So apparently

So apparently, I have swimmer's ear. And I've had it for a week.

In more severe or untreated cases, the infection can spread to the soft tissues of the face that surround the adjacent parotid gland and the jaw joint, making chewing painful. Wiki

Yeah, most definitely. That’s what happened.

It’s not only chewing, it’s swallowing or moving my tongue around that’s painful. That might cause a problem this week-end.

So I now have these drops, that I must put twice a day. 40 bucks for that tiny bottle. I just hope the drops will be enough now that the infection spread. I’ll call the health hotline later tonight to find out.

It should be over by next week-end. I’m going to New York with my friend Harry. We arrive at Newark at 8h15 am on Thursday and leave at noon on Sunday. A long week-end of mad party. Like I said, Harry is the best party buddy to have around, we’re gonna take over Manhattan. I got a friend who works at some trendy cocktail lounge, he’s got a lady friend with unfinished business. My rich uncle also has an apartment there and is usually there on week-ends, we’ll try to go out to dinner with him. When I went to see him in Washington, he took my (ex-)girlfriend and I twice to insanely expensive restaurants. And he actually did the same when I went to seem him in Paris, a few years ago.

We’re staying at the Carter Hotel, one of the creepiest in Manhattan. But it’s cheap and it’s right on Time Square. Harry’s never been to NY and I think waking up in Time Square every morning will make the experience that much more intense.

Can’t. Freakin. Wait.

A lesson well ... wait ... what again?

All right this sucks. If only it were the first time…

One would think that it’s not particularly hard to verify in advance the date and time of an exam. One would think that I'd learn the lesson, after missing an exam last year because I simply thaught it was the week after, which meant I had to wait for over 3 hours at the appointment free clinic to get a doctor’s note.

Apparently not.

This morning, I woke up early to write my column and prepare myself for my economics exam. By preparing myself, I basically mean printing out all the notes I took on my laptop during class. It’s an open book exam.

So at 11h00, I go check on the University’s website what classroom my exam’s in. And there I saw it. Date : today. Time: 8h30 am. I'm sure you all know this feeling, this feeling like your heart literally just did a backflip.

Thankfully, I’m actually pretty sick, I’ve been having a sore throat all week and it sometimes put quite intense pressure on my eardrums.

So right now, I’m writing this in the University clinic’s waiting room. I’ll have to tell the doc the pain in my ears this morning was debilitating. The fact that it’s an open book exam might make it seem a little more legit, as no one really needs more time to study for an open book.

Just to make sure my throat would look really soar, I smoked a couple of joints and cigarettes this morning before coming to the clinic.

So once again, I’ll get out of trouble. Maybe that’s the reason why I can’t seem to learn from my mistakes.

But it still sucks, to be stuck in this waiting room without a wireless signal, the only pretty girl went it and left already. Oh and it’ll definitely suck to have to come on a nice day of late may to do this exam.

No hurry

This is my second post and it’s already a drunk post. This is promising.

Tonight, I went over to Scarlett’s for dinner. Her boyrfriend was working so she invited me over before we went out. We had some “deluxe” hot dogs, with actual sausages, sauerkraut and dijon. We also made fries, just the perfect way: cooked in two steps. A few minutes at low temperature to cook the inside, and a few minutes at high temperature to get them gold an crispy.

We then headed off downtown to go to this über trendy cocktail lounge. I had been there a few other times in a past life, a time when it felt totally right to blow over 200$ in drinks at the bar. She had never been.

At 11 when we went in, the place was pretty much empty. The barmaid recognized us both from the newspaper which NEVER happens.

She tells me: “ Hey didn’t you work at The Drinkery as well ? I think you served me there.”

In those situations, I always answer: “I hope I wasn’t too harsh with you.“

She plays along: “yeah, I almost called the manager on you”.

“Good thing you didn’t, I was the manager back then”

She introduces herself. Gabrielle.

The girl is GORGEOUS. Not barmaid hot, classy hot! But I don’t remember her, at least not from the The Drinkery. Her face and her name do sound familiar, though.

That’s it! I got it.

“Wait, didn’t you worked at Bootleg, on the opening night? I was there with a couple of our friends, we showed you tricks to do with your shaker and with matches?”

“… ALEX! Of course it’s you! How’ve you been?”

The first two rounds are on her.

People start coming in.

Two guys come to see us at the bar, they too recognized us from the newspaper. This is unheard of. They want to buy us drinks. We tell them the barmaid beat them to the punch. On of them is a progolfer, just back from some northern africain country. The other one is actually on local TV but I had never seem him before.

Scarlett leaves to the bathroom for a minute.

Two Girls take her spot next to me at the bar to place an order. I recognize Mary and Annick, two old friends who I haven’t seen in quite a while. Annick was actually my roomate some 5 years ago. It turned out sour, real sour, but we grew up and she actually said last night : I was crazy back then. I would have never said so myself, but it’s good to know the whole incident is over and forgotten.

After the mandatory vodka shot with the beautiful Gabrielle, we head off to The Drinkery to grab a last drink.

I’ll have many more occasions to tell you about The Drinkery, as it’s my favourite place in town and the crazyest of the crazy nights usually start there. It’s this restaurant / cocktail bar where I used to work. That’s quite an understatement. For a little over two years, The Drinkery was my life. I quit three years ago, but this place still feels like family. I still have my employee discount.

We grab a drink, I go say hi to everyone. Scarlett and I keep chatting a bit. When she leaves, there’s still a sip left in her drink. I finish it.

A girl I know is celebrating her birthday tonight. She used to come often back when I was working here and we even kissed one night, when we were both passed drunk at 5am, at some warehouse party a block away from The Drinkery. She was just as drunk last night.

She’s MUCH more pretty than I remembered her, I thing it’s the bangs she wears so well. I would love to take her home in some other situation, but you don’t come into clubs at 2am to go hit on the hammered girls. That’s just creepy.

There’s this new waitress at The Drinkery, I say new but she might have been working there for over 4 months as far as I know. She’s really, really pretty but she looks cold and distant. We were never introduced and never bothered to do it ourselves. She saw me a few times though and she knows that I’m good friends with all of her coworkers and her bosses.

At ten to 3, we all go outside for a cigarette and the manager locks us out, while he’s counting his cash. I just want to grab my stuff and leave so I knock in the window to get his attention. This new busboy who doesn’t know me tells me to stop it. I’m like : it’s cool bro, I just want them to come open the door.

him: no stop it.
me: no you stop it
new waitress, on a very bitch tone: He told you to stop, that’s not so hard to understand.

I stare at her with a Are you fucking kidding me? look on my face and I ask : I’m sorry what?

She realizes how bitchy that was and that I won’t have any of it. She says: I’m sorry, I’m really tired tonight.

I say “Don’t worry about it” withouth looking at her as they finally come to open the door.

At this point I’m hating her a bit. She’s not only cold, she’s the kind of girl who gets bitchy with total strangers… Imagine when you know her.

We leave, 3 boys and me to go to Louis’ house for a last beer and a joint. Much later, somewhere around 5am, two other guys join us and they brought along the new waitress.

She’s really cute and she knows it. My whole “I don’t really care about you but I’m a nice guy” attitude was paying off. She was engaging conversation, touching my arm or my leg when she spoke. I’m not saying she was necessarly flirty or anything; it was now 6am and none of us were in the best shape or life. But I had managed to go from the guy she barely knew to this intriguing guy she feels quite confortable with and who made her laugh a great deal.

Oh and she’s a fun, laidback and smart girl too.

She’s gonna be a tough catch if she’s ever gonna be one. She knows she’s hot and as the only girl working at The Drinkery, she puts up a good “you can’t have me” kind of shield. I’ve seen her use it on Louis last night.

It’s long-term work but I’m in no hurry.

who am I?

I’m somewhere in the second half of my 20s. For a long time, I’ve introduced myself as a bartender. I still work the bar, but I also have two other jobs. And I study full time.

I work at one of the biggest nightclub in town. Some very commercial club in the heart of the trendy nightlife area: line-up and cover charge, Top-40 hits, insane light system and bottle service. Really not my kind of place, but it’s easy, it’s fun and I the money is surreal. Oh and I work with some of the hottest girls in the world, but we’ll have plenty of time to discuss this later on.

I also write a weekly column in some big newspaper. It's basically my thoughts and impressions about the city, the nightlife, the bars. I’ve been doing that for 3 years now. People never recognize me from my photo next to the article(which is nice) but when I mention it to them, they always know what I’m talking about. I do try to avoid mentioning it too much though; I had friends or coworkers who couldn't believe they knew me for so long and had never realized I was writing that.

Oh If you’re wondering what kind of national newspaper would give a column to someone who has the syntax of a 7th grader, understand that I don’t write my column in English. English is my second language, though I can say I’m pretty fluent. It’s one of the reasons I started this blog, to practice my writing. And by the way, please feel free and even encouraged to note any mistake I make, I will always appreciate it.

My last job has something to do with kids and teaching. It’s something very rewarding and I won’t discuss it here. Let’s just say it’s a killer when I meet girls and they ask me what I do – especially combined with the other two.

And I study Political Science in University. I dropped out of college the first time around, after high school. For five years, I worked in restaurants and bar, having a blast, living the most crazy experience. But I went back, just to get the degree, just so that I could tape that stupid diploma on my fridge and move on to the next step in my life. A big part of living life without regrets is to plan for it a bit. I see this degree as a safety net: I know I could do just as well without, but you never know… Technically, I study “full time” but this stuff is just plain dumb and easy, it hardly requires more than a fifth of my waken hours.

I live in one of the great cities of the world. It’s a very “happening” town, very cultural, very alive, open minded and laid back. It’s not a strikingly beautiful city, except from a very particular angle or if you know where to look. Life is pretty cheap here compared to most other big cities, so we can afford nice apartments and a bit of luxury. My last apartment was quite similar to this loft my uncle bought for 1.4 Million US in Manhattan. It didn't cost more thant 700$US a month. The girls here are the most beautiful in the world; especially at this time of year, after the winter, when they dig deep in their drawers to get those mini-skirts.

Girls will be a main topic on this little-bit-of-web, if not the main topic. I love flirting, I love romance and I truly love girls. I love them all, brunette blond or red, young or old, from the girl who’ll come home with me on the first night to the one who’ll make me work for weeks. And I’m pretty good with them too.

I’ve been in one serious relationship in my life. I’m not afraid of commitment, far from it, but I never felt the rush to jump in an ill-fitting relationship either. I also like to date casually and let things evolve, which weeds out imminent failures. So I played the whole boyfriend thing quite well and ended up heartbroken and quite broke too. Time did its thing and then I started seeing an awesome girl, who left for a year to travel around the world.

As for who I really am, what I like? I like to meet people, I like to talk. I like to go out for dinner and for a drink or five. In restaurants, I’ll always sit at the bar. I love road trips and old mellow music. I love bourbon and rye. I love to cook, but don’t get to do it nearly enough now that I’m single. I’m extremely curious and I love to learn about everything.

I wear flip flops all summer long but you’ll never see me in shorts. I’m an optimistic guy who yet loves to criticize. I have strong and deep opinions about most things, but I don’t impose 'em on others. If it comes down to it, I might prefer getting along over being right. I try to be very considerate, polite and respectful with people and I’m not afraid to say I’m sorry when I screw up and truly mean it. I prefer people with a good sense of humour over people with great intelligence.

Why does this reads like I just posted a personal on some eharmony website?

Regular characters on this little-bit-of-web.

Harry: Harry’s one of my two best friends. We met each other at this bar/supperclub where we worked. Him and me, we made the best team ever behind the bar. We could turn a party on just like one flips a switch. We had massive fun, it was obvious, and people wanted to join in on that fun. He’s also the best party partner, always up for anything, always high energy and very outgoing. He’s constantly travelling around the world, but he’s in town right now for another month.

Brad: Brad’s my other best friend. We’ve been best friends since we were born, literally. He’s way more family than most of my family. He could leave for 10 years, comeback, and we’d pick up just where we left. He’s extremely handsome but deprived of any confidence with girls. Lucky for him, he’s so handsome that every time he was single, a hot, hot girl would try to meet him and do all the work. He lives with his girlfriend, a very very pretty girl, very sweet, whom I like a lot. He owns a business which takes 6 days out of his week. On Saturdays, he tries to see his girlfriend, me and his 250 other friends. Yet he always manage to find some room in his schedule for a dinner with me.

Scarlett: She’s a friend and colleague from the newspaper. We always go out together to check out new spots. She lives with her boyfriend, a guy I really like and respect. She’s a real platonic friend, we never even kissed. She’s friends with all the late-20s trendsetter girls in town, she’s always aware of the new club opening, the big DJ coming in the city or the last minute loft party.

Blondie: She’s my partner at the club, we’ve been working the same bar for over two months now. She also happens to be, in my humble opinion, the hottest barmaid in the club and that’s not a small thing to say. We’re very close, but we live in different universes.