Surprised

I emailed Nico a few days later in response to the several text messages he'd sent since Saturday. He was getting worried since he hadn't heard from me. What he didn't know was that I was waging a private Cold War on him and Tommy.

I know I should have called him instead and that I should have done it much earlier but I didn't trust myself from saying something hurtful or something I'd really regret. I was still very angry. So, instead I sent him an email. In it, I admitted that I was mad at the both of them and told him how I felt betrayed and let down by him especially. I sent it before I started to have second thoughts.

A few days later he responded with a surprisingly long answer. I won't go into details but Nico expressed how he felt about the whole thing. Sufficiently. Somehow, he'd also managed to turn the whole incident about him, and in a way that was not entirely egomaniacal or absurd. He did make a point that was not totally lost on me: that I had unfairly assumed that he knew everything that was going on. He was right. He didn't.

So, we decided to make up and move on from the drama. In truth, I was already over it as soon as I had sent him my message. As for Tommy, well, I hadn't seen nor spoken to him at all. But that's okay, he is busy with his new boy.

On another topic, I went to see Thirsty Merc recently, an Aussie pop-rock outfit who hail from Dubbo in New South Wales. I'm a big fan, having seen them twice already this year. They sound awesome live. A few of my friends and I have long organised tickets for this local gig, when another acquaintance had asked me if I wanted to meet the boys before the show. She'd won a competition from a radio station she doesn't even listen to. I jumped at the chance even before I could think about it and before you know it, we were at the venue, waiting excitedly to get the call from the manager.

It wasn't until we were about to rock up backstage did I start wondering what the hell I was going to say or do. I've admired these guys from afar and to be so close and personal was a little intimidating and not to admit, a tad awkward. I didn't want to sound like a gushing fan, cos that would be totally sad, but I didn't want to seem disinterested either. I settled for cool indifference, like this was something I get to do all the time. When we first entered the room, all the guys minus the lead singer came up to greet us and shake hands, and not long after, we were downing a couple of beers together. It was going well and I'd started a friendly chat with the drummer who I admit I barely noticed before. He seemed genuinely engaged and interested in what I had to say.

After a little while, the lead singer entered the room and barely even gave us a glance before he sat himself down in a chair and started fiddling with a shitbox keyboard. I abruptly stopped talking to the drummer and oh-so-casually rocked up to the singer and made attempts at a conversation. I was eager to introduce myself. The dude may have been deaf but I suspect that he was just a right royal snob since anything I said fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile, the drummer, seeing how enthused his fellow musician was being, joined us and was nice enough to answer my questions that were not being replied to by the singer.

My muso friends were right. The lead front guy of any band are usually the moody types while the drummer, who is usually relegated in the background, is often the most friendly. That was proven when I met Thirsty Merc. Forget moody band poster boy, Rai. I have a new idol in Carl, their awesome drummer beatboxer.

It's funny how people can just surprise you in both the oddest and nicest of ways.