"Just One Drink" to Start the Weekend

You know what they say about having just one drink?  Well, it's never true.  Unless you're drinking just a glass of wine for a night cap.  But after work on a Friday?  Especially after leaving the office at 9:30pm?

Whoever invites you for a drink - or maybe even just a couple of drinks - is a big liar.

And at the end of the night, you'll be happy you're friends with these kinds of liars.

I left the office at 9:30pm (yes, it's a shame).  It's been a busy week at work, and I'm preparing for a big training next week.  I got a message from a friend who also happened to be working late on a Friday night, inviting me for a drink near his office.  Having eaten nothing but crackers since 11am and being brain-fried after a long week, the only logical response was yes.

So I went.  We went to a pub that serves food so I could have my dinner.  After a couple of rounds of Jack and beer, his friend came to join us.  Naturally, a third round was in order.  The bill came, the restaurant was about to close, but it was too soon to end the night.  We had been out of office for just a couple of hours anyway.  And with the conversation going well - from movies, to sexism in movies (there's a set of criteria for it), crying over movies (Free Willy and Breakfast at Tiffany's), how we love multidimensional villains, being away from home, food places in Singapore - we decided to head to a hidden bar in Boat Quay.

It's one of those bars that you never knew existed in an alley that you also never knew existed.  All you see is a sliding door from the outside.  You don't hear anything.  You do see people coming in and out, but you might think it's just a passageway to the parking lot or the main street.  You get into a lift and you press the button that takes you to the attic.

And when the lift doors open, it's a completely different world altogether.  The bar has a live band, a wall of drinks, a balcony that gives you a good view of the Singapore skyline from the fifth floor, a good crowd.  J bought the first round of drinks.  To make it fair, I bought the next one, and IP bought the last one.  Over the course of three rounds, we talked about life dreams, long-distance relationships, traveling around the world, different types of music, photography.  I guess you can say we became better friends just because we shared parts of ourselves that you wouldn't normally share in the usual party small-talk, which can get exhausting after some point really.  The next thing we knew, the lights were on, and the bar manager was almost begging us to leave.  It was past 3am.

All because of the simple lie on having just one drink.  One drink is never just one drink.  And it's always great to lie to yourself and to your friends about this.  Especially if you get great conversations out of it, you discover new parts of the city, and you feel more connected with your friends.

These are my favorite nights-out.  The ones that bring you a lot of surprises - the good ones - and new experiences.

Great way to start the weekend.

x

P.