A night of ADVENTURE!

Every so often, I enjoy having random adventures with my goons. Today, I was scheduled to work from 12AM to 12PM, which meant that I'd need to somehow sleep through Sunday in order to stay up all night for work. My brilliant plan? Stay out all Saturday!!

It all started at around 5:00 PM, at Jaxx. My buddy Josh and I hung out at the famous dive bar in Springfield VA, notoritious for it's metal reputation, despite the fact that it's somehow trying to become a more mainstream venue. (Lame.) We watched a new up and coming band that reminded me a lot of Dethklok, and they actually recognized me as the lead singer of Blood Corps! Quite a few people recognized me, in fact. It was pretty awesome. They all really got a kick out of my performance with A Sound of Thunder, so Josh and I (who plays guitar for ASOT) were pretty proud.

We travelled far from Jaxx, to the mystical land of Alexandria VA, in search of late-night munchies for our drug-like junk food craving; pupusas. For those of you who do not know, pupusas are a Salvadorian food near and dear to my heart. They are made of corn meal, and full of pork and cheese, flattened like tortillas. They're eaten with pickled cabbage and tomato sauce. I love them. Hard. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the place was closing.. so I had to deal with Salvadorian style tacos, instead. Which were AMAZING, by the way. If you're ever in Arlington and want cheap (and good!) food, I recommend going to El Charrito.

After El Charrito, we continued our adventure in one of my favorite areas of DC; Dupont Circle. Having a craving for bad karaoke, we went into a Japanese sushi and karaoke bar called Cafe Japone, where we drank $9 Sapporos and listened to 50 people sing simultaneously horrible. It was worth it for the drunken people.

After leaving Cafe Japone, we moved my car, and made our way toward my new favorite DC hot spot; Omega. Omega is a gay karaoke bar that I went to on the day before my wedding rehearsal, in July. I had such a good time that I figured I'd take Josh. Well lemme tell ya, it's a much different place on the weekend! There were five dudes on the bar, dancing in thongs. It was pretty great, lemme tell ya.. we got a few drinks and enjoyed the festivities, and I even put a dollar in this one dude's thigh-strap! Unfortunately, he kept trying to get my attention.. and me, being who I am, well I didn't want to insult him. So I giggled and said "thank you!" to all of his compliments.

Then he asked for my number. "Wait a sec!" my brains screamed. "This is wrong!!" and then I felt him press his sack to my face. And then he kissed me. Thankfully, Josh rescued me from the psuedo-gay, and we spent a few hours hanging out and watching the buff dudes gyrate.

At last call, he and I left for the nearby CVS so that he could buy some eye droppers to his eyeballs. Once they were sufficiently lubricated, we wandered about looking for a place to sober up. We managed to find a pizza joint somewhere along P street, but I've been scouring Google Maps for like, 20 minutes, and I can't for the life of me find it!! When we got there, at 4AM, it was swarmed with the drunk crowd. We sat down and ate some pizza, drank a couple diet cokes, and then left in search of coffee.

Around 4:30 AM we finally found a place for coffee, The DC Cafe, where we drank down black coffee in styrofoam cups and met a surprising amount of Persians. I think like, 90% of the people in there were Persian. They asked where I was from, and when I said "Spain", we got into a conversation about how Spain is a historically Muslim country. "Of course, we're proud of that!" I said, narrowly dodging that half our pride comes from the fact that we defeated them in battle and stole all of their palaces..

Then Josh made the mistake of saying he was Jewish, so I rescued him from an argument and, finally sober, we made our way home.

Yeah. I love this city.

Valentines Day - Courtesy of your DC tour guide

Well, ladies and gentleman, I have to apologize for not updating for the past few days. Why? Valentines Day run-off. Willy and I did it good, this year.. REAL good. Like, sitcom-family good. We got a room at Capitol Hill Suites, which I highly recommend to anyone visiting the DC area. It was very inexpensive (a little over $100 a night), and it was insanely convenient. One block away from the Capitol South Metro station (yes, we braved Metro!), it was such a short walk that once we spotted it we were like, "..awesome!" 'cuz, yanno, walking in the snow sucks. The lobby was gorgeous and the interior very modern.When we got to our suite, we were welcomed by a trail of rose petals that led us from a very beautiful and spacious living room (with a mini kitchen, fridge, and high-def TV), to a king sized bed in the bedroom. The bed had a heart drawn in rose petals and some chocolates arranged in the center. It was adorable! Very comfortable bed, too. There was yet another high-def TV in the bedroom, so we were exceptionally lazy. The bathroom was very clean, and I have to say guys, the entire room was gorgeous. I almost forgot we were away on a romantic weekend because I was ready to call over my goons and have a hotel room party.

After we got settled in, Willy and I took a walk to this place that came highly recommended; The Good Stuff Eatery. This place is famous for it's burgers, and won an award from Rachel Ray. When we got there, it looked very busy, albeit a definite "hole in the wall" style place. We shelled out a good $24 + for two burgers, one thing of fries, and two sodas. Lets just say, we were less than impressed. Don't be fooled by this place's "old timey" vibe. The food was good, but the burgers were half the size of a Five Guys burger, and cost just as much. I know we're a nation of "bigger is better", but really, this felt like a rip-off. I noticed a lot of trendy jack-holes were congregating there, so that's a tip off for the future; do not buy pricey burgers at a joint where 95% of the crowd is college kids wearing South Pole and Ugs. So yeah, visitors to DC, lemme save you the trip and just recommend going to Five Guys. I know it's gone corporate and no longer has that "hole in the wall" feel, but it's the samn gaddamn thing, the burgers and fries are great, and it's cheaper than paying out the ass for some trendy burger the size of a child's fist. Also, Five Guys is surprisingly less greasy. I kinda felt like I was drinking that burger. (Mmmm delicious..)

After that piece of crap, Willy and I returned to the hotel for a nap. We woke up around 7 for our 10 PM reservation at an awesome place called Sonoma. Since we had time to kill, we got a few beers at this cute little bar called the Hawk n' Dove. Great bar, I definitely suggest a visit if you've got time to kill near Capitol South. Friendly bartender, quiet atmosphere, and they had Woodchuck on tap! We watched a little bit of the Olympics, hung out with a cool dude who's family was also Catalan (small world!), and eventually made our way to Sonoma. Lemme make this clear though, guys.. this was all on one block. One strip full of great bars and places to go. I love my city!!

Anyhow, we made it to Sonoma and dropped a good $200 on dinner and wine. It was ridiculously good. I had grilled calamari, lamb, and goat cheese cheesecake for dessert. The wine was deliciously paired, and by the end of the night, I can definitely say that we burned off the excess calories. I'm not sorry I broke my diet for this weekend, because it was a very un-every day thing. We didn't over-eat, or overindulge. I think the worst thing about this weekend was the amount of money that was spent (I dread searching my bank account..) because yesterday was spent shopping for items we'll be using next weekend; during our Barbarian Party.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen.. our Barbarian Party. I look forward to reporting!