Take Me Out Tonight. Meow.

Since returning to D.C. for good (and by "for good," I mean for a month...which at this point feels like a long time to stay put), I have succeeded in going out every single night. This is huge for me.

Let's get real here. SCL and I were B-O-R-I-N-G most of the time. He's much more content to sit at home, make pizza, watch The Office, and play on the computer. There's nothing wrong with this...for him. But me? I'm someone who needs to be around people, and since I work from home, I have to spend my after-work hours getting all of that social interaction I lack from not working in an office. But for the last year or so, I'd really secluded myself, convinced myself I was happy a lot of the time to hang out at home and be with SCL. It was really enjoyable, but it also made me a less interesting person.

Now that I'm going out and doing things, I am beginning to feel more like myself. And I don't feel like I'm doing it to spite him, to prove to myself how much more fun I am than SCL is. It's just that we're really different when it comes to how we like to spend our time, and for whatever reason I felt like I had to tone down my socialite tendencies. And very rarely did I ask him to do the same for me. This was a big mistake I made in the relationship.

So, last night I had a fucking blast doing one of my favorite things--singing karaoke at the gay bar next to my house. One of the groups I've recently joined was having a special event there, and I thought, "Hells yeah, perfect excuse to sing and make a fool of myself whilst drinking beers." I dragged my friends A. and B. with me, and signed them up for songs.

I find it's a lot easier to flirt on stage than off it, so karaoke is actually a good way for me to start talking to guys because I get a lot less nervous singing a song than I do talking with a new guy. Especially in a bar when it's hard to hear and other people are doing really horrible renditions of Journey, and I have to keep screaming "What?!" No, it's more fun to get up on stage and kick some ass singing Reba McIntire's "Fancy."

When I got off stage, I found about five (straight!) guys had joined the table. Now most of them were pretty nerdy, but one was actually pretty cute, although he had strangely manicured eyebrows which made me think twice about the straight thing. But he was hitting on me. Big time. Now it's been several years since I've been single, and my flirting muscles have atrophied. I felt like a bumbling idiot at first. But the thing about flirting is, it doesn't take too much long to get it back, and by the end of the night I was actually enjoying it.

That's why I decided to get up and sing "Out Tonight." Right after I signed up, the amazing Katie at Date Me, DC! showed up, despite having to be up in the wee hours of the morning. (She kicked some serious ass on "Son of a Preacher Man.") I went up to the bar to get us some beers when a woman approached me at the bar and asked if I was singing again. When I told her I'd be singing Rent, she asked if I planned to do the whole dance--and then offered to be my pole. Yikes. Well, I was at a gay bar. Later she asked if she could buy me a drink. She looked kind of heartbroken when all I wanted was a glass of water. Is it a tease to be a straight person at a gay bar?

But anyway, Well-Manicured-Eyebrows guy was upping the flirtation ante, and Katie informed me, "He really wants to bang you!" Instead of asking for my number, he asked me if I was on Facebook. Now forgive my ignorance, but is this the new version of "Can I have your number?" I guess with smartphones it's easier to look someone up that way, and you know a helluva lot more about them if you're Facebook friends. You know, like a person's last name.

The night ended innocently, but I seriously had a blast. And when I got home at 1:00 am, I had five new friend requests--one from each of the men at the table.

Maybe this being single won't be so bad after all.