Thursday Night Out, part 1

Last thursday seemed like any normal night. I came home a little bit tired, and because of my insomnia the past weeks, a little bit sleepy. On my trip home, I fantasized on sleeping early. Once I got home, however, I felt like doing something else instead.

I noticed my roommate, J, was asleep.

I turned on the tv, and headed to my computer in my room. I like the sound of tv from my room. It makes me feel there's something going on and that the apartment's not entirely quiet. There are times when I like things to be quiet... kinda like meditation time. Tonight wasn't one of those times. I was cranking up the noise. Even with the tv, I turned on my computer's music player.

I surfed the Internet for a few minutes when my connection abruptly went flat. I unsuccessfully tried to fix it but half-an-hour later, I exasperatedly called tech support to see if it's something wrong on their side. A few more minutes of back and forth didn't reveal any anomalies on their system. Huh, must be my router then. Damn that piece of crap.

That's that for my night. I might as well sleep it off until tomorrow. My night is pretty much thru. Unless... unless I decide to watch tv, which honestly I don't feel like doing at the moment. The only thing on tonight is some lousy reality show where my favorite players have already been eliminated. Damn these reality shows... The good guys never win.

So perhaps the best option right now is what I had planned all along--to catch some Zs. And besides, I need the extra sleep anyway. My insomnia has robbed me of energy during the daytime.

While contemplating my next move, J finally awoken. I could hear her scurrying back and forth between the kitchen and her room. Then her head emerged in my slightly opened door. "Do you want to come hang out tonight?" She invited.

Her voice has a certain bubbliness to it. It's a voice that when you hear it, you know she's a nice person. You can't go wrong opening yourself up to her. She disarms you. And it's hard to turn her invitation down.

Up to this time, I still can't figure out my roommate. We've been together for several months, but I still don't know her. I figure that's probably just how she likes it--keeping things at a distance. So our interactions rarely go beyond the normal greetings and niceties.

There will be times when we talk on a variety of topic and we get somewhere, but when I insert some deep, thought-provoking question, the conversation dies down. Not that I'm trying to fish for anything from her, mind you. That's just the way I am... I want to learn about a person deeply. I want to know their values and experiences. But in my roommate's case, perhaps she does not really want to go there. So I just leave it at that.

And so I was mildly surprised she's inviting me. "Where to?", I asked.

"Capitol Hill. I'll be meeting with my cousin. Want to hang out in a bar?"

It took me a good 5 seconds to reply. I usually turn down J's invitations. But tonight I had nothing better to do. And besides, it might actually be fun to go out. And if I go, who knows, I might actually get to know something more about this person that I've been living with for months.

(to be continued...)