Dance the night away

I've booked my tickets for the gig at Xmas, with my favourite band at CB Pub. My sister and brother-in-law are going, too. While no-one else has said anything, I'd be very surprised if there weren't others there - AM, QC1 in all likelihood. I suspect M could show his face if I told him about it.

There's an outside chance that Quiet Girl might show up too if I let her know. She seemed to be quite impressed by the band at the end of June .

Even if no-one else shows up, I'm already looking forward to it. 

Bah.

My brother-in-law sent a message at lunchtime. Did I want to go to the festival? I mentioned it in my last post. It's a music festival across the entire city centre. Facebook has been full of people having fun. But it's not really my thing. At least the music genre isn't really my thing.

I replied back and asked when they were thinking of going, I suggested that I'd probably go, but as it wasn't really my thing, I'd probably not hang around for long. I'd show my face, soak up some of the (supposedly excellent) atmosphere and then head back home once I'd had enough. And I reckon I'd probably not last 90 minutes, but it's the kind of thing that probably worth experiencing, right?

But that was hours ago. 

As I said, I'm not massively bothered about going, but still... I asked a direct question. Are they already there? When he said "later" did he mean this evening rather than the afternoon? I definitely got "afternoon" vibes from the message.

This is typical of my sister and brother-in-law. Communication is woeful. 

Get on down.

While out at CB Pub last night, I saw a poster for my favourite local band. They're playing CB Pub a few days before Christmas. It's a Wednesday night, but I'll likely be off work anyway, so a few beers and some great music would be very welcome.

I think it might be stress free this year, too. I think we (the adults in the family) have agreed to only buy the kids, so no stress about buying presents as the kids will just want money.

Let's dance!

I think yesterday's gig could be regarded as being A Great Success. For starters, Quiet Girl loved the band. She's not someone who's usually outwardly enthusiastic, but she was very positive about the band. On the other hand, I have mixed feelings about Mr Quiet Girl - he was very drunk. He didn't get very drunk but rather he seemed to be very drunk from his arrival, which wasn't a great look if you ask me. Additionally, he disappeared randomly and probably missed half the gig, though QG said he would likely do that.

Additionally, and as a complete surprise, AM and her family turned up.

Once I'd arrived and secured seats, I took a quick snapshot of the band finishing off their soundcheck. I posted it in the silent WhatsApp chat (remember that?) and captioned it with "I'm here, are you close?"

It was a sarcastic post as no-one had arranged anything except Mr AM posting about the gig.

Mr AM replied a few minutes later:

"We're on our way!"

I assumed the message was, like mine, sarcasm. So imagine my surprise when, 20 minutes later, AM and her family walked in through the door. I introduced AM to QG and we settled in for the gig.

We also put tentative plans in place for food and drinks towards the end of next month and bemoaned the fact that no-one else ever did any organising.

All-in-all, a great Sunday. 

Let's dance!

Quiet Girl IMed me earlier to say they'd decided that they were going to go to the gig at CB Pub. I've offered her M's ticket, which she's accepted. She wants to give me money, but I've shot that down. It's not a huge amount of money, but she won't take 'no' for an answer. We've agreed that she'll buy me a drink and that'll be payment.

Hmmm.

In the space of a few hours, both M an Quiet Girl have suggested they might not go to the Sunday afternoon gig in CB Pub with my favourite local band. Well, to be perfectly accurate, M has directly said that he won't be going due to his MM double-booking him for a birthday BBQ.

Quiet Girl has suggested that, because it's a tickets (i.e. paid) event and because she has guests over, they might not make it either due to price and potentially the guests wanting to sightsee rather than go to a gig.

I said that I'd be there regardless and if she does decide to go, I have a spare ticket courtesy of M's unavailability. 

Let's rock.

M was quite quick to reply earlier saying that he'd like to go to the gig at CB Pub in a few weeks time. I'll admit that I am surprised, but in a good way. I had half-expected him to say he had other commitments, but that wasn't the case. I'm looking forward to it already.

Groove on.

Quiet Girl's just sent a message about the music festival that's in town at the end of the month. We were talking about this a few weeks back at the last work's event. Her and her husband are taking in a few gigs that weekend, but they've also decided that they want to see my favourite local band who are playing that weekend as part of the same festival.

I've texted M to see if he wants to go. I'll happily go on my own - my ticket's been bought for a while, but I've not seen M in ages, so it'd be nice to have a pint and a catch-up. 

WTAF?

Remember a while back I said I'd like to go to more gigs? Well, I've not done too badly, since I made that a goal. I could do more, and I will, but I've been to more gigs in the past 12 months than probably the previous decade.

Anyway, a band I like will be in town in September. I've just found this out. Tickets are already limited availability. I checked anyway.

£236 

Two hundred and thirty six pounds. 

What the actual fuck? 

Woohoo!

I've spoken about them before, but one of my favourite local bands is playing CB Pub at the end of June, according to Facebook. It's a Sunday afternoon, strangely, but that wouldn't stop me from going. I went with M a few years ago, on a Friday night, but he was unavailable last year. I'll maybe fire him a text message this weekend about it.

Wince.

The back's in a bit of a state today. I think it was the gig with D. I was standing mostly still for nearly three hours. Despite the common advice for back stuff being to be active and move, I don't think that standing still counts. It was the same when I played pool with Nerdy Girl on Monday.

Memory Lane Again.

There was an announcement on Facebook about a band playing a local venue near the end of the year. It's a band that I was a huge fan of back in the day, so my interest was piqued. I wasn't even sure they were still active, never mind touring.

I think I've posted about them before in a post about AM and her university friend, Music Friend.

I think I'll probably go to the gig. Part of me wonders if Music Friend will attend, but as she's married with kids and lives out of town, I really doubt it. 

Oh dear.

Wouldn't you know it? I log on to my laptop this morning to a message from Quiet Girl.

"Are you going to this? I'm going with my friend."

It's our monthly work thing. And, yes, that friend.

FFS.

"I might pop in for a couple of drinks, but I'm out at a gig that night"

And then we started talking about other things. But the timing is not great. I've been wanting to meet QG's friend again since that night just over 18 months ago.

Like a bus.

I started thinking earlier about our work night out for this month. If my guess is correct, that'll be two weeks from tomorrow. So I was contemplating whether or not Quiet Girl would be out. I quite fancy being social this month.

Then I remembered that I am out with D that night at a gig. The night before that, I'm meeting a few ex-colleagues for dinner and drinks and the weekend before that I'm meant to be at KfW2's (unless she's forgotten).

So not bad at all. Definitely the most social I've been this year. 

Rock and roll

I was bemoaning my lack of socialising to a co-worker in the office yesterday. We had been talking about the monthly work event that's happening this evening.

So it was surprisingly, in a good way, when my brother-in-law sent a message this morning enquiring about heading out tomorrow night to see a band. I'd suggested it ages ago, but I'd completely forgotten about it.

I was initially torn. My football team is playing tomorrow evening and the match is being televised, so I had kinda already planned my Saturday night. But as I said, I've been complaining about a lack of socialising, so I agreed to go.

Rack 'em up.

When I was last out with D, FBS etc. we were talking about a gig that D and I went to earlier in the year. It wasn't a genre of music that I usually like, but D had a spare ticket and I wanted to get out of the house more.

It also helped that the artist in question was an attractive woman with a great rack.

"Didn't think that was your thing," queried FBS.

"Attractive women with great racks? I'm all for it." 

D pulled out his phone, did a search and showed FBS. 

"I don't think that's a great rack," she mused.

 I've stated plenty of times before that FBS has a great rack. Or she did when she was 21.

"Oh, it's great all right," confirmed D. 

 "Well, I disagree," sniffed FBS.

 So, yeah. We're going to see her again in a few month's time when she tours Europe.

Not bad.

Yesterday was a long, but fun, day. It started at lunchtime, with a meal and a few drinks with co-workers. Sadly, and unlike other teams I've worked with, people drifted off quite quickly once the meal was done. However, with lots of budget remaining, we spent it on expensive (and delicious) cocktails.

Then, at 7 PM, D and his wife arrived. I said goodbye to the two work colleagues and went to the gig, which was excellent. However, my back was really sore, just from the standing. I really need to get someone to look at it. I think I need to see my GP first and then use that as a basis to get any further treatment through my private health insurance.

I've spent the day chilling and watching the two Knives Out films. They were quite fun. 

Tune in.

I've just bought tickets to another gig, in December. That's two gigs in a matter of a few weeks at the end of November/start of December. I've said before that I wanted to go to more gigs, and I am. I've been to more gigs in the past 12 months than I have in the past 10 years.

The flip side is that I'm going on my own. I can do gigs on my own, but I prefer doing stuff with other people, sharing the experience, making it something more than just a gig.

 Beggars can't be choosers though, so solo gigging it is.

All I Really Want.

KfW2 was on time, but she arrived with friends. This wouldn't be an issue if we saw each other more frequently, but when we're only seeing each other a few times a year, our time is at a premium. However, they were nice, we had a couple of drinks then they went on their way to the gig. So minimal disruption to my plans, but disruption nonetheless.

KfW2 and I stayed on at CB Pub for another few drinks before we ambled down. The conversation was interesting once her friends left. She admitted something. Something that she was worried about, that was out of character for her, that she'd apparently not told her husband. My take was that it was concerning, but probably not as bad as she was making out. She seemed to take that on board.

She asked me if she'd lost weight. I replied "yes" instantly because I had noticed it and was wondering how to bring it up.

"I see it in your face a little, " I explained.

Not the whole truth. I think she was a little less... busty... than I remember, too.

The conversation carried on. KfW2 continues to surprise me by knowing what to say because she mentioned that she was glad I invited her to the gig, not just to see Alanis Morissette, but to spend time with me.

"I love the time we spend together," she shared.

 I reciprocated the sentiment. We both know, but it's always nice to hear (and share). I've been feeling quite lonely and isolated this year, so it's reassuring to have someone say that.

The gig was good, but could have been a little better. We got a decent view and the sound was amazing for an outdoor gig. But the set list was missing a good few of my favourite songs, sadly, and it felt a little impersonal due to there being no real interaction with the crowd.

By the end of the gig, we had to return to CB Pub to meet KfW2's friends so she could get a lift home. At this stage, my stomach was really starting to play up, so the final drink we got wasn't really sitting well with me.

But we parted ways as they went off to get food. I got a hug and another reminder that she loves my company.

And that was it... something I've been waiting over six months for.

And despite the fact I only had about 4 drinks last night, I feel like it was about 10. I should have taken today off and had a lie in. Oh... and it did rain a little, but not enough to put a dampener on the evening.

Let's go.

I called KfW2 last night to nail down arrangements for later, as I promised I would on Thursday. She didn't pick up. At the moment, I'm going to assume our tentative plans haven't changed: meet at CB Pub for drinks around 6:30, then head to the gig after an hour or so. That means me leaving the house shortly after 6 PM.

The weather has changed, but not improved. There are no longer warnings for thunderstorms, but the rain seems to be pretty persistent from the time I'm meant to leave the house.

And, as of this moment,  it looks like I've avoided CC inviting herself along. I'm pretty sure the weather is a factor here. Princess CC wouldn't want to get wet.