Snapshot of London

I met up with Smooth Like Butta' last night for some pints. We were going to go to Sports Cafe to watch Denver-Indianapolis, but he had some work to do and wanted something close to home - he started work today as well, so he didn't want to be out too late. It was no big deal to me, so I met him at Russell Square and we found a pub down the street called The Goose.

Smooth Like Butta' is a great guy and we've developed a strong friendship in a very short amount of time. We hadn't hung out or even really talked in about a month, so we just had a great time catching up. He's really two people - there's the smart and driven part and the sexual predator part. He's an animal with the ladies. I don't know if it's because he's Latin or if he just has growing up to do (he's 26), but as he says it, "[he] just can't stop [him]self." I do hope he grows out of it because he has a lot to offer and I think he wants to be monogamous with the right woman.

Anyway, back to the point, the pub was packed so we ended up sharing a table with a nice English gentleman. After he left, a guy and a girl sat down - an American and an Argentine. They both attend the London School of Economics and we got to talking to them. Good people all round. We exchanged numbers as well and we're probably going to meet up next weekend to watch some football.

They had to call it a night around 930 or so (they had school work due the next day), but right after they left, a pack of young, nubile, and not so innocent American girls flocked in and sat at the table next to us. There were probably about 10 of them. Smooth Like Butta', because he can't stop himself, immediately introduces himself and before you know it, we're surrounded by girls. They were all undergrads and they had all just arrived the day before. We chatted them up and had a good time. When the pub closed at 1030, they tried to get us to go clubbing with them in Leicester Square. Smooth Like Butta' wasn't going because he had to work in the morning (he did, however, secure on of the prettier girls' number - no surprise there). And I wasn't going for obvious reasons.

But that's when it hit me. Three months ago, I would have gone out, danced, and hooked up with one of them. I mean, they weren't exactly shy if you know what I mean. In fact, after living here since August, seeing the American girls at school - well, it's just that easy. I didn't even shave yesterday and I wasn't all poshed up - but it just doesn't matter.

I'll get to the point. While the Prototype and I don't have an exclusivity agreement, I've taken myself out of the game - and, noticeably, she has too. The other night she told me about some guy that she knows who chatted her up and asked her out while I was in Amsterdam. She told him no. Obviously, she told me that for a reason - women love to pull the strings. But I'm wiley as well and I'll tell her about last night next time I see her. At any rate, while she has so far been unwilling to attach any labels to "us", the slow procession toward companionship is undeniable and I'm over the moon about that.

The reason I labeled this post a "snapshot" is because last night is an example of just how cool this city is. You meet up with one of your best mates, before you know it you've met some like minded people, and later you have to option to hook up with nice looking girls if you so desire. Does a Sunday evening trip to a pub get any better than that?

Tomorrow, the Real World returns from the US. I'm looking forward to that. She may annoy me at times, but she's fun, she's a good person at heart, and the Prototype and I plan on introducing Real World and the Prototype's roommate because they're like soulmates. I don't know if we both share a sense of devilry, but our plan is get all four of us to go dancing at the Ministry of Sound (the biggest club in Europe - or so the marketing suggests), let them do their thing and we'll just focus on each other. I think they call that fighting fire with fire.