Tales of an Antisocial

So, I got off work yesterday, and picked up Scott from his place. We hung around my place until around 830pm or so. Then, it was time to go to Stage Stop to see Brian and his band, Fulton's Point, play. There were two other bands, too, but I wasn't as interested in those.

I arrived, and who did we see there already but Tish and her husband? While I don't care for Tish in a professional sense, she's okay on a personal level. As long as you don't dig too deeply. They invited us to sit at their table, which we did, though I felt vaguely uncomfortable doing. I made it a point not to bring up anything related to work while there. I didn't want to know.

As the evening progressed, I became more surly. It was brought on by some unwanted attention from the table near ours. Some girls had settled into it, and it was in the path to the big screen television that was playing the Grizzlies-Bucks game, and then the Spurs-Kings game. I was watching that, drinking my first Bud Light of the evening, when I noticed they kept turning around. I finally dropped my eyes to the table, and realized that they were staring at me. I figured that they thought I was staring at them, because they appeared to be lesbians. (No, I mean one of the women was sitting in such a way to facilitate her having her arm around the other. I could be wrong, but I got that vibe.)

I ducked back into my drink, and waited for the cheese sticks and fries I had ordered. She brought our pitcher* of beer out. I don't like attention of those I don't know, especially in a place that I'm unfamiliar with. I began to retreat into my shell. I'd probably have left outright, if not for the fact that I told Brian I would be at the show, and I'd already skipped out on him once before.

Then, I began to feel funny, like someone had slipped me a mickey or something. I quit drinking entirely, and told Scott he could finish off the pitcher. I just sat there, and moderated my breathing and staying relaxed. I knew that if I still felt bad when I was ready to leave, I wouldn't be able to let myself do so.

Finally, at 10pm, the show began, and I could ignore everyone around me. Brian and his group played amazingly well. They all had a great amount of energy and talent. You could tell that playing on stage was what they loved to do.Their songs were all original, too. Their catalog of 8-10 songs was good, but they had to come up with something that wasn't totally finished when they got hit up for an encore. That one was one of the best, though. Hehe..

I began to feel better, though I was uncomfortably aware that they were pushing us to buy more beer (not us in particular, but I didn't want to draw attention to myself). After Fulton's Point finished, I decided to go. I talked to Brian briefly, and congratulated him on a good show. Scott tried to get someone's phone number, and had an epiphany that he's most able to do it when he's had more beer.

I took Scott home, and went home myself. By the time I got home, I was stumbling, but it was from exhaustion, not alcohol. I settled into my chair, and browsed web pages. For some reason, I was rather awake. I hated that. Around 130pm, I finally went to sleep. And slept I did.

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* - They call it "pitcher", I call it "rather large glass." Tish and her husband called it a "baby pitcher".

Where am I going? Neverwhere!

I slept okay, and long. I should have stayed up when I woke at 9am, though.

I dreamed all last night, but it's only the last bit that stuck in my mind. Aron and I were in my car, going to Arby's. I think someone else might have been there, but I cannot remember now. I pulled into the parking lot, and one of those full-size trucks began backing up. It backed OVER my car, seriously harming the top of it in the process. I got out, yelling obscenities, and demanding his insurance information.

This guy and his wife got out of the truck, and he didn't seem to care that he'd hurt my car. The wife seemed somewhat apologetic, though it didn't help. It's at this point that the dream shifted slightly, and I was parked instead of pulling in. The only problem was that I was parked above a "No Parking" sign that was painted into the parking lot. So, I knew that I wouldn't get anything out of my claim.

I began to cry. I felt miserable. I saw the guy and his wife go inside Arby's to use the phone. I was looking at my car, which looked worse than before. I got in, so that I could move it away from the "No Parking" letters, and it wouldn't start. I have NEVER heard a car sound like this one did. About that point, the guy came back, smiling from ear to ear.

His wife, who was still out there (for some reason), looked at him, and he said, "Good news. We're okay. This guy can't claim anything because of melissanation."

I looked at him, and asked what that was. He explained that melissanation was the technical term for more than one accident inside fifty miles. (So, you have an accident, and then have another one less than 50 miles later on your odometer, you fall under this clause.) I began to cry harder, and leaped for his throat. I had lost it all. I was doomed. I was...

...awake, staring at my wall. I got up, and checked on my car. It was so real that I had trouble differentiating the dream from reality. Once I was convinced that my car was okay, I calmed considerably, but I didn't go back to sleep.

Instead, I did laundry. I hung them outside, even though they were freezing on the line. Would you believe that it still works? It's not quite as fast, but most of the clothes I pulled in were mostly dry.

Because it felt like a Saturday for doing so, I watched my Neverwhere DVD. I've finished all six episodes, and am thoroughly glad that I did. I love that series. Neil Gaiman was a writer for the series, and was involved in the process. It showed in spades. Whenever I thought something had strayed from the book*, I was rewarded by realizing I was wrong. Mostly. (One thing changed that I could remember, but it wasn't the end of the world.)

So, my Saturday is almost over, and I've done my laundry, watched Neverwhere, drank hot tea all day, and came up with a character concept that may - or may not - work for the Shadowrun game tomorrow. Of course, it'll require being a magic-user. We'll see. Neverwhere has put me in a mind to do something Victorian Age with Grimm or even standard D&D. I got an adventure idea or two out of it as well. *shrug* We all know what will happen with that, though, don't we?

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* - Which is funny. Since the mini-series came first, it's technically the book that's different, not the series. :)