steam&rye

i took it as a compliment that the mister chose steam&rye for our fridate. i mean, it's a really noisy bar / club with scantily-clad dancing girls. so, typically, where you'd bring a good-looking but uninteresting date because the surrounding frenzy spares you from having to make awkward small talk. and if i was being absolutely honest, talking was the last thing i wanted to do after an emotionally exhausting week in oncology. steam&rye truly boggled the mind. 

in a funny way, it was confusing on so many levels. 

firstly, you're made to feel like you're in a swanky trans-american train, complete with moving scenery outside the window.  

secondly, it's the former bank of new york. so american flags and regalia aplenty. 

then there are the dancing girls who appear and disappear amidst smoke machine smoke. 

followed by abrupt changes in music and fanfare whenever someone orders a big drink i.e. shark / crocodile / dinosaur head. the staff slip into hulu dancers / indiana jones garb, respective theme music is played and the head is delivered to the table in a flurry of sparklers. which rui, my astute friend, was quick to recognise as no. 7 on this list.

last but not least, some of the drinks glow a radioactive green.

it was mildly unsettling to be amidst such hedonism after the onco rotation. i went from seeing people fighting tooth and nail for survival, wringing all possible meaning out of their remaining time, to a crowd that was quite certainly going to see tomorrow, hungover or otherwise.