Ever have one of those evenings where you're supposed to meet someone and you don't, and later you discover you were at all the same places? I was supposed to hang out with Deborah and her sister Saturday night. Here's what ensued:

8ish - Deborah tells me she's having dinner then hitting the reef at 10/10:30ish; I'm hitting Cactus Cantina with Loaf and Trish.

9ish - I text Deborah and say I'll call her later; I'm hitting Zebra lounge with Meat, Loaf, Trish, and several other friends.

10:30-10:45 - I get to the reef and look around for Deborah; not seeing her, I settle in upstairs with Loaf and Trish (Meat et al have gone home)

11ish - I text Deborah saying I'm at the reef (in case she has forgotton)

11ish - Deborah calls me and leaves a message (which i get later) saying she's upstairs at the reef. We do not see each other.

11:30 - We still don't see each other; Deborah texts me (which I get later) saying she's downstairs at the reef

12ish - Convinced Deborah and her sister have gone dancing in Adams Morgan, as she said she was planning to, I move with Loaf and Trish to Heaven/Hell

12ish - Deborah moves with other people to Crush (next door to Heaven/Hell)

Some Point Later - I go to Joe's Pizza Place across the bridge with Loaf and Trish. Unlike last time no tempers rise in the process. Trish and I decide that I should drive Loaf home.

4ish - I drive Loaf to her house in Virginia. Her dogs assault me. I leave and attempt to pick up a rare credit-card cab, having spent my "emergency" twenty during the evening's festivities.

5ish - I am forced to walk back from Virginia, across the Key Bridge. It begins to rain lightly, and gust hard, creating a painful sensation across any exposed skin surface. Within seconds I am soaked.

5:15 - After having three cabs refuse to take a credit card, the fourth tells me he'll drive me to an ATM. By this point I have walked through Georgetown and am almost into DC proper. I am still soaked. I go to the ATM and get money and hop in the cab. I arrive home, pen a few words and crash.

Altogether an enjoyable night, although I still can't figure out how Deborah and I missed one another. Go figure. At least I had an excellent time with Loaf and Trish, and amazingly, (perhaps Trish has some special amulet) there were no fights, nothing was stolen and I arrived home all in one piece.

The moment that will stand out in my mind, though, was in Hell, waiting to visit the restroom. A woman noticed the men's line was empty, and attempted to use it, only to be verbally smacked back by the bathroom nazi woman (dressed in a blue turquoise jacket that looked like something out of Miami Vice) who apparently took her craptastic job a little too seriously. The girl in question couldn't believe it had happened, and Trish and I (who were standing right next to her) couldn't either. Bizarre.