Butch Walker and Train

Picture it.
April 10 2010.
Fox Theater.
Oakland California.


The lights dim and Butch is alone on stage. "Closer to the Truth and Further From the Sky" is the start of the show. The theater is maybe half full. The Black Widows join him on stage for an hour of music. Pat from Train comes out for a cover of Hall and Oats Rich Girl.

Train is next up and were fabulous! A fun new video was shot during their performacnce as well. All in all a great venue for live music and two great acts.

The First Phone Conversation

As I journey through the world of dating (including online dating) I am struck by how the simplest tasks are the most daunting. Are men as insecure as women? Do they have minor anxiety attacks when the first call is needed to be made?

I have recently been tasked with the "give me a ring sometime". First reaction. Shit. How did this happen to me? Then the negotiations began. I needed to outline the when and how the call would take place. At this point I am thinking I am a total control freak and need to snap out of it. But how do you call up someone who you only know their first name and they only know yours...and to make matters worse we both have extremely common names. So the "Hey John, it's Kathy" does not fly. He could know four other Kathy's or derivations of the name Katherine. And we didn't exchange last names. I certainly do not need a stalker or like the guy who somehow found meon facebook.

So the other night is when I agreed would be the night of the phone call. As I was wrapping up one last review, I was convincing myself it was no big deal to call this person. Needless to say I needed to pace around the entire office floor as I talked to remove the nervousness from my voice during the conversation.

I am glad to report it was fine. I was psyching myself out for no reason what so ever. And even knowing it will be fine, I will still have anxiety in the future with the first conversations and phone calls.

Herding Kittens

Our experience of herding kittens was not so cute. Some relatives came in to town recently and have different definition of "quick". Either my friend and I don't care about make-up or hair or these girls care too much. I would have thought the fact they would still be on East Coast time the morning routines would be finished by the time we needed to leave. Oh no...was I mistaken. I think there are some people that have to be late...even to their own timed events. I must have a thing for being on time. am I crazy?

Eddie Izzard Stripped

Picture it. Saturday January 23 2010. Two fearless woman drive to the Oracle Arena to procure tickets to that night's show. As we drive up to the parking area we see a signing stating $30 to park! 30 dollars! WTF? So we flip a chewy and park along a side street near the BART walkway overpass. The crowd walking to the show is minimal along the way. We are getting more and more excited the closer we get to the arena.

Box office OPEN! Good sign! We walk up to one of the open windows and inquire about the discounted tickets that we saw online a few days earlier. Why buy online with all the ticketbastard charges ($11 plus the $2.50 for the building fees)? The woman tells us that she does not have discounted tickets but to check the next window over. Our thoughts...why wouldn't both box office windows see the same tickets? oh well. so we walk to the next box office window and ask the same question. This woman tells us that those tickets were for internet sales only. Sigh. "Do you have any $50 tickets left?" She asks "How many?". I reply "there are 2 of us". At that moment the woman from the next window leans over as our box office lady hands us pre-printed tickets that someone had turned in because they could not use them. She even tells us which doors will get us into the show faster! We thank the two women repeatedly and nearly ran to the door. We were nervous that this was a joke but the tickets scanned and we were in.

What LUCK! What KARMA!

The show was fabulous! Eddie is a must see for anyone who enjoys learning and English comedy!

All in all we saved $160!

LOL Speak

LOL speak is not appropriate for emailing a potential suiter. The person was in his early 30s, okay so english is not his first language but he came to the United States to learn english. He certainly learned the IM speak for the US. I have included an example I recently received below.

hi..!!! well..I liked ur profile...u r pretty beautiful...beautiful smile.. if I have chance, answer me and I can talk more about me.

see u... ( I hope...)

Please. I do not think of myself as a stuck-up bitch but I must comment on the text and included a list of things wrong. I am sure you can list some I have missed.
1. Capitalization is useful when beginning an email.
2. One exclaimation point is enough. Three is a bit much.
3. Periods. I can understand using more than one occasionally but...
4. Please show me you have some self confidence and not needy. No one wants a needy man.

Stay tuned!

Death of a Potential Suitor

I am learning the lessons of dating slowly...

Here are a few that have been learned. I am sure there will be more added as I go through this journey.
1. If someone wants to see me they will not wait a month between dates.
2. Don't confuse concern with interest (thanks aaron for this gem).
3. NEVER meet for more than a drink (thank you everyone for not enforcing this one).
4. There are going to be more bad than good.
5. someone who has 420 in their screen/user name...please don't apply!

To be continued

The Nachos

I go into every meeting with an open mind...I swear. I was told to limit first meeting to coffee...to make escaping easier. I threw caution to the wind and agreed to pub trivia night! A commitment of at least 2 hours (for those who have not participated in this usually wonderful Tuesday Event). I made the trek through the tunnel and met the prospective suitor (after hunting for a place to park for 10 minutes - no parking chi which probably should have clued me to the evening). So I finally get into the bar/pub and make my way to the room set aside for the trivia (yes a separate room).

He first inspects to make sure I am wearing high heels...seriously! I am starving and in need of a beverage. And he is amazed that I drink beer! but this is not the important part of the evening. The nachos. I am told I am a picky eating...all those people can suck it! Nachos were ordered with everything on the side! yes everything but the cheese! No joke. How is this considered NAchos? I was amazed! Needless to say, I was told how smart I am and blah blah blah.

When someone says new york I assume new york not new jersey. Not being from the east I don't see why someone would NOT make the distinction, they are two different states. So many questions!

Side question: Why is it that when a girl is with another guy they check us out but when alone we are lepers?