Fan-fucking-tastic night last night. Got to the bar, sat around and listened to the usual bar gossip and stories. Some good ones, too. The type of stories that get M all strung out and excited. At one point she was at the far end of the bar, whirled around and exclaimed “Oh! I forgot to tell you!” and her eyes got big. She ran back as soon as she could and started going.

There was also a moment of “Oh, lordy I’ve been here too long,” when Miran signaled to me so I could get M’s attention to complete a drink order. There was a moment of silence as we realized what had just happened. And then laughter, because, really, there’s always laughter.

Hammerpants showed up, and was kinda down. But I cheered him up by reminding him that we have Tom Waits tickets for the end of June and then by calling M over to share the best bits of bar gossip all over again. She was more than happy to oblige.

And then the newlyweds showed up. This couple ends up sitting next to us, being happy and chatty and generally good people. They were from Seattle and M told them that Hammerpants had lived there for a few years and we all got to talking. And then we started buying each other drinks.

He’s a carpenter, she works in oncology, I think, and they’re just nice folks out on their honeymoon (10 months after the wedding) to hang out in NY. Somehow they ended up in the bar. They forced us all to get into the pizza debate and the bagel debate. Which was kinda mean, but they didn’t know that. You know, asking people in NY to name their favorite pizza and favorite bagel place is simply asking for a fight. But ah well. We behaved ourselves.

Turns out he is also a Tom Waits fan and we joked around about that and talked about the shows and so on, at length, the way you do. So that was nice. I dunno, I realize the night doesn’t sound exactly amazing, and part of that is due to stories I can not tell in public but really it was just damn nice to stay extra late and spend the time hanging out with a bunch of folks all just there to have a good time, buy each other drinks and just enjoy the night.

It was the kinda night, when someone asks “Why do you love to hang out at bars?” you talk about. Just a good crowd, even the bad ones because they make for fun, and better people and good music and … you know: beer.