This past Wednesday evening I went to a Swing Night over at the Dunwoody Marriott in, of all places, fashionable Dunwoody. How did I end up there?

It all started when I joined some friends of mine at Northlake Mall for a Swing Night over there. I happened to be sitting next to a tall, attractive young lady by the name of Sarah, who asked if I could dance. After putting up some resistance (and I insisted that I do not dance), I agreed to dance and actually have a good time. This happened, of course, right in front of several friends of mine who were more than a little amused by the whole situation. Robert was so amused by the situation that he took pictures.

Yeah, she’s cute. And I got her phone number and email address. And she invited me to Wednesday’s Swing Night in fashionable Dunwoody. And yeah, she’s cute.

This brings me back to Wednesday night. I’ve come straight from school, still wearing my Birkenstocks which I should mention are not very good dancing shoes. Now this time several of her friends of her are there, one of whom is a total swing dancing king. Just to watch some of these people is absolutely intimidating until I realize that some of them got started here at the Marriott in fashionable Dunwoody. I got to dance a couple of times with Sarah, and at one point she even pulled me outside to teach me a few dance steps. But most of the time I was there, I simply watched other people dance and interact.

At the same time, I couldn’t get some of that day’s events at the office out of my mind. Nothing bad, just an unfinished conversation about budgeting issues. So I was kind of tense, and that’s no way to dance.

In any case, I still enjoyed myself even if I sat in my chair because there was almost always someone there to talk to, usually one of Sarah’s friends. They all seemed to be cool interesting people, which is a good sign. If nothing else I could contrast this experience against my experiences at the Masquerade. My opinion of just about any night I’ve had at 80’s night in the Masquerade at this point is less than favorable. It’s just a meatmarket club scene where I just can’t enjoy myself all that much, really. I just can’t do it. I can’t lie about that anymore.

As far as swing night goes, I can’t say I’m incredibly optimistic on my future with swing night. For one thing, I’m just too self-conscious to be much of a good dancer, but that’s something I can work on. For another thing, I know nobody there. Now, it’s one thing if I’m introducing myself to a new group and getting to know a few people at a time. At swing night, I’m trying to get to know a whole bunch of people all at once. Then again, from what I can gather, not all of them even know each other very well, so in that respect I seem to be in good company. Where the story gets interesting is that it turns out that Sarah seems to have a boyfriend. Whoever he is, he wasn’t at Swing Night in fashionable Dunwoody. He also wasn’t at Swing Night at Northlake.

In any case, Sarah’s a great swing dancer and a really sweet person in general. And she’s cute. And she has a boyfriend.

So what will I be doing this coming Wednesday? I’ll just bring Holly along and let her be my dance partner. And we can be that awkward beginning dance couple together. And I won’t have to worry about having to meet so many people with no backup. The plot thickens.

Now, I know what you’re asking. Who’s Holly? She’s just a friend of a friend. That’s all you need to know for now.