Me? At a Bar?

Last Friday, I was out at a piano bar in Maryland.  My friends Star and Andrea invited Charity and me, and six other friends for an evening out.  There were eight girls, two guys total; the women ranged from "cis" to "transitioned" and to be honest, I'd have trouble figuring out who was where.

In preparation, I made a trip to Burlington where I scored the dress I had on for $15.  I love the wedges I was wearing but last year they got soaked (I don't know if I ever told that game night story) and the inside back of the right shoe is kind of damaged.  They look good though, and it wasn't uncomfortable ~ in fact, I'd say these are the most comfortable shoes I own.

I thought we had plenty of preparation time, but it somehow vanished and I had to skip fingernail polish and taking pictures with a "real" camera.  The bar was dark and it was hard to get good shots of the group, but I did my best.  I'll post a couple here.

A few notes from the evening....

• ♥ The guy at the door didn't flinch when I showed my (male) ID so I could enter.
   
• ♥ A first: the girl (she probably wasn't old enough to drink what she was serving) who came over to take our orders said "what can I get you, honey?"  (I had a rum drink.)
• No-one gave us a second look.
   
• ♥ I went up to the bar a couple of times ~ the Yankees were playing Baltimore and I couldn't make out the score from my table.  When the bartender came over I said "I can't see the screen from my seat" and they went about their business.  The Yankees won with a home run in the bottom of the ninth.  W00T!
   
• ♥ We were there from about 7 until after midnight.  I definitely reached my limit and headed for the ladies' room.  There was a long row of stalls, all with doors closed.  One woman was milling about.  When a door opened I looked towards her and asked if she was waiting.  She said "no" and I entered.  These were ideal stalls for me: the walls between stalls went to the ceiling and about a foot from the floor.  It was nice and private.  While I was finishing up, I could hear a gaggle of girls talking outside the stalls so I took my time and the outer area was pretty deserted when I emerged.  I wanted to touch up my lipstick, but there was a lot of traffic so I skipped that pleasure.
   
• ♥ Near the end of the evening, a 20-something girl at the next table touched my arm to ask me if I was drinking.  I said "no, I'm driving."  She looked exasperated and said "is _anyone_ drinking?"  They offer these towers of beer.  Hers was half-full and her and her date were leaving; she was looking for someone who would use the rest.  It was a nice, random encounter.
   
• ♥ A guy who was wandering around the bar (I saw him several times) asked Linda to dance with him.  She did.  When she sat down, between songs, he asked me if I would dance with him.  I smiled and said "no thank you," for a couple of reasons: I can barely dance, I didn't know what type of song the next one would be, I wasn't ready for that.  Maybe next time I'll just move to the music, live with it if it's a slow song (or give up if it's an involved dance), and stop making "no" my default position.  Besides, it was impossible to hear in that place ~ maybe he wasn't even asking me to dance.  Yeah, that's it.
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• ♥ At one point, I told the waitress I loved her earrings. If I was in drab, she probably would have said "thank you!" Instead, she told me where she got them, and "I just bought them last week and this is the first time I've had a chance to wear them" and more. It was actually a bit surreal, but something I should get used to.

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