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i had a fantastic night yesterday. i met up with nina at applebees (where i ordered grilled chicken and veggies instead of my usual chicken fingers/fries) and then we headed to dallas for the mae concert (new amsterdams and verdera opened) at the gypsy ballroom. nina and i got lost on the way, but it made for some good laughs.

i am going to take the opportunity to have a short rant about concert ettique. i’ve been to a good number of shows in my lifetime. and i don’t know if the general concert-going population is just getting less aware about matters or if my aging is having an effect on my perceptions, but there were several instances last night where i was stunned by the total lack of consideration of the individuals around me. the most memorable impressions came from these two girls that stood in front of nina and i. nina is a cute little short thing, so we had tried to positions ourselves to allow nina maximum visibility. these two girls came through the crowd and were like, “excuse me… excuse me” while bulldozing their way through the crowd… nina and i had stepped aside, thinking that these two (rather large) girls were on their way to some destination… but no - they just stood in front of us. so after we got over that issue (and poor nina couldn’t see), one of the girls continues to rock back and forth. i understand that at shows, everyone is standing and that you’re bound to be pushed or bumped or touched by people. and that’s fine. but this girl had a huge purse on her that continued to whack me repeatedly when she moved around. and on the other end, her elbow would hit my chest in the more sensitive of areas. it was not pleasant - and i almost said something to her, but refrained b/c i hate conflict. these girls would jabber on and on during and in between the sets. it was insane. nina and i eventually got our places back when the girl left for the restroom. when she came back, she made a remark about “how did these whores get in front of us?” *sigh* i held my tongue. but i looked around and saw several instances of plain rudeness. i saw girls with huge purses everywhere (leave the bags at home, ladies - they only get in the way when you’re in a crowded room). i saw tall guys step in front of a group of small people without a thought or a look back to make sure others could see. it was just nuts. okay - rant over.

the show itself was great. nina and i arrived just as verdera was going on. we were in the bar section for most of that performance. i wasn’t blown away - they were good, but for some reason, bands with chick singers have the tendancy to have all their songs sound the same - and this band followed that trend. i dunno. they weren’t horrible by any means… i was just ready to see the other acts. new amsterdams rocked my face off. of course, most people are probably more familiar with the singer’s role in the get up kids, so when i was listening to his performance, i kept thinking a get up kids song was next. heh. they performed a song from their side band, the terrible twos… it’s basically a band that does little kids songs. but the song they did was super cute and i thoroughly enjoyed it. it was good to see them and their whole set was amazing. mae came on last and i was blown away. their energy and performance was great. i have only gotten into them in the last six months or so, but i really enjoy this band’s sound. it had been too long since i had been to a concert and i always forget how much i enjoy them. i love just feeling the music and the bass and the drums and just watching the performances. ’tis a good thing for the soul in my opinion.

i still haven’t gotten a scale for operation blubber bust - but i did weigh myself at jeromy’s house this morning. his scale is readily available, so for now, it’ll be used to track my progress. hopefully, by this time next week i can say that i’ve lost a couple of pounds. i’ve been good on my reduction of soda and more water intake thus far. i’ve been eating a lot of grilled chicken, too, and staying away from sweets for snacks. i had chicken at mom’s tonight and an apple for dessert.

not much slated for the rest of the weekend. i picked bacon up and while at mom’s house, i noticed that bacon was moping around the house like she was depressed. i guess dogs get bummed about stuff… but i can’t think of anything she’d be upset over. hopefully some fun time with me over the weekend will put some pep in her step. i’ve got church in the morning, which i’m actually looking forward to. i haven’t been in forever it seems b/c something keeps coming up every weekend. so far, nothing is planned for labor day - which suits me just fine.