Sunday, August 09, 2009

hoo-boy

I hate posting pictures of myself online - especially the crappy self-portraits I’ve been taking of late, but this *so* captures yesterday.

I went to (surprise!) Connecticut to see Instrument play the Hungry Tiger. 

There was a quick dinner at Shady Glen with some friends from college (including a now-Belgian!) and then we headed to Mischief Central.  I decided to wear an old t-shirt, just because I could (and it matched the Thuja socks better than any other clean blue t-shirts living in my closet).  BiG MiSTAKE was to yesterday what Instrument is to today, and there was a hidden agenda to the decision. It was the right decision. It did not go unnoticed and the conversation was very welcome and generated a double entendre shout out from the stage. It’s the little things. *snicker*

I think my most, most favorite part of the night was talking to the lead singer of Black Mountain Symphony. He recognized me from Albany - “Hey, New Hampshire!” - and blew my mind. This is how most new people I’m meeting through Instrument are introduced to me: “She drove all the way from NEW HAMPSHIRE to see us play!” Derek is really good at talking me up when I travel to far-flung locales by myself to see the band. It cracks me up because not a single one of them know my name, only that I’m Instrument’s slave. (I mean “willing volunteer.”)

My second favorite part of last night was seeing my ex-boyfriend from high school. The conversation behind my back went something like this: “Has she seen you yet?” “No.” “We’ll know when she does.” Yeah, I squealed pretty loudly and did so several times. It was so nice to see him again! We ended our relationship on a pretty good note and he is still a valued friend, even if we’re not as close as we used to be. After I moved to Ohio, I got a letter from him telling me that my loss of my mother inspired him to meet his father. He’s really close to that side of his family now and it means a lot to me that he not only reached out to them, but let me know that it was because of me. *So* glad I got to thank him for that letter in person! I was amazed at how comfortable it was to hang out with him again. I missed him and there were many renewed promises of catching some Bruins or Baby B’s/Wolfpack games (Matty Gilroy will most likely wind up in Hartford since they’re the Rangers’ affiliate). We’ll definitely have to introduce the spouses next time.

My third favorite part would have to be the conversation held in a dark corner of the bar. It’s kind of hard to make the recap PG-13, but let’s just say that advice can come from the oddest places and I forgot how “sheltered” some of my friends can be (and conversely, how insane others are. Pot, kettle. Got it. Movin’ on).

I think that Instrument found their perfect opening act. Black Mountain Symphony really compliments their music. They jammed together at the end and that, alone, was worth the price of admission. It’s a shame the guys are from Albany! It’s a little bit of a trek for them…

OK. I’m off to go enjoy my Sunday. Play nice, kids!