Not so Blue at the Blue Martini

Last night was our monthly Big Gay Club from work mixer.
I had rescheduled it from last week due to yet another snow storm that didn’t come.
Anywho, I showed up at the Blue Martini early to scout it and have a warm up cocktail before anybody else got there. I had been to this place only once before about a year and a half ago and at that time I was dressed as Cruella de Ville, drunker than Cootie Brown and standing on a stage with a drag queen named Bunny Fu Fu. So going there this time was like going for the first time all over again!
Despite the fact that it sits in a strip mall, the Blue Martini is one of those Uber Swanky places. Some might even call it a bit pretentious. With its white leather seating, its stainless steel bar top and the blue lighting place around, it’s easy to tell that the joint is owned and operated by a homosexual.
So I go to grab a seat at the bar and I don’t even get my coat off before Maureen (sitting 3 stools down) starts a conversation with me. Happy Monday! How was your day? Where do you work? And so on and so on… as I’m getting to know her I see a man at the other end of the bar. He is one of those people that you see all the time over the course of several years and for some reason never took the time to even say hello to (and I swear, this is one of my missions in 08 to put an end to this! If I see someone on a regular basis and have been doing so for a couple of years, there is no reason I can't say “I see you here and there once in a while, my name is “Blanche”)
Where was I???
Oh yes, I see a guy at the other end of the bar. He smiles, I smile back and Maureen keeps right on yacking. The bartender takes my order and I go with the suggestion of what the guy at the end of the bar is having, some orangie concoction called a tic-tac. As soon as I placed my order, the bartender is again magically behind me handing me a food menu. WTF? He was behind the bar and then behind me in just 2 seconds! Maureen being the ever observant person she is sees my confusion and laughs as she explains to me that they are TWINS! (And cute ones at that!) I was happy that that fact was pointed out before I had too many drinks. Otherwise, I’m sure my head would have been spinning trying to figure it out later on in the evening.
I suddenly realize that its 6:00 and nobody from the Big Gay Club has showed up! My time however has not been entirely wasted. I am now aware of the facts that Maureen wants to loose 40 pounds, lives across the street, works for some company up on 106th street, recently visited London and likes to go to a pub called Jimmy B’s. Finally! Jack and Ennis show up. They each order a cocktail and we decide that the mixer is pretty much a bust and that nobody is coming (fuckers!) so we agree that we’ll finish our cocktails and head home…. 4 hours and $50 apiece later, we’re still there sitting at the bar. By this time we have pretty much sampled half the martini menu, taken advantage of the half price sushi special. Met and done shots with the guy at the end of the bar and his friend and failed to notice that Maureen left at some point in the evening. Ennis confirmed the sexuality of the twin bartenders (straight) and we have learned that Thursday night is the hopping night to go to the Blue Martini. A little past 10:00 and Jack and Ennis decide to finally call it a night as Ennis has a hankering for some Pizza Rolls. I decided to stay a little while longer and talk to the Guy from the end of the bar because a. He’s wearing a tie and I’m a sucker for a guy in a tie and b. he bought me a drink. So how could I refuse? 30 minutes later and it hits me that it’s almost 11:00! And I gotta work tomorrow! So I thanked the guy from the end of the bar for the drink and slowly made my way home.

We all had a great time and look forward to going back again. And the moral of my story is this.
The best times in life are the ones that happen when you’re not expecting them. Had last night gone as planned we would have had a good time I’m sure. But the fact that it didn’t go as planned allowed us to be open to whatever came along and that included spending some quality time with 2 firends and making 3 new friends in the process. The Guy from the end of the bar, His friend the chain smoker and yes, even Maureen.