NYC > DC

I decided to take a last minute trip to DC, after I found out that once again the godforsaken L train would be shut down for the weekend. Despite this annoyance, I feared I had made a hasty decision. JM texted me the morning I was leaving and informed me her boyfriend broke up with her. I felt badly that I wouldn't be around to go out with her. But I knew for sure I had made a bad decision when I was sitting on the bus, wedged next to a coughing fatty. I had just received a text from Yahtzee informing me the same hot Irish guy I had made out with at 1 Oak, had arranged a table at Dream Hotel for that night. If there had been any way for me to jump off of that moving bus and get back to Manhattan I would have. I cursed my decision the whole ride down but finally felt better when AD and ED arrived to pick me up. They had delicious food waiting for me and we nested on the couch in AD's apartment cackling at Jersey Shore reruns (I was going to make you chicken cutlets!). It was good to be back with my friends and this feeling continued when AD and I museum-hopped on the Mall the next afternoon and ate delish pho.
DC would have been fine if the weekend had continued like this--relaxing times with friends. Except I made the mistake of wanting to go out, and since I had had so much fun going out in DC over the summer I expected the same. Wrong. A stop at Whitlow's in Arlington made me want to shoot myself. My hopes that the night would improve once we got to U St. were quickly dashed as we sat in a bar filled with hipsters, then moved on to a crowded college bar in a rowhouse that played nothing but bad hiphop hits from when I was in college. Even after a couple drinks, I could no longer stomach the place and bitchily made our entire group leave. That left me, AD and a former hookup of hers who still wanted to try and go out. Turns out this former hookup, still harbored very intense feelings for AD (most guys do) and I felt like a bit of a 3rd wheel. Luckily he drove us to our next destination which was some club near Dupont I used to go to in my glory days in DC. It was decent, once we got to the back, but it was almost last call so we only had time for one drink. Luckily the night was saved when a black man with dreadlocks approached me while I was in the bathroom line. He asked me if I had ever modeled and before I could roll my eyes at his pickup line, he began to talk about his modeling agency and gave me his card. I looked at it later...the guy's name was Stretch. I keep meaning to email him, just for giggles, so I will obv update when I do. After leaving the three of us headed to a burger place for late night snacks and made new friends with some slightly obnoxious guys who sat at our table. I barely said two words to them though, as I was pretty occupied with my delish burger. Then AD convinced her wannabe lover to drive us all the way back to Arlington even though he lives in Maryland. I commend her.

The next night I met GF (who was also in town visiting) and HH for dinner in Chinatown. We had had quite the times in DC together when we returned from our semester abroad in Paris. It was nice to reminisce and catch up with them near our old stomping grounds. A good dinner, which was almost ruined by our decision to go out. Or rather mine, since the two of them left soon after we got to the 18th St. Lounge (which seems like it should be cool, but I always have a bad time whenever I go). AD met up with me and we were confused on our next move, since everyone we knew in DC had decided to stay in that night (on the Sunday before MLK Day....losers). We headed across the street to Midtown, which was empty but playing awesome music. We tried the bar next door, which sucked, and then decided we would just make our own fun at Midtown. To compensate for this complete lack of fun, we drank entirely too much. We also violated my rule of accepting more than one drink from a guy you aren't interested in. This probably had something to do with the fact that one of these men was one of our new friends from the night before at the burger place. A weird coincidence or a stalker? It didn't matter because it led me to appropriately celebrate MLK Day. After quite a few more drinks, I made out with said friend, who just so happened to be Black. There I was, making out with randos at the bar again. It quickly became apparent that these guys wouldn't be leaving us alone any time soon though (I guess making out with one will do that) so AD and I regrouped in the bathroom. We decided that an appropriate plan of action was to act like I was going to be sick and needed to leave. In my drunken mind I was convinced I was about to win an Oscar for my performance. I stumbled out of the bathroom, knees buckling and holding my arm to face. AD put her arm around me and we quickly told the new friends we had to go. She led me down the stairs while I made gagging noises and lurched forward. The friends were close behind. As soon as we made it outside, I straightened up and ran for a cab, which we quickly hopped into, leaving our dismayed new friends behind. The whole ride back to Arlington we screamed to the cab driver about the annoying pushy guys while he cracked up. I would pay good money for a recording of that conversation.
And the next day my weekend ended where it began--with AD and ED, getting food. We were trying a new Mexican place near AD's apartment where the waitstaff was entirely too attentive and the music was much too loud. I was too hungover for any of it, so ED demanded they turn the music down while I had the waitstaff repeatedly refill my drink (they needed something to do). Though not a complete loss, this trip solidified my decision that though I have fun visiting my friends in DC, NYC is way cooler.