Worship God in The Stuff That's Not Interesting But Is The Most Interesting Stuff I'll Write

The other night Bane took me to see a live music show. I was a little hesitant for two reasons. The first being that I’m very picky about live music, and Bane’s taste in music wasn’t exactly in line with mine. There have been flashes where we’re on the same page (he once mentioned a very deep DEEP cut Stevie Nicks song as one of his favorites), but in general, he seems to hang out at rave clubs that play the same double-time chugging music that bored me to tears in 1997.

The other is that his friend was coming along. Now, I’m always highly suspicious of other people. It’s just in my nature, so if someone I don’t really know is going, that’s usually a huge red flag for me, and Maria was definitely that. I’d met her the previous week, and she seemed pleasant enough, but she started whining that she needed to eat over and over again like a child.

At first, it was quietly amusing. Despite her name being Maria, she appears to be from some caucasian country, and when I say caucasian, I mean it literally. Her accent is not Spanish at all, it sounds vaguely Ukrainian but it could also be Germanic, like Austrian. I really can’t place it, and I’m usually really good at accents (my first guess had been Russian, but I took that back quickly). She hardly ever spoke except to shout out the name of some restaurant nearby that had good reviews. I left because one of my biggest pet peeves are people who wrangle a whole group into going on some side quest simply because they forgot to have food before they came.

(I’ll give you a good example of how this played out in a moment because when Bane told me what happened, I stared at my phone in disbelief for about 10 minutes…)

Two days before, my bank account had been hacked and drained with purchases for some stupid video game, therefore I had to take a different kind of transportation. Bane came with me and we found Maria sitting out front of the venue, her long pink hair whipping around her in tendrils, she was pouting into the phone about the rain.

Thai people are like Angelenos (people from Los Angeles), they think the rain is a sign of the apocalypse.

We sat out front for an abnormally long amount of time, until finally we were called inside for the start of the show. Bane and Maria moved to the front and asked why I was standing at the back, I looked at him and said, “I am the tallest person in the room. I can stand anywhere and see over everyone but it’s rude of me to stand in the front and block the view!” Tall people etiquette never occurs to short people.

The band was good. Great even. No singing, just dynamic instrumentation that veered between really hard rock, trip-hop sounding compositions, and one song that was clearly meant to be a dance song but played entirely with traditional instruments looped by their technician. It was dazzling.

As I was listening, I started noticing the reaction people were having. This kind of visceral emotion that reminded me of church. I haven’t seen that kind of startling, passionate reaction to music since I was going to church. They were writhing, shouting and wholeheartedly throwing themselves around. Even though there were no words, each song clearly had an emotional center behind it. It really made me feel a certain way.

As days have gone by and I have reflected on that whole night, I realize that it reminded me of some kind of youthful passion that now feels like an echo down a long corridor. The energy can’t reach my wing of the house any longer.

After the show, the rain was coming down and I was immediately treated to a symphony of nature. The storm was so bad that even I wouldn’t consider going outside during it, but it was definitely more than I could bear.

The whole time, Maria complained about how hungry she was (I don’t doubt it, because she’s thinner than I am… and I’m so thin, I’m being treated by a doctor!). So then we start walking to this Japanese place nearby, which is only serving alcohol. Then she’s going to lead us down to Sukhumvit, which is probably a 30 minute walk, to some other place.

It was at this point, I decided to head home. I don’t have the patience to follow Maria to all the eating places she thinks are open because it says so on Google Maps. I later talked to Bane, and he told me that they spent 3 hours walking down Sukhumvit Road looking for a place she liked.

Fuck that. You just commandeered the entire evening because you forgot to grab a fucking bagel on your way out the door.

Now, when people in a group of my friends say “I’m hungry”, I just shrug and say “sucks for you”…

Last updated September 25, 2023