But I don't even drink, I swear!!

When I was going to school in Bellingham I met an amazing girl from Tokyo, named Deena. We were roommates for a couple years, she inspired me to study Japanese and embrace my inner Britney. In return, I helped her stalk boys she liked (in a non-threatening, totally legal kind of way). She lives in Vancouver now, and every once in a while we get together to reminisce and go dancing in Portland. Last night was her birthday and even though it was a work day, I hauled my butt over to her house and then headed into downtown PDX around for a celebration of 24 years of Deena. Our first stop was at Dixie's. It looked like a pretty typical bar/club and it was relatively busy for a Wednesday night, plus they have one of those bull-ride things!!!

Unfortunately I would not have a Dixie's experience that night. Why you ask? Well, as I walked into the bar with Deena's friend Bing (a very petite Chinese girl) the bouncer checked our IDs and asked how many places we'd been to already. I smiled and said "This is our first one, we just got here!" He looked back and forth between me and Bing before shaking his head and saying "I can't let you in, you're both visibly intoxicated." I was SHOCKED!!! I mean, Bing was a little giggly, so I can see his hesitation with her, but ME? I just kind of laughed nervously and said "Are you serious? I don't even drink." He proceeded to explain that he'd seen us both stumbling in and could tell we'd already had too much. At that I laughed and said "It's wet outside and I'm in four-inch heels! That doesn't mean I'm drunk!" But, he would have none of it, so we ended up going to a couple different places instead-the last of which was having a karaoke night. So, yes, I went out for karaoke twice in one week! Deena and I rocked the place with our rendition of Lady Marmalade-the crowd loved it.

Since I didn't get to bed until about 3 am, waking up this morning was pretty tough, so I decided to put those two hours of overtime on Tuesday to good use and didn't come in until 9:30. I tried to do some pictures on my phone, but we couldn't figure out the flash and everything, so I'll see if I can steal some from Deena. Being out with Deena and her friends made me consider how different my life would be if I was born under slightly different circumstances and made slightly different choices. If I weren't a member of the church (even though sometimes I feel like a very half-hearted member) I don't know how easily I could slide into that lifestyle of drinking and partying every night. I often see two paths for my life and sometimes I'm torn between a desire for what my Heavenly Father has laid out for me and the intrigue of a more worldly existence. I usually stay at least in sight of the straight and narrow path, but it's becoming more difficult to remain uncommitted. All this considered, I find it quite ironic that at this den of sin the person who doesn't drink (but does consider a dip every now and then) was told she couldn't come in because she'd already had too much. Perhaps just contemplating a life of booze and sin is strong enough to intoxicate.