Dupont Dating Tour of 2010

Round and round the dating pond I went last week and ended up splashing about in my own bit of the city - Dupont. Literally splashing as I got caught in the rain at least once. 

 

The following is a brief recap of last weeks romantic (or not-so-much) episodes. 

 

Tuesday: BossMan

   

BossMan was as funny, fabulous and utterly frustrating as ever. A little table at Dupont’s own Pizzeria Paridiso was casually perfect as always. I impressed him with my knowledge of foreign beer, we caught up, laughed, exchanged work information, he paid me a compliment. We were talking about the girl he broke up with in March or April and he said something to the effect of “most beautiful girl I ever dated. But now I understand why she’s not married. Not to say that beautiful girls have to be married - yourself being a prime example of that.” Upon reflection - not sure whether or not it was a compliment or just an avoidance of insult. Most likely the later I suppose.

 

With this guy I’ll take what I can get!

 

By all standards of what makes a date, in fact, a date (i.e., sexual tension, guy picks up the check, rebutting of sexual advances in an attempt to play hard to get and look like a lady) this one fell incredibly short of the typical criteria. But if it WERE, in fact a date - Pizzeria Paridiso is, of course, a great venue. The only problem being that they do not take reservations, leaving the possibility of waiting for quite some time at the over crowded bar. Additionally, if  your entire party is not present and accounted for at the host’s stand - good luck charming your way to a table all by yourself. But other than that, I recommend the Fraoch Heather Ale, my favorite beer. Pizzeria Paridiso is one of the three bars in town, to my knowledge, that serve it. Brickskeller and RFDs being the other two.  

 

He promised that we’d hang out again soon and emailed me the next day with some funny links, etc. relevant to our topics of conversation the night before. I really have to get over this as it is leading to nothing but sexual frustration. 

 

Wednesday: Brew Master (BM)

   

BM and I have been dating off and on since April - with a brief hiatus in June - owing to the fact that I was basically out of pocket for the 6 week during and post Memorial Day weekend. But we had a lovely reunion over Miller Lites and 8-Balls at Buffalo Billiards. 

 

Physically speaking, he is pretty much spot on as my type - 6’4, all smiles, redhead, large-ish teddy bear type. Yummy. He manages a local Brewery and is a nice guy. I am attracted/interested…but not uber excited about this one - maybe if I see him with more frequency than every other month. 

 

I’m afraid I may have taken a bit of my residual frustration from the night before out of BM - I don’t think he minded though.

 

Thursday: Navy

  

What are our thoughts on a date getting HAMMERED and barely able to remember his own name let alone yours? I, for one, am NOT a fan. At some point during our post dinner jaunt over to James Hobans, he decided that he needed to prove the existence of his Irish roots by downing no less than 6 Guinesses in perhaps a little over an hour. Excessive? Indeed. Unattractive? You betcha. OH! And let us not forget the little fit of jealous rage I had the pleasure of experiencing when I happen to give one of my favorite bar tenders a hug and a kiss on the cheek upon arrival at said bar. 

  

Thankfully the one redeeming feature of this bizarre little encounter was his choice of meeting place. The Iron Gate. A Dupont venue located @ 17th & N St., NW to which I had never gone (gasp!) but will continue to frequent for years to come. 

 

It is a truly, aesthetically unique, reminiscent of a tiny bistro one might find tucked away in a long forgotten Parisian alleyway. I highly recommend the citrus hummus and the goat cheese torte - but be sure this is your first stop of the evening as it closes at 10 p.m.! I found this to be a very dark, romantic and overall amazing date venue. 

  

Frankly, I just hope that next time, I‘ll be there with someone less…objectionable.

 

 

Blue Brown Eyes

Do you ever have those days or weeks where for no particular reason, you just feel….blah?? 

It started last week – no particular reason – just a general …haze of monotony settled over my head. All of a sudden DC feels too small and leaves me feeling as though I’ve dated every man in it leaving me much less than impressed. General dislike of my apartment, my job, my hair, my skin – the only thing I AM liking is my ass as I’ve been trying to cure the boredom with excessive exercise. 

I feel like my life is at a standstill – no direction – no momentum. The same food. The same bars. The same…everything. Not to mention that anyone within a 5 yard radius seems to have developed an amazing ability to annoy the crap out of me with alarmingly minimal effort. 

And so I tried to shake things up – for instance, I went to my first opera at the Kennedy Center last week, which was lovely despite the fact that I went by myself which is less than ideal. Its no one’s fault, mind you – I didn’t ask anyone – but then again I didn’t anticipate the lack of variety in attendees and thus making for ho hum people watching. Geriatrics and hooker-fied 22 year olds on the arms of barely legal boys. Trying to temper their lack of maturity with Italian arias and buxom sopranos.

I scored AMAZING DC United tickets for Saturday night – something I’ve never done before, which had pick-me-up potential. Until…wait for it…EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY FRIENDS was either out of town, or busy, had people in town or was otherwise engaged. I even went to THIRD TEIR friends! (note: if you actually KNOW me and you're reading this blog, you are NOT a third teir friend). The prospect of going to yet another event sans friends and surrounded by strangers was a little too much.

And with this extreme lack of joie de vivre, obviously I feel as if I have nothing spectacular with which to entertain you, dear readers. Which makes me sad as well and the prescription meds aren’t exactly filling in boredom and self-pity cavity I seem to have carved for myself. 

Ugh – what a truly depressing post. Hopefully I’ll pick myself back up and be back to my generally chipper self!

*Cheers* Here’s to hoping!

 Frankly,

The Silver Line-ing?

The announcement that the brand new 23 mile long ‘silver line’ that metro will construct for the bargain price of $1.63 billion has made DC all a twitter. Personally, it leaves me less than thrilled. 

While the inception of the Silver Line carries with it the ability to schlep my pedestrian ass out to Tyson's Corner – a luxury once reserved for the vehicle owning and/or ride-mooching residents of DC – thus multiplying potential opportunities to ‘stimulate’ the economy exponentially, this is hardly the most efficient use of funds designed to ‘enhance’ the lives of DC residents.

Does anyone else feel deprived on a daily basis that by the fact that they are currently unable to get to Dulles by means other than the super shuttle, taxi, or bus??? Trust me, there are many things that keep me up at night. Greater accessibility to Dulles is NOT one of them. 

Even if Dulles were located in Silver Spring, I would prefer DCA. It’s closer to DC, lines are shorter, security is more efficient for the frequent flyers among us, terminals within walkable distance of each other and accessed without the use of a little space-like pod from the first terminal to the next. If these weren’t enough reasons to make the average DC Metro rider shake their heads at this mammoth and in my estimation COMPLETELY UNESSARY project, the following are:

SCARLETT'S TOP TEN WAYS TO BETTER SPEND $1.63 BILLION IMPROVING THE LIVES OF DC AREA RESIDENTS:

 

#10. Homeless Shelters. Invest the money in more homeless shelters to house/care for/rehabilitate the residents of McPherson Square/Dupont Circle/Franklin Park/ 15^th St so they’ll stop bugging me every time I walk out of my local Starbucks or the Dupont CVS.

#9. Projects in Progress. Finish what you start. Now I’m no I-95 road warrior, but I do venture out on a Zip Car from time to time. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t there several highway construction projects around Alexandria, The Woodrow Wilson Bridge, and various traffic jam issues that should be finished/fixed before creating a brand new mess???

#8. Clean up the Potomac. ‘Nuff Said.

#7. Reduce Tolls/Metro Fare. As I understand it, the poor car drivers that caravan up and down the Dulles toll-road will help in footing this bill through increased tolls. That HARDLY seems fair seeing as how it’s the people with CARS who will NOT be utilizing the Silver Line as they, well….DRIVE places instead of metro. Most car owners love their vehicles – good luck in convincing them that lugging their to-be checked and carried on luggage through the beautiful efficiency that is the DC metro rail system the better way to go to the airport.

#6. Invest in more busses. Every morning, without fail, I wait for the bus. 10, 15, twenty minutes in either the freezing cold or dreadfully humid air (take your pic as DC weather is in one way or another abysmal 85% of the year). Take the money, buy some more busses (of which the majority are now eco friendly), pay some more bus drivers and put some more busses on the road because unless you’re riding the 42 line, chances are you’re waiting a while for a bus).

#5. Fix/keep the tracks already in place in working order. Every single weekend, without fail I, and hundreds of DC residents and tourists flocking to the nation’s capital, are inconvenienced by ‘routine track maintenance’ causing 20, 30 or in some cases 40 minute intervals between trains leading to inevitable overcrowding, pushing, shoving, and all around unhappy people. Especially when these people are waiting on outdoor platforms in the freezing winter air.

#4. Replace Outdated Metro Cars. Continue the process of replacing the metro cars that are still sporting orange carpet circa 1973 with the newer, carpetless and more efficient (in terms of passenger capacity) metro cars.

#3. The National Mall. Take the $1.6 Billion and grow some grass, clean monuments, plant flowers – beautify one of the most historic and recognizable symbols of American democracy, legacy and history. Put in a irrigation system in the summer to keep the grass from being singed like a piece of hair on a curling iron in the summer, keep the reflecting pool..well….reflecting instead of a murky mess.

#2. Metro Stops. There has yet to be a convenient metro stop in Georgetown, Adams Morgan, or a more efficient way to go from Cleveland Park to Columbia Heights without traveling via China Town! Ever thought of making actual DC neighborhoods more metro accessible before making Bumble-Fuck Virginia easier to get to!? Hell, my friends can’t even get me to go out in ARLINGTON, let alone travel to Reston!

And the #1 way to better spend $1.63 Billion than a metro line to Dulles Airport....(drum roll please.....)

#1. Law Enforcement. While the DC crime rate has dropped like a stone since its peak in the mid 90s, violent crime was reported to be more than three time the national average of 466.9 reported offenses per 100,000 people in 2007. Spend the $1.63 billion on more police officers, their salaries and benefits. Not being killed/raped/assaulted is of FAR greater value to me than riding the metro out to Dulles.

Could someone please point out the silver line-ing to this monstrous project? If you disagree, I’d LOVE to hear why.

Frankly,

The Road to Hell is Paved with My Day

I'm sorry for not writing - or more sorry for leaving up my last, rather depressing post.  So this is just a quick update so that I'll have posted SOMETHING this week and I'm tempted to leave it at that. 

Today has been a day filled with annoyances. In an effort to stick with me 'super crazy, my body is going to look amazing this summer if its the last thing I do' diet, this morning not only found me hitting the snooze button a total of 2 times (as opposed to the usual 10) but in the gym not soon after. After making the elliptical trainer my bitch, I ran back to The Shoebox, took a shower, was running ahead of schedule...all was good. Prepared my super nutritious, high-on-fiber-low-on-taste lunch (which involved chopping and cutting and genuine preparation as opposed to the usual tossing of a frozen entree into my bag). Hell! I even COUNTED out an exact serving size of 16 fat-free crackers into a zip-lock baggie. All sounds a promising start to the day, no? Well....wait for it.

So, I feed the cats, leave the Shoebox, walk down the stairs and leave my building with Natasha Beddingfield's 'Freckles' streaming through my ipod. The snow's falling, air is crisp and I think "this is going to be a great day" as I walk to the bus stop. So I'm standing there in the cold, waiting for the bus for about 10 minutes and all of a sudden it hits me: I left my fabulously and meticulously prepared lunch on the kitchen table!!!! Oy!

By this time, the bus is already running late so I think there's no WAY I have time to run back and get it. I'm disappointed that I won't have my calorie perfect lunch, but I shake it off. And then I just started shaking in general - because I was FREEZING! It took 30 minutes - 30 MINUTES before not one but THREE BUSSES pulled up caravan style to the corner. The inefficiency of the Washington Metro System never ceases to astound me.

So I get on the bus, sit down in an empty row and attempt to de-thaw my frozen limbs. No sooner do I settle in (10 minute lateness to work now an inevitability) then someone tries to sit down beside me.
NOTE TO ALLLLL MASS TRANSIT TRAVELERS: If your ass is large enough to blanket THREE Seats, DO NOT ATTEMPT to squeeze into a seat next to someone else!!!!

Arrived at work - where I promptly spilled coffee on my freshly dry cleaned and pressed suit and if ONE MORE PERSON tells me "You look tired". I am going to SCREAM!

Do I have dark circles? I don't think so - but I may have to nip over to Sephora for some heavy duty treatment of some kind because this is driving me nuts. I got a good night sleep last night, have been working out, eating right, drinking more water than I ever thought was humanly possible and I look  TIRED?? 

I started out with good intentions but DAMN. Frankly I'm just glad this day is almost over!


Frankly, 

Snowy Tuesday Rantings

Not an update - just a little bit of a rant on this snowy Tuesday morning.

Yes, - the rest of my trip was LOVELY – but could my UK readers PUH-LEASE tell me why your bars close at 11:00 p.m.??? Its quite frustrating.

More funny London stories to come – HOWEVER, right now I have a bit of a bone to pick with my beloved neighborhood bar, The Front Page.

I turned 21 in the Front Page, dated bartenders, weekly happy hours at my favorite bar are a MUST. I love the laid back atmosphere, the people, the cheap drinks and the great bar food. HOWEVER – after a fabulous dinner at URBANA  with Ali (XO) on Saturday night, we decided to go out on the town and so decided to go to the old stand by – The Page. Since we had an early (by DC standards) dinner we arrived at the bar a little before 9:00 p.m. It was fairly empty – which was fine as we thought we’d snag a seat.

Travel, boredom, laziness have all led to the fact that its been awhile since I’d ventured out on a Saturday night – so I was surprised to find the majority of the stools removed from the relatively empty   bar in anticipation of accommodating a much larger crowd later in the evening. However, there were three, seemingly abandoned seats at the end of the bar with one almost full drink and one emptied drink in front of them.

So, ever the polite girl, I asked the bartender “are these seats taken”? And he says “yes – they just went outside to SMOKE!”

Are you KIDDING me!? The bartender was “saving” seats for three people who were outside polluting their lungs?? I could understand if one stayed behind to guard the stools – but for all three to be outside, smoking, having left no personal articles indicating their eminent return…sounds to me, utterly absurd.  

Does this sound ludicrous to anyone else? The only seats left in the bar – empty – and the bartender wouldn’t let  us sit down (and on top of that – he was quite rude about it!).

This was an ominous start to the evening – we then proceeded to Buffalo Billiards where, to be perfectly honest – I felt like I had out grown the scene and frankly, it was NOT a good feeling.

I've Gotta Crush

My favorite wino brought this to my attention!

And so here it is. My chance to come clean - my chance to admit my undying affections and admit that I do, indeed have a crush on....

Texpundit: Yes, I have a thing for Texans, and this one in particular :) His hysterical, yet somewhat misguided theories on women are usually guaranteed to illicit a hot-tempered response from yours truly

Hipster Dork: What can I say? His musical tastes get me weak in the knees. And he is even more charming in person :)

DC Viking: Hasn't posted since...well...a LONG F*ING Time! Oh, how I miss you.

Chronicles of a Bachelor:Dustin, you're sometimes silly, sometimes crude, mostly cute and always hilarious and your love of cats will endear you to me forever!

K Street: This is a love/hate relationship - you've developed a singular knack for pissing me off. I hate your politics, but I must admit, the blog is a guilty pleasure.

Disturbingly enough it would seem that I am a crushing slut! Oh well - there you have it! The blogger boys the I luv!* I encourage all those who have yet to participate - come out of the closet and reveal your love to the world! (coming from me...this is quite hysterical)

Blush....Swoon...(somebody catch me please!)

* Please know that I also have a crush on my favorite irish boy...formerly of Detroit :) A crush since the 8th grade....is there really any other kind? But sadly,...he does not blog :-(

They’re coming to take me away…HA HA

I was reading the ways in which hey pretty is fabulous - or rather fabulously quirky and got to the bottom of her post and pouted and thought: HEY! why didn't she tag me!? I all of a suddent felt 7 years old again, in the public school gymnasium and standing there waiting to be the last selected in a game of kickball.

And so I drug my pouty, rejected self off to read Candy Sandwich, who always cheers me up - and there I was! Tagged for the quirky quiz! Silly me - HP didn't tag me because I had already been tagged. Silly, Scarlett.

So I apologize, HP, my dear dear friend, for about to pen a desperate email something along the lines of: ‘I thought we were FRIENDS (sniffle sniffle)’. WHY DON’T YOU LOVE ME ANYMORE!?!?

OK since I’m officially tagged as a ‘cool kid’ (insert sigh of releif) I will indulge Candy Sandwich and innumerate the ways in which, yours truly, needs to be put forth whit, into the loony bin (and truth be told, it was hard to narrow it down to 6)

1) Please see the above statements - these are not the thoughts of a 'normal person' - its a stupid email tag for cryin out loud! But I often think that people are mad at me when they've no reason to be - the result of too man wacko's in my life? Or maybe I'm just paranoid. But you know what they say...'Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that no one's after you!' (Cicero)

2) I have a set morning ritual that really doesn’t begin until I leave my house. And it goes something like this: push the elevator button, put on headphones. Wait in elevator, put on headphones, walk across the street to the metro, put $1.00 in change on the hotdog vendor’s tray, say ‘good morning’ to the vendor and take a diet dr. pepper. Take an Examiner from the lady at the top of the escalators, say ‘thank you and have a nice day’ run down the escalator, through the turnstile, park myself at the third bench in and wait for the train. I then sit backwards (two seats in if I can) ride the train to work and time myself on how long it takes me to finish the Sodoku puzzle. Don't worry - I'll shake things up sometimes – I’ll buy a Diet Mountain Dew instead.

3) I enjoy sleeping on couches. While in a sorority I would routinely fall asleep on the quad couch and sleep there for the night. For no particular reason, just preferred it to my own bed. Today, when my roommate is gone for the weekend, I still sleep on the couch with the tv softly going in the background through the night. I think it has something to do with I sleep less soundly on the couch and therefore its easier to get up in the morning??

4) I always have music playing either through my headphones as I walk down the street, in the radio in my shower, or in my office throughout the day. My tastes are ecclectic – everything from the beatles, to folk artists, indie rock, punk rock, opera, jazz, britney, Snoop, you name it – its in there. But especially when I’m walking around, riding the subway, in CVS I find myself thinking – if my life were a movie this song would play after such and such would happen. Or coming up an escalator to ‘Blower’s Daughter’ thinking: this could be a scene/sountrack to the beginning of a hugh grant movie…although this daydream is shattered when instead of a tall dark and handsome brit waiting for me with a dozen red and yellow roses at the top of the escalator as scripted in my head, I’m greeted by the homeless men sleeping in the subway station. Ah – eternal disappointment.

5) My closet is in color order beginning with all white garments on the left, blending into cream, then tan, followed by pink, red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, violet, brown, and then black on the far right. My hangers all match as well. No, I am not hyper organized and most of the time my clothes are strewn about on the floor rather than hanging neatly in a spectral order. However, this is the on part of my life that I am extremely particular about. Nowhere else. I just think it looks nice in …color order.

6) I need crave my alone time. Whether its sitting myself in front of a marble statue in the National Gallery’s east wing, with the dulcet tones of Sara Brightman in my ears and sketch, sitting at a dark, corner booth in my favorite pub ordering a grilled cheese sandwitch with chedder cheese and tomato while writing nonsense in a journal, or just relaxing in a hot bubble bath with a book and a glass of wine - I need a considerable amount of time for reflection and quality time with …well…me.

7) I KNOW I was only supposed to write 6 BUT….I can recite both Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz verbatum songs and musical cues from start to finish.

And there you have it. Now that you know that truth about my deep seated wierdness...I will be accepting friendship resignations directly. And I do apologize if I leave anyone out - it doesn't mean I DON'T LOVE YOU but I feel compelled to tag My Blog Twin, Crazy Redhead, DCVita, and the termanilly cool Hipster Dork. Have fun, kids.

Frankly, its scary to think just how wierd we all are. If we weren't though, I suppose we'd have nothing to write about.