Random Thoughts and Raves

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

The "Bar" of Soap

My life is sometimes unbelievable even to me. There is a place in Dallas called Bar of Soap. My friend, Mark told me he was there one night about a month ago and I could not quite grasp what this place was exactly.

Picture this, its a laundromat, in a bar. Yes, thats correct washing machines next to drinks. While this seemed slightly odd to me when he began to describe it I thought it was an interesting concept. Do something entertaining while getting housework done. Interesting indeed.

Let me set this place up for you.

It is in the area of Dallas known as Deep Ellum, which is famous for being not trendy but edgy. There are a lot of tattoo shops, art galleries, music shops, and restaurants. The buildings are from the early 1900s so it has a quaintness to it, until the sun goes down. Its slightly more frightening. The urban crawl has not made its way over there yet, so there are some 'homeless issues', crime sprees, and frankly I don't ever feel like my car is safe.

I digress.

When you walk into the bar you are hit with the smell of fresh laundry mixed with cig smoke, the walls are COVERED with graffiti, flyers for unheard of underground rock bands, and a bulletin board with a flyer for Bulldog puppies, who, according to an amateur graphic artist will "eat your ass". Amusing.

Mark actually found a bag of cocaine in the bathroom on one of his trips. LOL.

There are about 20 washers and dryers with some arcade games and an air hockey table. Walk past the washing machines and step down into the actual bar area. The floor is about 100 years old and its that black and white check tile business that appears to possibly have been cleaned the day after it was installed but not since. The bar is to your right with a sign on a mirror behind it that states

"NO pre-pay, NO odd discounts , and PAY YOUR TAB"

WHO pre pays for drinks??

AND

What is an odd discount? Is that one of those "I know the bartenders brothers sisters cousins baby mamma story" discount thing? Or just a discount for being odd? Of which, if they were giving THOSE out everyone in the place (me being an exception of course) would qualify.

It seems to be a biker type bar....lots of leather, tattoos, earrings, and long unwashed hair under a dew rag...which, cute outfit, DOES NOT MAKE....

Needless to say, in Banana Republic and Gucci, I, DID NOT BLEND.

I order a rum and diet, typically a safe bet but quickly realize while bartender is pouring the drink that beer and/or water may have been safer. He pours me a glass of rum and then splashes it with diet for color. Typically, people exaggerate the strong drink mixing but I SWEAR, this was a glass of rum with a squirt, an ACTUAL squirt of diet coke. He slides that across the bar and asks me for $4. I sort of wanted to pour it out and ask for another one mixed by a SANE person but thought better of it when the incredibly large man in a leather vest bellied up to the bar next to me. That is an expression that is in all actuality worked perfectly for him because his stomach hit the bar. The drink was unbearable. The smell of the liquor was wafting toward me. Who can actually SMELL the liquor coming from their drink?

I take my drink and sit down in a booth that was so old that all the springs were gone so I was sitting about eye level with the table top. LOL. Mark and Jillian were with me and we laughed and joked and carried on. Mostly about the fact that I appeared to be 2 feet tall.

OH, OH, okay so we are sitting, drinking, and in walks this DOG. A dog. Not just any dog, it was this huge Saint Bernard looking dog, THAT STUNK. And it is just wandering around the bar right. So, naturally I am avoiding looking at it because I know instantly that the second I do, its going to come over and drool on me. None of that. It did, however, come over and lick Jillian.

Disgusting.

Bar of Soap is a VERY interesting place to go, FOR SURE. I don't know that I can recommend it for the laundry facilities but it has some interesting people watching value.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Changes

Okay party people, so I have made some changes, of which one will be responsible for the return to the blogger. I transformed a room in my office from a catch all 'ironing, throw your dry cleaning and purse' here into an office. Desk, chair, computer, and decorations later, I finally have a place to sit, listen to music, and catch up on all of the happenstance in my life. Although, it feels as though there may just be so much that I am not 100% sure I could even begin to tell you everything. I can try. Therefore I suppose I will.

As I have learned recently, life is ever changing. You can't ever be sure that what was true today will prove true tomorrow. I have found that this proves from almost any angle. Friends come, go, boyfriends follow the same rule. Jobs change and so do opinions. I am at a point in life in which I am not totally sure what is happening. Sometimes it feels like the world is swirling around me and I am just a pawn in a much larger game. A game that the purpose seems to be lost on me.

I realize that life is a big challenge. That just around every corner is something that you may not understand or completely WANT to understand. Those challenges make us grow, make us stronger, and when we get through them we suddenly realize that we are a better person, a stronger person.

I truly feel like I am on the precipice of this challenge. I am unclear as to what it is, where it will lead me, but I am certain that I will be a bigger, stronger man when I make it through.