Between David's visit, Thanksgiving, my thesis committee meeting, and some girl drama—all of which I will get to in due time (which would seem to be about a month)—I haven't updated in a couple of weeks. So, moving on...
11/4
Due to the incompetence (or possibly laziness) of a collaborator, the consequent impatience of our respective PIs, and the odd hours that he keeps, I had to bother with going
back into lab after the seminar to fix some bullshit, and consequently missed happy hour with 'Brina and her crew, but caught up with them for some dinner at Chuy's—and got to meet the famous Jackie. Additionally, one of the waiters noticed my Modest Mouse shirt and asked if I was going to the show.
I took off afterwards for the Saucer to meet up with the birthday celebration for Oliver, his friend Cathy, and First Year Chris. I had some really nice beer, including Live Oak's Big Bark Amber, which had a nice fruity finish. The "partying" didn't last very long, but I had a good time. I talked with Cathy's super cute and nice sister (who sadly didn't remember me), and got to know the first years better. The waitresses there, by the way, are fucking kryptonite, all tight t-shirts, short skirts, and FMBs. One of these noticed my Modest Mouse shirt and asked (again!) if I was going to the show. Had I really thought aobut it, I would have realized that these ocurrences were probably a bad sign...
I realized when I got home that Wanda's keys had fallen out of my pocket in the Saucer (thankfully not outside on the street), so, another trip back downtown to pick them up, back to the apartment, and then taking the dogs on a walk.
11/5
I had an apointment with
River Oaks Car Stereo to install an adapter for my iPod, which worked brilliantly with my old 4G 20 GB, but tragically did nothing when connected to my iPod nano; an issue which still remains unsolved. The part that works has been nice, but for what I paid, not only should it work flawlessly, but it should bring me a margarita and rub my shoulders after a hard day at work. The car stereo place has passed the buck to the company that made the adapter, who I need to make time to call.
After walking the dogs, I headed over to the graduate school picnic for some barbecue, some socializing, and two kegs of St. Arnold's Wheat. Oliver was there, and he and I tend to be bad influences on each other, so I had a nice buzz by the time I left to go do laundry.
As if the random strangers asking me about Modest Mouse wasn't enough of a bad sign, the Modest Mouse/Walkmen show at the Meridian was actually a Camel Cigarettes promotional event called Sin City. Things began looking worse as Jeff and I looked for parking. The Meridian's lot was full, and there were no spots to be found on the street withing several blocks' radius. Some guy tried to flag us down to a spot which would have been in no way legal, and then later when I found one that was better (if still shady), he had ridden up on his bicycle to help me parallel park.
Look, asshole, get a real job. I don't fucking need your help parking, and if you aren't wearing a badge, or at least a semi-official looking t-shirt, I don't want you claiming that you'll keep an eye on my car, particularly not in exchange for money. We had to park across the highway, a first.
Going in, we were greated with a "welcome to Sin City" by representatives of Camel Cigarettes, whom I refrained myself from replying to with obscenities. We walked past the fake gambling, the fake tattoo parlor, and the fake wedding chapel to the main room where we caught the beginning of the Walkmen's set.
It was strange. I could tell they were up there, rocking their little hearts out, but any energy they were projecting outward immediately got sucked up like a sponge by the crowd of frat boys and their awkwardly dancing girlfriends. Strangely, they didn't seem to appreciate the OC-approved band. One day, I'll be able to see them in a venue and with a crowd that does them justice, but not that day...
After a fake burlesque show, a fake enthusiastic announcer in a glittery suit came out to introduce the band (indie bands: do not under any circumstances allow yourselves to be introduced). Then, Modest Mouse came out.
Two things happened. One, the frat boys yelled out the words to even the band's older material, in a completely obnoxious manner, while their girlfriends continued in their attempts to dance to music that was not made to be danced to. Two, Modest Mouse played a great show. Apparently, the crowd had already neutralized as much of the rock as they could, and it was left to Modest Mouse to continue to oversaturate the room with rock. Like the show this spring, they opened with Dramamine, which was nice. They also played a couple of completely surprising selections: "Here It Comes" and "Breakthrough" which are moderately obscure. "Breakthrough" in particular was played well with tons of energy. They did repeat their previous mistake of trying to jam on a completely understated song ("Good Times Are Killing Me", perhaps?). Modest Mouse: you are not Dave Matthews Band, nor Widespread Panic, nor any of the others. Please don't pretend to be. There were also some nice moments where Isaac made fun of the crowd, explaining that no, the band did not take requests (not that it stopped people from yelling them out), and also observing that, unlike the audience members trying to make it up to the stage, no one from the band had tried to make it out into the audience. There were others rendered incomprehensible by the venue's always shitty sound.
Annoyances aside, it was still a damned fine show; probably the best I've seen them. I just wish that all those fuckers hadn't been there to make it harder to enjoy.
It was late when we got out. I had missed out on one of Viraj's beach bonfires, sadly. I talked to new acquaintance Kim when she was on her way back, and in another example of why girls mystify me, she told me about how she was out on the beach when some "completely gross guy" asked her if she wanted to make out, a request which she complied with, even after she decided she didn't really want to and had to be rescued by Char. Char: "We need to get that girl some self esteem."
I also attempted to catch up with Chris/Lauren/Zana after Zana's birthday night of clubbing at Mai's, but Zana was really in no shape to be out in public by that point, so we ended up calling it a night.
11/6
Something probably happened on Sunday. I have no idea what it would be, though.
