boys' night out...

i have a confession to make…i really don’t know much about frank sinatra. i mean, i don’t live under a rock or anything. i am somewhat familiar with his work. i just wouldn’t classify myself as a connoisseur of the rat pack. if anything, i guess i’d be more of a dean martin fan. he was way hotter.  so when i entered this contest to win tickets to the frank sinatra show, come fly away, i didn’t do it for myself. i did it for a boy. and i know what you’re thinking…what DON’T you do for a boy? the answer to that would be very little. but see, this isn’t just any boy. this is my bestie we’re talking about here. he’s the closest thing i have to a real best friend and i adore him to bits, but i always feel sorta crappy that i don’t…i don’t know…show my appreciation enough, for lack of better wording. so when i saw this contest online, the first thing i thought was, sa-weet…what better way to say ‘thank you for being my bestie’ than to give the sinatra fan in my life tickets to see this show? i did everything i could to enter…retweets, facebook posts, even comments on their website. i covered all my bases and hoped for the best. and whaddaya know? the gods thought it was a great idea too. i honestly couldn’t believe i got so lucky. of course, i pretended i wasn’t gonna take him, but that’s just gonna be a given. he teases me incessantly, this was my turn. and i won’t lie…it was priceless. anyway, i got 4 tickets in the deal. he invited baba and i invited dollface. sounds like a good time…i’ve missed her terribly.

and last night was the show. the best part of my night was supposed to be getting to hang out with my dollface, but unfortunately plans fell thru so we subbed in jamiroqui. we met up at my place & took off from there. at first i didn’t know what to expect, going out with the fellas on my own. i still feel like the new kid…like i’m scotty smalls, still trying to fit in. after all, i’m the only broad in the bunch and i’m over a decade older than they are. the thing is that they don’t make me feel that way. it’s like to them, i am just one of the guys. and that makes me really happy. so we head down to the pantages, frank is blastin out the car and the fellas are singin along like they’re ol’ blue eyes themselves. SIDENOTE: if you ever get the option to ride in a car with a bunch of cute boys singing at the top of their lungs, i highly suggest you take it. it’s pretty awesome.

crisis was totally averted by the grace of the gods and we made it to the theatre before baba’s bladder exploded, but it sure was funny to listen to the dire straits he was in the whole way there. we walk up to the entrance and everyone is in their fancy duds. it really set the tone for the little cultural adventure we were about to embark on. we took a second to have a smoke and do some people watching when we notice that this is the show’s opening night! take a second glance and there are photogs and a press line thingy where actual famous people were stopping to be photographed. what the?!? trip out on us, fellas…we’re actually in the hollywood mix! paparazzi was in full effect so you just sorta looked wherever they were snappin photos. i’ll admit, i’m the broad that totally misses the typical celeb sighting…i just don’t pay enough attention to my surroundings i suppose. thankfully we brought our celebrity aficionado to point out all the famous people that were swarming around us. baba was the man when it came to hobnobbing with hollywood’s elite. they would walk by and he would give them an “oh, there you are!” or “i’m so glad i got to meet you.” it must’ve made those famous people feel really famous…or should i say, those regular people feel really famous. because honestly, baba thought EVERYBODY was famous.  sightings worth mentioning: kobe bryant’s brother (does he even have one?), nicole kidman in a toyota, that guy from that one movie and a black rapper. the funny part about it was when we saw an actual celebrity (i think it was ed begley jr), he wasn’t even all that interested! needless to say, i was kept in stitches whenever baba was around. he kept saying that it was the best night of his life so far and i thought that was awfully cute.

so the show is about to start and we roll to the bar to grab a quick drink. well, *most* of us grab a quick drink. my genius bestie thought he could bring drinks into the show so he got two, and had to pound two drinks in five minutes when he found out he couldn’t bring them in. yay! i couldn’t help but laugh…i’m with the world’s silliest fellas. we take our seats and i gotta say, not bad. i had the perfect view of the stage. being short, i often worry about taller people in front of me, but not tonight. the lights go down and the show begins…

i’m not gonna lie…i wasn’t a big Sinatra fan going into the night, but that show really changed my opinion of the guy’s body of work. because that show? that show was a-friggin-mazing. ugh…i die. the show featured a handful of vignettes of stories based on typical goings-on of “a night at the club”. there was no speaking in the entire show which was a twist i wasn’t aware of. everything was said thru the dancers’ movements and narrated by frankie’s music. at first i got sorta nervous. what are a bunch of straight dudes in their 20s gonna think about watching this? did this plan just backfire on me? are they gonna be my friends after this night? hahaha

dude…i couldn’t believe how emotional i got watching, in essence, a dance recital. but it was so good. i guess i could just relate to all the different scenarios. i’ve been the girl that ditches her dude for someone hotter but is scared of commitment. i’ve been the heartbroken guy that gets drunk & hooks up with the first girl he sees. i’ve been the couple who fell in love at first sight. i’ve even been the drunk girl that plays hard to get with the guy that just wants to take care of her. and watching all these stories that i’ve experienced in my life unfold in front of my eyes sorta overwhelmed me. it made me feel all those feelings again, remember those memories, and it was intense. i got angry at my stubbornness. i cried at my heartbreak. i cooed at my hopeless romanticism. i cheered on my unwavering passion. it was really incredible to watch something so surreal. i loved every second of it. just thinking about it is making my eyes watery. i didn’t want it to end…but all good things must come to an end and this was no different. turns out, the fellas liked the show just as much as i did. well, not *exactly* as much as i did, but they enjoyed it plenty because it was chockfull of Sinatra and that made me feel good. after all, they’re the reason i did it in the first place…because i wanted them to know that i lovelovelove them lots.

the rest of the night was spent hunting down all things sinatra within a walking radius. we went to the sinatra wall by some italian restaurant. we went to see his hand&footprints at grauman’s chinese theatre. we even went to a kitchy souvenir shop filled with everything imaginable for a typical tourist. i was actually sorta surprised by how much gaudy crap they’re trying to hock to the average joe. but it was really neat walking around with these guys. it sorta made me feel like i had three bodyguards to protect me…and in hollywood, that’s a good feeling to have. :D it’s fun to watch them react to life, to immerse myself into the lives of my favorite buddies. my bestie is the sensible cool cat while baba is the zany ballstothewall kinda guy. they’re truly the perfect balance for a proper good time.

the highlight of my night didn’t come from the little excursion I took with the boys, but in a conversation that i had during. the other boys were up ahead and i was trailing behind with baba when he brings up the fact that he read the little piece i wrote on my egyptian sweetheart. he said that he really enjoyed it and that he was so surprised by how well i write. he said that for one that hates to read, he will always stop and read my posts “even if they’re long” because he gets sucked in and went on to gush about how much he liked what i wrote and how he’d asked the other guys if they read it & stuff. it was like, seriously the sweetest thing ever and it really touched my heart. he didn’t haveta say anything, but he did. it meant a lot to me, much more than i let on. he’s my big crazy monkey boy and he gives the best hugs. *pretty sure* it’s impossible not to completely love that guy to smithereens.

just like the show, soon the night also came to an end, we drove home and parted ways. i got lots of thank yous and hugs…but really i was the one that was truly thankful. i’m a very lucky girl to have such amazing fellas in my life and i had a really rad night hanging out with them. i got to see how they see the world with my very own eyes…live like a 23 year old kid again. and it was a blast.

so to you, my favorite boys in the whole wide world, thank you. for everything. and merry christmas. lovelovelove.