Getting All the Friends Together

Last couple of days were pretty eventful and fun. We tried to watch the State of the Union address online, but it ended up being too choppy and we weren't feeling patient enough, I suppose, so we cut that short. Anyway, we had a big day coming up on Friday, so we went to bed good and early.

7am rise and shine to get to the bus to head back out to El Salto for some climbing. This time, a new friend of ours, Violeta, was joining us to make it three. I was a little intimidated, again, because she was pretty ripped. Bulging muscles and stocky frame usually say that someone's a pretty strong climber. (I hadn't yet read Lisa's comment from the last post, so I wasn't prepared, but next time I will be.) Luckily, she ended up being at our level, more or less, so it all worked out well. It was a beautiful day with a cool breeze. We hid in the shade when we weren't on the rock and just took advantage of the time we had out there. The 5pm bus picked us up, tired and exhausted, but happy.

We returned to the apartment around 8pm, took some quick showers and ate some dinner before heading out to meet our friends. We decided to unite all of our friends in one place in order to combine powers. It was a beautiful thing. We met Jo and her two friends at the local microbrewery. Then the famous asado-making-machine Martin came along, followed by Swedish Dan, who is probably reading this right now. The group of seven quickly became acquainted over a couple glasses of beer before Martin lead the charge to PH, a snazzy bar that's pretty popular right now. I have no idea how he does it, but somehow Martin magically convinces them to setup a table for us. Here's how I imagine the conversation going:

Martin: "Hey, can we have a table for 7?"

Waitress: "Ummm, can't you see that every table in the bar is taken and there are people waiting? No, that's no possible."

Martin: "Please? Look, how about this. I'll snap my fingers and you'll suddenly find an extra table that seats seven for me and my friends."

* Martin snaps fingers *

Waitress: "You know what, maybe we can pull a table out for you guys."

Martin: "Thanks, that'd be great."

Todd and Dan: "How did he do that?"

That's pretty much how it is. It was awesome. Afterwords, we had decided to call it a night. We paid our bill and were ready to head home. Coincidentally, we passed a pretty popular disco bar. I think Martin actually planned this all out, but I have no proof. Once again, he manages to get us (all of us, a mostly underdressed, unkempt, unshaven, sandal wearing group of ragtags) past the line, past the bouncer, not pay a cover and put us smack in the middle of the disco. How can you say no to that?

I'll tell you how. You don't. You say yes and do the best head bop you've done in years. I personally pulled out all stops, going for the sprinkler, the lawnmower, the shopper. I think I did a couple of truck drivers, some shaking the dice, and when I wasn't impressing the growing crowd with these gems, I would bring back the robot, a classic that just can't be beaten. Just watch Revenge of the Nerds. It's a fact.

In the end, we had to leave when we were at our peak, so we made our way back to the apartment. This morning, I had the wonderful opportunity to wake up to do laundry and fix our laptop for the umpteempth time. You know what they say: practice makes perfect. Even with the BSOD.