friday night's all right

The hum of conversation, the woodburning stove, the overheard conversations of college kids, the background music that's almost always swank, a cup of tea and a huge bowl of fragrant lentil soup, banging out homework assignments, chipping away at this paper, about two pages of skeletal framework with the occasional fleshed out paragraph. I needed a night to get out and do this, this is the place where I relax most and write best, where I can hunker down and have long conversations, play scrabble on New Year's, and relish the atmosphere that reminds me of somewhere far away.

My friends are watching local metal bands play downtown, some fellow DJs are kicking out the jams all lovers-rock and world-style down the street from there, but it doesn't feel like that kind of night. If I was to go out, it'd be to be seen, and I don't want to get home late or try to find parking, and I'm sure there's conversations to be had, but I'm an introvert at heart and I need these times of solitude. There are other times to get one's eardrums blown out or mingle. It doesn't feel lonely when you will it for yourself, it feels like bliss.