On to the night

Finally...

So we left the BBQ and headed for the bowling alley. Everyone seemed to be in a big hurry to get out of there (I wasn't worried and the Gophs were on TV, so I was content) so we all headed into town. Steph and I didn't race over there, we even stopped by my house first, but when we got to the alley, none of our friends were there yet. Well, that was worth it!

So I sat down in the bar area and continued to watch the football game until my friend Emily got there and bought me my first drink of the night. I had to order my drink of choice, Southern Comfort and Coke. I learned this drink kind of from my brother (he had a bottle of Southern in the apartment when I moved in two and a half years ago) but mostly from my roommate Matt. I'm not a huge drinker and I don't like cola, but the combo tastes good to me. Southern has a little sweetness in it that appeals to my sweet-tooth and also is very smooth for a 100 proof drink, when mixed with Coke. (I was given a shot of it at one point in the night--that wasn't cool at all. I don't like it plain all that much, but it's a sippin' drink if anything.) My point earlier about having a beer at Matt's house comes in now because I didn't have any more beer for the rest of the night.

I continued watching the game and during commercials started looking for a bowling ball. Finally people started rolling in and got a couple lanes setup and we all got shoes and the bowling began. Most of the actually bowling is a little hazy for me. My drink never got close to being finished before being replaced with another. But I did horrible the first game, broke a hundred my second game (always my goal) and then did horrible again the final game. I must put forth however that I was trying to practice throwing curve balls for that final game--I'm *sure* it wasn't the alcohol and if I had been throwing straight I would have done much better.

My final present was given during the course of bowling. My friends Sean and Heidi came by after church and presented me with a bowling ball in a bowling bag from them (and I think a couple other people). It was pretty awesome. The ball didn't fit my hand but it was an awesome gesture for the evening. I am hoping that they hadn't spent that much on it and it didn't hold sentimental value because I ended up trading the ball I got for the ball I had been using all night which fit my fingers way better. I feel a little guilty about that.

My streak of Southern and Coke was broken during the night. My friend Garrett presented me with a sip of his drink, Jagermeister and rootbeer! I had never heard of such a drink. At one point when I ran up into the bar to check the Gopher's game I saw him at the pop machine buying something, I had no clue why. But I found out later--the bar must not have rootbeer so he had to get his own. After my approval he got me one of my own. A tasty drink indeed. I remember that I was double fisting it at one point during the night, I'm pretty sure with two Southern and Cokes, though one could have been a Jager and rootbeer:



That's Jason beside me, he is one of Matt's new roommates. He is also from Wisconsin, but isn't as fanatical about the Packers as Matt is.

Before we left the bowling alley, Scott wanted to get me another drink. Hearing that I liked the Jager and rootbeer he wanted me to try a Jagerbomb. You may (or may not) have heard of an Irish Carbomb, which is a shot of Baileys in a glass of Guiness. This is the same principle, but it is a shot of Jager in a glass of Red Bull. I hate Red Bull, (I think I mentioned that a while ago, actually, that I don't like energy drinks in general) so I was a little leery of it, but at this point in the night I could have been convinced of about anything.

On a side note, I wasn't so drunk that I didn't know what was going on with the Gophers and that they had won. I was able to collect my $10 from Scott with little trouble.

(Un)fortunately they had run out of Red Bull at the bowling alley bar! Unthinkable! So that would have to wait. All of my wonderful friends settled the bill with the alley and we all piled out. Matt and Jason had left a little earlier to go see another buddy playing in a band at another bar. They came back before too long since their friend's band wasn't going to be playing for a long time. We all headed over to Mixers which turned out to be a pretty cool bar.

The inside and outside are all completely new and clean and nice. They have a steel dancefloor which is definitely way out for Bozeman. The no cover charge and no smoking are the two coolest things to me. We all mainly hung out on the dance floor, bustin' a move. Scott did take this opportunity to buy me that Jager bomb. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. It's funny how things mix together to make completely different things. It was a tasty drink. That was my last drink of the night. My wonderful girlfriend kept getting me water for the remainder of our time out. After a while people started tapering off and Steph, Emily and I finally left last. We thought about heading to the Pita Pit to complete the night but we were all really tired and just decided to end it there.

As I had said, I didn't throw up that night at all and didn't have a hangover the next morning. Wow did that feel good. I found out later that Matt and Jason felt horrible for all day Saturday. Matt was mad at himself for forgetting to buy me any more drinks while at Mixers. I must say though, I was okay with it.

So that was the night. Maybe not as exciting to read as I had hyped it up to be, but it was a great time while it lasted. Everyone had fun and we all finally got out bowling.

The pictures from the night aren't all that great, but I'll post a few more later.