I had an awkward start to a night of dancing on Thursday night. En route, my dancing companion sent a text saying she was caught up with work and wouldn't be able to make it. I was dressed and nearing my destination at the time. I had a choice to make - turn around, wash myself off and spend the night at home or continue. I chose the latter.
I turned up at my favourite Thursday night venue and queued in the cold. My resolve started to shake like my torso against the cold Melbourne autumn night. Then, a young lady in the queue commented that she loved my eyeshadow. That started a conversation which led to her introducing me to her friends. They turned out to be an interesting group of twenty-something year old women who had rejected full time work to travel the world. None of them knew each other initially but they have formed a posse of fifteen over the last eighteen months and their group continues to grow. They were proudly showing me the stamps in the passports and sharing stories of their part time/casual work adventures. When we entered the club they went their way and I went mine.
There are a couple of reasons I like this particular venue - it's in laneway; the music is always worthy of dancing (even when the spunky DJ is not working) and they send out a promotional text which, if you are there at around nine, entitles you to $50 worth of drink cards. Ergo, I can have a very inexpensive night out which is what I need as I am broke.
As I had driven in, I went straight to the bar and ordered a mojito (so there was plenty of dancing hours with which to burn it off). I obviously had drink cards leftover so, as I danced and enjoyed my cocktail, I surveyed the crowd to find a suitable recipient. There were a group of ladies dancing energetically nearby so I tapped the closest one and gave her my drink cards. Initially she thought I was returning her cards and when she went to put them into her pocket told me that she hadn't dropped them. I explained that I was driving and it looked like she was having a big one so she might as well do it on the house. She thanked me then kindly invited me to dance with her group of friends. Six months ago, even if I had wanted to do so, I would have declined but the new me took the opportunity to say yes. And I am so glad I did. They were an awesome bunch of women and I had an absolute blast! In fact, they even invited me to join them again. Even if I never hear from that group of women again, I am thankful that I had an awesome night out with a great bunch of intelligent, fun and interesting women.
I love rendezvouses with randoms. I love the wandering conversations I have as a result of the fact that there are no preconceived ideas or expectations. In fact, I have had some brilliant encounters with randoms in the last year or so. There was the night where a friend and I were admiring a beautiful building in the CBD only to be invited up by a man who owned an apartment in the building. He gave us a rundown of its history, showed us the communal areas and the exquisite view. Then there was the night where I danced with someone I later found is 'worth' one hundred million dollars; and when I chatted to a guy who turned out be the CEO of one of Melbourne's premier legal firms. One particular night I ended up having a very interesting moral debate with a member of Australia's pro-choice abortion rights activists. While I would always prefer to be with friends, I love that night out alone can turn on a dime based on who you run into.
Then there are micro-meetings with randoms. The people that make a comment and walk away. Like a tradie yesterday who saw fit to tell me my pants were too big for me; a man at a club who once told me I was a terrible dancer and that I needed to learn to "flow"; a guy at the gym said I really shouldn't do any more weights because I have manly arms and the homeless alcoholic sitting in the gutter who stated that I didn't deserve to wear short skirts because my knees are wrinkly. Admittedly, these encounters are all too frequent for my liking. I seem to attract criticism.
On the flip side, there are randoms that will issue compliments too. Like the lady who walked across the street to ask me where I bought my leggings because she loved them and wanted a pair too; the barman who said my bracelet was beautiful; a guy who walked across the room to tell me I was pretty; the boyfriend of a lady I was chatting to who said I deserved to be adored; the bouncer who said he couldn't understand why every man in the venue was not flocking toward me and a group of young ladies who came and asked me to give them dancing lessons.
In fact, I came across an article about the power of compliments from randoms recently. I have even issued random compliments when I think they are deserved - spread the love people!
There are a couple of reasons I like this particular venue - it's in laneway; the music is always worthy of dancing (even when the spunky DJ is not working) and they send out a promotional text which, if you are there at around nine, entitles you to $50 worth of drink cards. Ergo, I can have a very inexpensive night out which is what I need as I am broke.
As I had driven in, I went straight to the bar and ordered a mojito (so there was plenty of dancing hours with which to burn it off). I obviously had drink cards leftover so, as I danced and enjoyed my cocktail, I surveyed the crowd to find a suitable recipient. There were a group of ladies dancing energetically nearby so I tapped the closest one and gave her my drink cards. Initially she thought I was returning her cards and when she went to put them into her pocket told me that she hadn't dropped them. I explained that I was driving and it looked like she was having a big one so she might as well do it on the house. She thanked me then kindly invited me to dance with her group of friends. Six months ago, even if I had wanted to do so, I would have declined but the new me took the opportunity to say yes. And I am so glad I did. They were an awesome bunch of women and I had an absolute blast! In fact, they even invited me to join them again. Even if I never hear from that group of women again, I am thankful that I had an awesome night out with a great bunch of intelligent, fun and interesting women.
Then there are micro-meetings with randoms. The people that make a comment and walk away. Like a tradie yesterday who saw fit to tell me my pants were too big for me; a man at a club who once told me I was a terrible dancer and that I needed to learn to "flow"; a guy at the gym said I really shouldn't do any more weights because I have manly arms and the homeless alcoholic sitting in the gutter who stated that I didn't deserve to wear short skirts because my knees are wrinkly. Admittedly, these encounters are all too frequent for my liking. I seem to attract criticism.
On the flip side, there are randoms that will issue compliments too. Like the lady who walked across the street to ask me where I bought my leggings because she loved them and wanted a pair too; the barman who said my bracelet was beautiful; a guy who walked across the room to tell me I was pretty; the boyfriend of a lady I was chatting to who said I deserved to be adored; the bouncer who said he couldn't understand why every man in the venue was not flocking toward me and a group of young ladies who came and asked me to give them dancing lessons.
In fact, I came across an article about the power of compliments from randoms recently. I have even issued random compliments when I think they are deserved - spread the love people!
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