But first, a re-cap of open-mic night back on thursday. Like a drunken jack-in-the-box, that 9pm festivity belched out a weekly social opportunity to we few, we proud, the underpaid psych grads. The last few times have been encouraging. Instead of the usual Xtian, me, Katie and a few others crowd, the group has expanded to include more of the semi-regulars and some unexpected folk. For instance: I'd never pegged Scott to be the drinking sort, or the socializing sort, but he's a decent enough fellow in a snarky way. His friend that comes along tends toward the cold side with that pony-tail, church-going je no se qua arrogance, but she isn't a bitch so rock on.

The usuals were up on stage. We had our ever-present opening act by the 50-something "hey look I'm an all-smiles jackoff who intentionally plays off-key with 'lyrics' like a dead fish" guy. Think of someone who idolizes what Andy Kaufmann was doing, but failing at it to the point of being funny. You had your lame stand-up comics, luke-warm solo singers, a few guitar players, and one interesting (if over-acted) super short story piece done by one of our own. The only thing missing was the "I found Jesus and love everyone in the world, we are love, we are united, I'm completely out of my fucking mind" dude. He threatened some fuckers show before last. I heckled him. It was grand.

This sortof atmosphere naturally translates to good rounds of card-playing and basement beer. That night was the first time Xtian and I tried a pitcher of the stout. That's some good shit. I will have that shit from now on, because, quite frankly, Franzeiaeiargaerskaner is overrated. Give me stuffy United Kingdom ale any day.

So after several hours time and with most people going, the core 'after hours' group decided to shuffle off. This is a distinctive core group, we. Usually it's Xtian (now with his quirky and exceptionally pleasant girlfriend Jen), myself, Jes, Bryan, and maybe one or two others. The excuse this night was Jen's friend having turned 21.

So we caught a bus to go to the Having Turned 21 fiesta location. Bryan remarked about the M. Jackson case and how we as a society had failed to reign in the man. The others brushed it off, and I just listened.

Fiesta location turned out to be your typical packed sports bar, with typical college bling-lings littered about the place. Jen and Xtian's college cadre and the Having Turned 21 person weren't there. Somehow one of us knew a table of people and they did the conversation thing. Jes went off to score beer or a guy or something. Bryan stood around. I stood around with my backpack and laptop case still in tow. The wonders of moving to the side every 10 seconds while someone with a full plastic beer cup walked by.

It wasn't long before we decided this place was shit. Jen scouted a nearby bar and found it was pretty empty, so we shuffled over there. After ordering some bad beer, Jen and Xtian played darts with one another while Jes flirted with the large but friendly black bouncer. Bryan went off to do Deer Hunter. I watched people and made conversation. Sometime later we got around to doing shots, followed by Bryan and Jes talking behind me in their usual way. See, there's an attraction dynamic there even though Bryan is dating someone and Jes is in a rebound "males are mine to play with" phase.

By that time I was sober, most others weren't, and apparently Just Turned 21 girl was at the other bar. So we shipped back over there. I sat off in the sidelines while the women of the group shifted onto the laps of the guys. Turned 21 girl and Xtian proceeded to talk the entire time to each other in drunken giggles. Some chick who looked like Sylph flirted it up with two guys in that "I am a heartless bitch who eats men, but ain't I cute and ain't you desperate" way. I decided to yak it up with this guy Aaron to my right, followed later on with Jen on my left. I liked the two, kinda reminded me of the old days when I was a part of a college group.

I wasn't always a hermit, after all, just for the last three years.

Eventually the bar closed, everyone dispersed, and Bryan and I decided to take the bus shuttle home. We walked a ways in the light snow, talking about women in general and then some of the female psych students in particular. His observation was that most of them were single now and just (and I paraphrase him) begging to get laid. I knew what he meant by being able to tell and nodded at this.

And so we waited 30 minutes at a bus stop near where my Brain Damage class is. Nothing. In the meantime we got around to talking about the department, some of the fucked up things about it and grad school in general. Somewhere in there we mentioned that we liked each other, which was cool. I also talked about what I like when I was slightly younger, in terms of being more active and out-going (read: having friends who lived in the same zip code I did). He was curious about it, since I'm usually quiet. Closest thing I've had to opening up since I came to this city months ago.

Eventually we decided to just walk home. We live close to each other, so we continued the conversation. I decided I'd open up some more and mention one of my nagging on-going problems. See, I always wonder how people perceive me. I act like myself (which Bryan thinks is cool), don't get me wrong, but I always wonder who I come across as. He (perhaps wisely) didn't say anything about it at that point, so we transitioned back to talking about graduate school and psych. and all that.

Later on, I learned B's advisor is a dick and that he wishes he could look at more biological stuff in his research. I gave a few suggestions, listened. I kept bringing up Dr. Zivago and how I completely understood what Bryan was going through.

I ended up walking to his place, talking for another 40 minutes in a stairwell, then finally jetting out. This sorta thing has only happened once before with him, but I really liked it. Makes me think there's more in Madison than just working and socializing when it's convenient. Or gets something done. I think him and Megs are probably the closest to friends I'll get around here any time soon. There's Cathleen at D. Bros., but I don't see her that often.

All in all a good night, I'd say, with a good conversation at the end.

* * *

And then there was friday, and interviewing undergrads...but I'll get to that later.

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