Night out

This was a weird night. My friend has been asking me to join her at one of these weekly burger outings organized by some MIT expats here in LA. I love burgers so it's up my alley, but I've been dragging my feet because they're way the heck out there about 20 miles from where I live. I finally said yes and tonight was the night I was supposed to join them at Ercoles. I call her up a few hours before. Everything's a go; I'll be meeting her at Ercoles. I show up about 5 minutes early, order a pint and wait…. Now, I've known her for years and I totally expected her to show up about half an hour late. Well, an hour later it's a no show, but the night's not a total loss yet.

Here's the weird part. I meet this guy at the bar who's really high up at Boeing for which I used to work. Turns out he's got a penchant for philosophic talk and we hit it off. He eventually leaves and I leave soon afterward. I'm still miffed about my friend not showing so I'm wonder up and down the street looking for another comforting pint when the guy calls out from his car. We wind up going to Sharkey's in Hermosa Beach and having a couple more pints and some pretty good conversation. And that's it. Funny, I used to go to this bar in Philly where I'd often meet interesting folks like this. I had some great conversations and made some great connections, but this is the first time it's happened here in LA. Guess I'm pretty good at chatting up professional types. And yes, I'm perfectly aware this sounds totally gay, but it wasn't.