Frank & Sense

Tuesday February 5, 2013

You know all that work that I talked about us doing on the boat yesterday? Can you believe that we still had enough energy to go out that night? We had to. It was Frank’s birthday and we have been planning on getting together ever since Yu’s birthday last month. And being me, I did what I always tend to do, and that’s hijacking other people’s special occasions. This was me while we were standing on the street while planning to get together for Frank’s b-day. “Hey, you don’t like wild nights out like this, right? Since you’re more low-key, we should have dinner at your boat, Yu can cook for us, and then if you’re up for it we can head to the White Lion and take advantage of their $1 tall boys.” Yes, I told him exactly what he’d be doing for his birthday. Let it be known though, that every I do this, as it happens more than I like to admit, everyone always has a great time. So the night went exactly as I planned it, and everyone had a GREAT time.

 While running out to ABC earlier in the day to pick up some Guiness for Frank, we ran into Yu who was also there picking up some supplies for her specialty margaritas, and told us that another set of their friends were in town for a few days and would be joining us that night. So at 7:00 Matt and I walked down the dirt road that connects our marinas and scaled the ladder up to Moitessier. We were greeted by Yu and the delicious smell of food cooking, and also by two fellow sailors, Gary and Courtney of Gremmlin’s Hammer. They’re currently living on their ’79 Endeavour 37 up in Boston at the moment, but needed to swing through Florida on some business. Good thing they did, because we all hit it off right away. It’s always so fun to meet new sailors, especially when they’re in your age bracket and have your sense of humor, because then you can automatically start busting out lines from “Old School”, and they’ll laugh along with you and throw out another line, instead of looking at you like you’re crazy. (Seriously, if you ever meet me, there will be a minimum of five movie or tv show quotes thrown out, more if you join along with me.)

We were all having a really nice dinner of chicken tacos that Yu made, and I was instantly grateful I forced her to cook for us when I planned Frank’s birthday. She had always told us about all these amazing meals she makes, and one of my goals before we left St. Augustine was to come over for at least one home cooked meal from her. And her specailty margaritas definitely lived up to the hype as well. I was trying to be good and pace myself, but that’s when Frank decided he wanted to do a shot of Patron, and there were no other takers to do one with him. Well I couldn’t leave him taking a shot all by himself on his birthday, so I saddled up and threw back a drink with him, instantly feeling the effects. All of us going back for seconds on the tacos now we sat around their large and beautiful salon, talking about zombies (yeah, I don’t know how we got there either), and laughing up a storm. When Frank committed himself to another shot, Courtney and I jumped right on the train to join him. It was definitely time to slow down.

Which is why of course, with all our good sense, we all packed our things together to do down to the White Lion. Walking in the door I was used to it being overcrowded from the past few times we had been, but this time it was completely deserted. Which completely baffled us because you’d think when a bar is offering $1 drinks in a college town, everyone would be there. Maybe there was just a big exam in the morning, but better for us, since we now practically owned the joint. Right away we pushed together a few tables and started filling them with beers and mixed drinks (also only $1!). Also hogging the juke box we all stormed it, searching for our favorite artist that were not listed on there and paying extra to have them downloaded. But when you’re only paying $1 a drink you can splurge a little on the extras.

So, being in a deserted bar with good music and cheap drinks, us girls did what any girl would do. We turned the place into our private discoteca, and even got the bartender to throw on the strobe light. It was an absolute blast, and now that I’m feeling it the next day, it gave my legs an even better work out than Jazzercise. We were even so into our own little party that at the end of the night, the bartender rewarded us with free shots of Rum Chata. Which if you’ve never had, go out and get it now! It honestly taste like a cookie and is the best stuff in the world. It was definitely worth the workout to get it. After completely tiring ourselves out and probably annoying the three patrons at the bar, we eventually we were able to tear ourselves away from the bar to walk to Gary and Courtney’s hotel just down the street so we could all meet their dog, Johnny, who goes along on their sailing adventures.  A few slobbery kisses and it was time to go home.

So at the end of the night, it actually ended up being much more wild than Yu’s birthday, but just as predicted when I hijack an event, everyone had a g-r-e-a-t time. I may have had to look at the camera today to remember all of it was great, but I don’t think it’s a night any of us will forget.  As long as we look at our photos.

Just a couple empty cans.