my clutch and quickly told Anna I was making a move so that someone would know that I had left. The guy that I had initially struck up a conversation with said he would walk me out. I was not paying much mind to him; all I knew was that I wanted to leave before mistake number four was to occur.
Walking outside it was POURING rain. I am talking monsoon (would-be-romantic-if-I-was-standing-next-to-someone-I-fancied-and-not-drunk) kind of rain. I was, however, standing next to a guy I did not fancy (albeit very cute) and was shivering from the mixture of rain and humidity on my skin. I couldn't hail a taxi and the line for one was at least a 2 hour wait. I made my peace with the fact that I was going to get soaked and started walking towards the CBD. The guy saw me walking away and shouted something to the effect of "Hey where are you going?" but I kept walking. I made it about 3 minutes when a taxi pulled over and the driver rolled down his window. He kindly said, "Miss you are getting rained on." I thought "No shit, really? I hadn't noticed." but figured I shouldn't say that as he might be nice enough to take me home and not continue on to the taxi stand where people would pay an additional fee. I stated the coordinates of my condo building and he motioned for me to get in. Thank goodness!
The next day was spent recuperating and slowly piecing back together the events of the night. I found out that Val overslept and woke up at 8am and her flight to the US left at 9am. She barely made it as the gate was closing sans shower or any breakfast. A 24 hour flight to the east coast is brutal after a night of tequila. I phoned my sister in the afternoon to tell her about my night. As she asked questions I kept cringing at memories that were creeping their way back to my conscious state of mind. Tequila, how quickly you go from being a friend to a foe.
