Friday, I went out with Caroline, and met her up to go to Apple, this Vietnamese restaurant downstairs in my building that has been all the sudden THE place for asians to hang out and drink. Eventually, we were getting bored, and a little restless so we wanted to hang out with some more people, and I think to myself, “Hey! I haven’t hung out with Tammy and her posse in over 2 months (due to training and being busy with stuff), why not call her?” So I give her a ring and she tells me shes over at Solas, a hip bar on 9th street in the east village. Funniest thing is, this girl and her people of non-native New Yorkers, are quite good at finding these “hot spots” that the normal person would never find… Amazing…

Plus this was a good time for me to introduce Caroline to some of my west coast friends. Solas is kinda dark, but if you go there, you’re realize that there are like 4 little areas since its a combined 2 bar setup with both having an upstairs. There’s the standup bar, then there’s the sit down in 80′s style car seats bar, then upstairs there’s a simple wood chairs bar, and then the red room, which is really cool. Caroline and I tried to go there awhile back, but the place was so ridiculously packed that we went elsewhere back then. Now that we were all in the red room, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

It seemed that everyone else was enjoying themselves too!

Now as we’re drinking along, Erin notices my Tag Heuer Kirium watch, and says, “Nice watch. I got one for Dave but he lost it!” I nearly choked on my drink at that point. I asked her was it the Quartz or Automatic, she tells me it was the quartz. Either way, its a heavy loss. Let me tell you about my watch. Back in 1998, when I was a trader on wall street, the Tag Kirums just came out. It was sporty, it was sexy, yet it was classy so you could wear it with a suit. Cut from a solid block of steel, it weighed almost .75 lbs. The Automatic version which has the perpetual pendulum engineering found in high end Rolexes, costs 2 grand. Yes, $2,000.00 people! I stuck this puppy up in my office saying that I will work my ass off to get this watch if its the last thing I do. 98 passed, still not enough money. During that time in trasition to 1999, I joined SDR Fund Management. I had a very successful time there. Working from jr trader, beating all other traders in the firm, working up to VP of Derivatives in less than 6 months because of my triple digit percentage returns. End of the year, the firm got 180% in their fund’s growth due to my trades. My boss one day called me out to take a walk. We walked out to Torneau in 59th street and Park. My boss saw the watch at my desk during the whole time and explained how he wanted to get this watch for me. Bang. Right there, in front of my face, he plunks 2 grand for my watch. To this day I have it, as a reminder of my old life in wall street, and as a testiment to my success.

Anyhow back to the main story. Dave’s Tag is the Quartz. Which is still $1,400-1,500! To lose that, ouch. Dave, my friend, you are so forever in her debt, that no matter what arguement you get into with her, she’s always right. PERIOD. LOL

I get up to go to the bar for another round of drinks for Caroline and me. She wanted another Mojito, and I wanted something soothing, so I went for a toasted almond. Erin comes up to the bar for another round, so we start talking as we wait for the bartender to tend to us.

Me: You’re one hell of a generous girlfriend to buy your boy a Tag Kirium!
Erin: Well, I wanted to surprise him by buying it with my first paycheck.
Me: Holy shit. Your -=FIRST=- paycheck on him? Most people would go buck wild and spend their first paycheck on themselves
Erin: Yeah, and I told him that when I gave it to him, that this will be the only watch he wears for the next 20 years.
Me: As opposed to a few months in which he had it… You know, he’s now forever enslaved to you. No matter what the arguement is, you’re always right.
Erin: He was already mine… I’m ALWAYS right…
Me: *hearty chuckle* Damn… first paycheck… Geez. How long have you two been going out?
Erin: 2 years…
Me: Geezz… 2 years? Like I said, you’re one heckofa generous girlfriend. *Thinking to myself: their love for each other must be strong to do something like that*

We casually converse, and Jane comes in and out bopping about, manages to get the bartender to tend to us and runs away back to the group. As the bartender prepares our drinks, Erin and I continue our to chat,

Erin: So is Caroline your girlfriend?
Me: Unfortunely, no. *thinking: doh, how the heck did that one slip out*
Erin: Ohhhh… So you’re just friends, but…
Me: its a long story…

#### Movie-Style Flashback Transition ####
I met Caroline back at NYU. We share are lot of common interests and get along really well. There were times that we’d be up all night till the wee hours of the morning just talking on the phone about anything and everything. My close friends knew I liked her, but at that time I didn’t tell her, although I’d kind of hint at it from time to time. Eventually, I finally told her that I liked her, and she simply said she didn’t see me in that way. At the time I guess I could deal with it, and though we could be friends and continue on. However, I remember one night going out with her and my friend Mark to a few bars, and he could see it in my eyes. At the end of the night he drove all of us home, dropped her off first, then leaving me with him alone in his car. He pulls the car over.

Mark: Dude, I can see it in your eyes, you still like her, don’t you?
Me: What?
Mark: Stop playing dumb, dude. I’m doing you a favor and telling this to you because I’m your friend. Drop it and move on. Don’t waste your time. Your in the prime of your life, and you’re just waiting around?
Me: Uh….
Mark: Look man… if you don’t stop yourself from getting hooked like this, you’re gonna burn yourself. Just move on, and find someone else… Find other things to do. It kills me to see you like this. I remember you freshman year, you could literally flirt like crazy. You threw those partys with the promoters. You were IN dude… Now you’re this lump that just waits. Fuckin’ get up on your feet and get back to the way you were!
*he kicks me out of the car*

This is where I go weird on Caroline, and start being a dick and started avoiding her. She started noticing, and I just gave her excuses. I put up this charade for almost a month or so, until I finally came to my senses and realized I’m not in grade school anymore. LOL I basically decided that I’d rather have her in my life as a friend, than not to have her in my life at all… Sounds cheezy, but once you come to this moment, you can finally free your mind. Although it’ll only work with some distraction. And I managed to distract myself really well by doing what I do best: Keeping myself damn busy all the time. Everyone knows it. I avoid by hiding behind my work. It’s the New York way. But honestly, we still get along quite well, although we don’t hang out as much as we used to… Then again, that’s more my fault for keeping myself busy. The only problem with hiding behind work, is that it has collateral damage. You wind up hiding from all your friends. Not good… I’m getting better though…
#### End of Flash-Back ####

That night went on. From Solas, we went to Tribe, this place in Alphabet City that played good Hip-Hop music and old school. From there we hit another bar afterward with a place to actually sit. At this point people were noticibly getting tired and stopped drinking. Most of us had already found a cosy spot on the square coushion seats to sit down. It was at this point where Caroline’s head had found its way to my shoulder and our hands met and held. Interesting, given the circumstances of my conversation with Erin and the flashback…

More pics in the Gallery…