we're going to a show....

saturday night, i headed into the district to the black cat. black cat is to d.c. what common grounds is to gainesville. that is, the music club for music lovers, or the indie/scene kids that are too cool to act like they enjoy the band on stage. feet glued to the floor. arms crossed. eyes fixated on the band. ears searching for deep meaning in the emo lyrics scratching through the speakers. movement is not tolerated.

i digress. as is the case on weekend nights, i typically get a good laugh from interactions between the cast of characters that hitch a ride on the orange line. saturday was no exception. first actor was a frat boy. khaki shorts, polo shirt mocking the abercrombie moose, rainbow sandals, southern mop of hair, gelled of course. his supporting apologetic friend was clad in plaid and those bright, ugly nikes that indie kids like so much. the actresses were two friendly-looking twentysomethings headed out, coincidentally, to U street also. the scene was a pretty much empty car leaving l'enfant plaza. the two guys were standing, trying to silently gain the attention of the seated ladies. my fly-on-the-wall position was one row behind the ladies. what started out as a fairly innocent conversation turned into an appalling lack of class on frat boy's part pretty quickly, "you know what i'm thinking about? you two naked. good things!" she caught my eyes as we both tried to suppress laughter...hers out of shock, mine in amusement at his tactless (and claimingly sober) approach.

when the train got to u street, we went in separate directions. i struck up a conversation with the ladies on our exit. they got a good laugh out of the encounter. one of them felt bad because it was her friend's first trip into the city, only to get hit on by a sketchball. i wished them a good evening and left wondering how often guys try too hard to connect with women on the metro. trying to be someone they're not. speaking differently. we've all got a lot more in common than it would appear on the surface...but i guess that's still how some frat boys see the world on the metro.