10:17 A.M.
Work dragged on and on yesterday and I was glad to finally get home.
I ordered take out and told Amy to meet me at my house.
She likes the new place and says that it's homey.
My parents came by to say hello, and then I finished getting ready to go out.
We ventured out to south Tampa last night for a couple of drinks and had a blast.
Parking was at a premium, but somehow we found a spot. Then we went over to Sangrias for a pitcher and some appetizers. The food there is absolutely fabulous and time flew by like nothing.We must have been there 3 hours just chatting and drinking. It was great to have a chance to catch up on some things and I look forward to meeting her new friends from the reserves on Sunday.
After great food, conversation, and drinks at Sangrias, we drove down to the other side of Hyde Park to check out Whiskey Park. That place was wall to wall packed! We saw JBV, Lisa, and Kim as soon as we got through the front door. They said they�d be in the same spot so we planned to meet up later.
The first stop we made was the bathroom, where we spent about 20 minutes just waiting for a stall. Then we went to the bar for more drinks. We waited by the bar for about 5 minutes and had to make our way to the other side of the bar to order anything. As soon as we got to the other side of the bar this animated character appeared out of nowhere. He started paying Amy compliments left and right and offered to buy our drinks. Amy placed an order with this nice guy and shared a quick conversation. It didn�t take long to get our drinks so we made our way around the establishment so that we weren�t in the middle of traffic.
The crowd was fair, but we didn�t see too many people that we knew. When we were walking towards the door we ran into JBV, and his group again and we said our goodbyes. We also ran into shorty and some of his friends. He mentioned that it was his first time out t here but he didn�t like it. �It�s a drive. I�d rather stick closer to home, but it was nice to see you again.�
Some strange guy approached us and wouldn�t leave so we decided to leave.
I wanted to show Amy a little variety so we got back in the car and drove down to McDintons when we couldn�t find Hyde Park Caf�.
Ok, it�s been a while since I had been down to Hyde Park Cafe'. I guess I expected it to be right on Howard, but it was on a side strip where the other pool hall was. If we had more time we would have made our way down there but stayed at the Irish pub to listen to the band and watch an Englishman whoop a poor defenseless American at a lousy game of pool.
The Englishman had a thick accent and approached us after glancing over a few times and shouting, �Don�t watch me� as he shook his stick, and made his way to the other side of the table to attempt to get the balls in the pocket.
His smile was warm and familiar so I didn�t feel threatened when he came up to us and asked one of us to make a shot for him.
�Hi I�m Alex. We�re playing a game of tag team you see, and I have no partner. Can you make this shot?�
It took a little convincing, but moments later I took his stick and cleared 4 balls from the table.
As I was making my way back to our table Amy mentioned that the American guy was getting really pissed off at the fact that I cleared so many balls from the table in 3 short swoops.
A passerby noticed the shots I made and walked over to accuse me of being some kind of shark.
What ever?
I shrugged it off.
I�m not a professional pool player. I haven�t even picked up a stick in years. It was PURE IRISH luck!
The game came to a close and I saw this guy Kevin that I knew a few years back. We shared a conversation about concerts and shortly there after made our separate ways.
The bar had last call and we made our way back to the apartment.
It was a great change of the regular routine.
The next time we go out I'd like to show her some of the newer places. There is so much to see and do around here now.
Today I'm off to get my bright hair fixed. Ammii is going to give it a trim and add some low lights.
I'm hoping all goes well and I'm not creating a bigger mess than what it is now.....
