From: Beaver_Fever@live.com   
      
   It was actually a good one. Though I had pretty much given up (again) after a   
   pretty discouraging pandemic era attempt at finding better lockdown   
   companionship than my roommate and his cat. And 48 years with little   
   experience or success, completely    
   impoverished until around age 40, but still no car and don't have my own place   
   etc, HUGE disqualifying factors leaving little hope if I ever want decent   
   female company. Not to mention deep personal flaws that just cannot be fixed.   
      
   And I returned to my old pre-pandemic life which is pretty intensely paced,   
   this time without even pretending to let something like a job get in the way   
   and with no intention of slowing down or altering it one iota for anyone else.   
   However I had been    
   invited to join Facebook dating so I did. Typical waste of time, even more so   
   since most of my matches are in Mexico! But it's free and no upsell and few   
   stolen pictures of eastern European models hitting my feed.   
      
   Rarely initiate contact or anything though I sometimes made indecent proposals   
   through Google translate with predictable results.   
      
   But this one match, basically a massive fan of a certain band saying other   
   fans should contact her. Now I am not a fan and actually let it go a few days.   
   But as a super music fan and avid concert goer (like every night, really) I   
   had to say something.    
   You see, even though us super fans see ourselves as having some sort of   
   inherent exceptionalism but most people see us as total kooks, not much   
   different than the 50 year old who still plays with Star Wars toys. I mean I   
   am a massive Rolling Stones fan    
   and even I find some of their fans to be completely bonkers even beyond my   
   tolerance.    
       
   So my mind kept returning back and I really had to at least make an attempt to   
   talk to her and still find some sort of common ground. So I contacted her to   
   tell her I saw the band on their first little bar tour, if not the hundreds of   
   times they played    
   since. Totally expected to get blown off but conversation kept going and   
   numbers were exchanged.    
      
   And her reaction to my lifestyle was I WANT YOUR LIFE. Though it's not so much   
   fun as it looks on my Facebook feed, but constant unrelenting need for   
   escapism. We met for dinner once, hit it off thought I didn't feel an   
   immediate sexual attraction but I    
   liked her and talking to her and sharing stories and experiences with constant   
   texts and possible future meetings. I am just happy to have a possible new   
   friend but no idea what she is thinking.    
      
   Saturday's concert was mostly sold out, I was going to go and find a ticket   
   outside and was prepared to pay a lot if I had to as it involved a few bucket   
   list bands of advancing age. But the night before I was just handed a pair and   
   went ahead and put it    
   on blast in case any friends wanted to join me.    
      
   She was the first to respond with I wanna go!    
      
   Concerts, for me at least, do not work as dates. Going every night doesn't   
   mean I am rich, it just means I know how to do it cheap. Find cheap tickets on   
   the crashing secondary market, take the bus, don't eat and drink inside. And   
   say it again, don't pay    
   for parking, which has gone into the stratosphere post-pandemic. Just the   
   parking can cost me ten grand a year as much as I go. Be in my seat when the   
   opening band goes on and no leaving early to beat traffic, no beer running mid   
   set. Oh, and I have to    
   record everything so no talking but my hearing is blown out so I can't really   
   verbally communicate anyway. And I don't even wanna go with anyone who isn't   
   also a total concert pro. None of which works well for making an impression on   
   a female. But I wasn'   
   t in that mindset, just I am going to see this band, you can come along but   
   this is how it is.    
      
   So I kinda gently explain how I am not really good concert company. Not to   
   mention my resurgent marijuana habit (thanks lockdown, goodbye ten years) and   
   I had an infused treat I was saving just for this show.    
      
   But she goes to lots of concerts too if just the one band and gets it and I am   
   not particularly worried. If it's a spectacular fail I am not going to let it   
   ruin my night. I have no eye on the future here. She says we will split   
   parking and with the free    
   tickets I am not going to cheap out now but it's not something I am going to   
   make a habit of doing every night.    
      
   We went, everything went smoothly from getting there with time to spare, It   
   was a great show, we had a great time, I even went to guest services and got   
   us better seats. And we found one free street spot half a block away and   
   closer than even most of the    
   parking lots.    
      
   So she got the full look at the Beaver_Fever concert experience that few   
   people understand or enjoy, where I could totally be myself without worry, she   
   could definitely hang, have a good time and we ended up hanging out at my   
   place til 3am and will be    
   seeing each other again.    
      
   I don't believe that immediate physical attraction is a must. Not like mutual   
   respect and shared values. There are a few things like she is way older than   
   me and already having physical problems so I am just little discouraged over   
   what my options really    
   are now since I was pretty much excluded from participating for most of my   
   life.    
      
   No idea where this is going, I actually have most of the year mapped out with   
   almost nightly concerts and lots of travel with every intention of preserving   
   that. But very satisfied that my social and possible dating life took a new   
   and interesting turn,    
   even if for one night.    
      
   I mostly wanted a new like minded friend but I will take any benefits offered.    
      
   How's everybody else doing?    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)