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2001-08-10 - 4:21 p.m.

What D.C. does to me

The skies have darkened over the Jersey Shore and the clouds have dumped rain, complete with the sound of thunder, on the parched lawns and flora of the Garden State. But it seems like one of those flash storms, the kind that will pass through after only minutes, a half hour at the most, barely providing any purposeful relief.

I'm exhausted and in the mood for nothing more than a nap, but I had this story to finish for work by tonight, and I'll have to lug my ass down to the office by 6 p.m. (or 6:30) for a desk shift tonight, as I will tomorrow. I awoke today at 9 a.m. after a fitful sleep on a spare mattress on the floor of Michelle's room in her rented house in D.C. We'd been out until 1:30 a.m., drinking with Matt the fellow ND Observer alum and Elise, yet another high school friend with whom I've kept in touch.

So why is it that whenever I go to D.C., I drink like I'm back in college? It must be the company I keep down there. Matt, Michelle and I met Elise and Mike and Noreen � two current seniors working for the campus paper at Buffalo Billiards in Dupont Circle at 8 p.m. We stood and drank pints of Pete's Summer Ale while waiting for a table. When the blinking coaster in Mike's hand begins to flash, we all have a good laugh at the misunderstanding � you see, we wanted a table to eat at, so Mike was a bit surprised when he turned in his pager and received a tray of billiard balls in return.

After dinner, as the drinks kept coming, we moved on to another D.C. bar, the name of which escapes me as little details like that so often do around the fourth or fifth pint. The air conditioning at the bar could not keep up with the heat lingering outside on Connecticut Ave. (see, that much I remember) or the throngs of 20-somethings crowding the spacious bar. Eight of us settled into a table � Elise had left us and four of Michelle's friends joined us � to talk above the musician playing bluegrass and Johnny Cash covers ("I Still Miss Someone" and "Long Black Veil") on the tiny stage next to me.

Then, suddenly, I'm left talking with Mike and Noreen, the rest of the gang having bolted for the dart boards in the back, without so much as a warning, let alone an invitation. But the three of us talked and later teased them about their oversight. Though, to her credit, Michelle says she invited us over, but apparently we did not hear.

In talking with Mike and Noreen, I find that Colleen, the crazy ex-girlfriend from junior year, continued to make up stories about me long after I graduated. The latest (to me, though it is rather old) is of us hooking up one night after a party in Dec. 1999. During the alleged hookup, she claims to have gotten naked, prompting me to walk out on her. She then adds that I dropped her off � maybe "dumped" was the term Noreen said she used (sketchy memory from last night) � at Main Circle and then drove off, like I was tossing garbage out at the dump.

Though I was amused at the story of Colleen taking Amanda, a freshman at the time at Saint Mary's, to the senior formal. Apparently, the two got along quite well that year. Consider it "experimenting."

Good thing she's in Russia now, I swear. And I don't know why I'm writing this down, because I know I won't want to look back on it someday. Though it's always good to have something to laugh about with those relationships that make you cringe.

Once Matt, Mike and I were trounced in cricket by Noreen, Michelle and her housemate Austin, we took a few of those familiar drunken photos of sweaty, shiny happy people illuminated by the flash in a dark bar and made our way home.

Leaving Michelle's house around 9:15 this morning, I made it home in good time, just under four hours, actually, and watched a tape of the "Ed" rerun from Wednesday � or rather, W-ED-nesday � while eating lunch and wanting to nap.

Which I should really do now, seeing as how I have about an hour before I have to shower for work. That, or I could not have a cigarette, like I usually do, and have for the past 9,109 days.

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