5:20pm, the clock in the right hand corner of my screen is not budging. I joined the parade of women who head to the bathroom to waste the remaining minutes on the clock at work. They reapply lipstick or straighten their panty hos, or wash their hands for a solid 3 minutes.
I ran my fingers through my hair and wiped the smudges from my eyeshadow and prepped myself for a night out. Roomie is in Bath for the weekend with the girls and everyone else is headed to Amsterdam. That meant, for me this Thursday was date night!
The Leicester Square tour began at The Photographer’s Gallery. Only the bottom floor was open, but still some very interesting (and political) works. Then, just next door was the Arts Theater which was not performing Pluck, as I thought. An acclaimed violin, cello, string comedy. But the lady at the box office said the show for that night, Proof, had a real classy student discount. I’ve never heard of it before, but I keep being told it’s pretty famous. And apparently Gwynth Paltrow starred in the movie rendition.
Inbetween gallery and show time, eating was a must. And now, not to say I’m a cheap date, but I’ve been wanting to go to McDonald’s. I haven’t eaten any American fast food yet, on purpose. I wanted to eat it, just once, at a proper time. That being, not when it’s simply the cheapest, most convenient, or fastest home sickness fix. I had even mapped where the Mc’Ds was, no excuses. Classic burger, fries, and a coke filled me up. I could barely finish it. My body protested, it’s been too long.
Carried onto the show which was wonderful. A really strong plot and the acting was great. The funny part, it’s based in Chicago. I was completely unprepared for American accents, references to the Lake, the cubs losing, driving up to the North side and that magical time in September when it’s refreshingly crisp. Funny how things like that worked out.
It’s not that I didn’t have a good date, but by the end of the show I was ready to go home. After the slow conversation during intermission, I knew that after curtain call I’d be booking it to the Tube station.
No feelings were hurt, because I was my date tonight. I took myself out, and had a glorious evening. Part of it was because my ultimate goal was to see a classical performance and the other part was to not sit at home and mope because everyone has plans tonight. I didn’t go to Bath because Ashley is arriving early tomorrow morning.
I wanted too affirm myself that I’m comfortable on my own. While, it would have been nice to have someone poke fun at the couple next to me who brought their own banana chips, or maybe share a drink after the show, it is doable. At first, I couldn’t even get myself to walk into the theater. Everyone seemed to be with someone in there. Why? because they were. However, after being drunk of McDonald’s grease, I took the evening by reins. I brought myself out and I was going to have a good night, and it was.
I think I’m going to miss me when I get back to IU.