Season Three, Episode Three: Single in the City goes to St. Louis!

The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacists Educational Showcase was in St. Louis this year. The consensus that I have gathered was not a favorable one; actually, I don't think anyone said anything remotely positive about St. Louis.

The weather throughout trip was actually quite wonderful: low 70s and sunny throughout the day, and a crisp mid 50s at night, which is apparently quite different from the "normal" weather pattern in St. Louis; one day it will be sunny, the next it is pouring down rain.

The conference itself was well worth my of time, though I would say this year as compared to last year, the speakers were a bit disappointing. This year, we had the "Three Doctors", who I thought were very inspirational, but the fact that that I flew into St. Louis that morning via a redeye flight meant finding creative ways in trying to stay awake: coffee, self-inflicted pinches in multiple areas, and the occasional slap in the face. CMS Deputy Administration and Director Jonathan Blum delivered the Friday Keynote, and you can tell that he's not very used to public speaking; he's a very intelligent man, but perhaps his nervousness made him speak without any pauses (not even for breath breaks).

I didn't get to go to as much educational showcases this year compared to last year (not getting reimbursed = no required events to attend), though the ones that I did attend were quite useful. I especially enjoyed my roundtable discussion about medication adherence; now I don't feel so lost about my project.

Our search for our Friday night entertainment was quite entertaining, to say the least. Most of the UCSF contingents stayed at the Four Seasons, so we tried to hang out around the area, which was Laclede's Landing, a nine-block industrial area with cobblestone streets and vintage brick-and-cast-iron warehouses. One thing that I made sure we DIDN'T do was cross the Mississippi, into East St. Louis; apparently, it's not a very safe place.

For dinner, we decided on getting our grub on at The Old Spaghetti Factory. I hadn't been to one in years! After dinner, we strolled along N. 2^nd Street, trying to look for a "happening place". Walking down this street reminded me of Tijuana for some reason. Sleazy doorman trying to get you into their bars. Even sleazier men clogging up the street hooting and hollering. At one place, there was a scantily clad rail-thin woman shaking her pom-poms. Seriously. True story.

I don't remember the name of the bar that we eventually went into, but what caught our attention was the "$1 shots/$2 jaeger shots" sign out front; it was too much to pass up. The place was decidedly "gritty" and "grungy". They served their shots on ketchup container cups (WTF?). The DJ played a LOT of late 90's/early 2000's songs, but to his defense, he was VERY responsive my song requests. Though I think the people that were there were looking at us funnily, especially when my song requests came on; I don't think this place regularly see people dancing to dance music.

It is in this bar where I heard the weirdest pick-up line someone has ever used on me; A scruffy, buttoned-up shirt dressed man, perhaps in his mid 20s, came up from behind me with his flipped phone opened up as if he's ready to take a number, and asked: "Hey, are you a hairdresser?" Now, I'm not sure if this was the "code phrase" in Missouri for "Are you gay?", but nonetheless, I missed that whole exchange. And he was actually kinda cute. Bummer.

We ended the night at a bar titled "Big Daddy". We passed by this place on our way to the hotel on Wednesday, and they were playing music on full blast at 9 AM; yeah, it's THAT kind of place. I was half-expecting this place to be crawling with the "corn-fed Midwestern" folks and I was half-right. The good thing about the nightlife in St. Louis is that some places stay open until 3 AM, with last call 40 minutes before closing time. I was also amazed at how cheap it was going out in St. Louis! One round of drinks for 5 people cost me about the same as 1 drink here in the city.

Most of the UCSF contingency left on Saturday morning/afternoon, but I thought that I'd take a later flight to play tourist. I was gonna try to go to the Arch, but apparently I had to be there BEFORE 10 to avoid the crowd, so I passed on that. I also wanted to go to St. Louis Museum of Art, which actually sounded kinda interesting: they had a very eclectic art collection as part of their permanent collection, plus they had some Impressionist/Post-impressionist paintings by Monet, Degas, Gauguin, and van Gogh ), but I woke up too late; I didn't get out of the hotel until 12:30. That and I had an assignment due on midnight Saturday that I had to finish, so I just strolled around Laclede's Landing, ate lunch al fresco while working on my assignment. There was a classic car show that I checked out; I had never been a car enthusiast, but I was able to appreciate the stunningly immaculate condition of these early to mid-century cars.

Would I ever come back to St. Louis? The weather could've fooled me to think I was in San Diego. The nightlife wasn't as horrible as I thought it'd be. So I guess, maybe. Though next time, I'll be prepared for any weird pickup lines that may come my way.