Hold the Tonic please....

Saturday night I went to go see Tallagdega Nights with Karl, Rick, RD and John (hysterical movie btw...if you haven't seen it, you definitely should). It had been one of those days when Karl and I had run errands all day, had a late dinner and were just meeting friends for a movie. You know the days, those casual, "I lost my belly ring earlier today, thank god I had just bought a new one 10 minutes before, then I spilled my frozen margarita all over the place and I really wanted it...I mean, so badly I wanted to lick it off of the table but that would be totally inappropriate, ugh I just want to be a bum" kind of days. ...... Ultimately we decided to go to a theatre in Ricks neighborhood.... right around where Murray Hill kisses Gramercy. Here's the problem, you can't casually go out to a movie and then stroll to a bar for a drink in that neighborhood....I mean you can, but not the same way you can in let's say...my neighborhood. Why?.... well mostly because of the joys of walking down the street any time after 10pm on a Friday or Saturday in Gramercy and Murray Hill....Westchester and Long Island has thrown up all over the streets it's "best dressed" and most "trendy" individuals. The guys all wearing almost identical button down dress shirts and the girls in their shortest dresses and highest heals. It is truly a sight that I have yet to become acustomed to....and the day that I do means that I have completely lost all touch with reality and I need to move out of the tristate area.
As we walked past Tonic I got a flashback of something....I couldn't quite put my finger on it... then I saw a couple of people I went to college with... The Post (!).... Tonic reminds me of The Post.... The "it" place for freshmen at Albany to go, get ridiculously over dressed and ho themselves out for the night. (there's no denying it....we all did it.) So that's what Tonic is...the adult version of The Post! I really saw the weirdness of it all as I walked past in my jeans, tank, hooded zip (listen, 8 months of chemo does crazy shit to your body temp) and flip flops....and the people outside definitely looked confused as to why we were dressed so casually. Like it never crossed their minds that people actually live in these areas and do regular day to day things...that don't involve heals and button down shirts. I laughed to myself as we walked past....ok, that's a lie...I kind of chuckled out loud...ok, that's a lie too, it was more of a snort (my freaking nose....damn that mechanical bull)... So Tonic, Banc, Tin Lizzie, Metro 53...and all of those other "city bars" that only LI and WC people go to...I'm just going to universally call them The Post. It just fits, and I feel, gets across very clearly the type of bars they are.