A Night Out...

Tonight I broke free of the confines and rituals of my Oakland locale and left for an exotic night in San Francisco with Elan, with whom I had not hung out in quite some time. He'd wanted to start with dinner and drinks at Morac, a Moroccan restaurant and bar in the Mission, so I'd thought it appropriate to have a pre-night-out cocktail, solo, at the old dive bar Murio's Trophy Room--which had just undergone a Moroccan-influenced renovation--on upper Haight. While I sipped my Bulleit and soda, I was struck by the dramatic transformation Murio's had recently undertaken, and quietly contemplated the ghosts of the grungy, smelly, unpredictable dive bar I had once frequented. Meanwhile, a lovely young couple from Canada struck up a conversation with me about food and travel, culminating with her ultimate meal--on MAUI! At Spago's! (It turns out the couple run this awesome eatery on Vancouver Island.) Eventually Elan showed up shortly after another attractive couple--this time wearing Patagonia sportswear and ordering Pinot Grigio (with ice cubes)--tried to take over the empty stool next to me, and we sped off to the popular, trendy Moroccan restaurant where harried Russian cocktail waitresses took our order and stunningly beautiful, young Persian women at the table next to us lamented their success working at corporate jobs they weren't "passionate about." After Elan and I had our fill of tech-industry gossip, we hightailed it to Sasha's new bartending gig--at the Gold Star--and I marveled at the classroom-inspired cocktail menu, while Gabrielle horrified me with details on the Mission Rapist. I kept one eye on the clock in order to catch the last BART train back to the East Bay (at 12:20! Gimme a break!!) while Elan guilted me on not staying in San Francisco for the evening. After missing the last BART, and instead of taking the two-hour bus back to Oakland, I opted to take a $50 cab ride back to my car at Fruitvale, even though I can barely afford (nor do I know the exchange rate) to make sense. And although I really tried to get it right, not one person said I looked pretty tonight. Not that that's what it's all about but still.