Two feet outside the box
My Friday evenings for the last 20 years have followed a very predictable series of events, including consuming pizza while vegging out watching a movie or recorded DVR content. I always look forward to them typically. Sure they lack much excitement but after a full week of work and whatever challenges it contained, it’s nice to have that decompression time to look forward to. Last night I took not one but two steps outside that box of normalcy. Kerri had asked me to go to a Ben Allen concert, yea the guy that did well on the Voice a few years back. His band was playing at a bar in Fort Myers.
We went with Amber and Jake whom at this point I have hung out with a number of times. They are both good people and a lot of fun. Before heading up there I met Kerri for a very quick bite of food which we thought made sense since alcohol was going to be consumed for sure at the venue. After eating we picked up Amber in the Tesla and headed north. Kerri and her are very entertaining to drive with.
Ben Allen is a country singer. I don’t normally listen to country music but I didn’t care. Seeing a good live performance normally brings a type of energy that makes the music secondary, sort of. As soon as we got there we grabbed a round of margaritas and despite my lack of experience with drinking them, I could tell they were strong. By the time I finished my first one I could feel it hitting me relatively hard. I thought the performance was really good and despite my lack of country music following I found myself dancing much sooner than I normally would. Kerri is an absolutely incredible dancer, the energy she had out on the floor was nothing short of amazing. She was having a lot of fun.
Jake showed up and I got to talk to him quite a bit. He and I get along well. He just is a good dude from what I can tell. I cut myself off after a second margarita since I was the one responsible for getting Kerri home. Ben didn’t stay strictly country all night, he did covers of various genres, including Metallica which I was surprised by but enjoyed as well. We stayed until the very end, somewhere after 10:15. I would go again.
It was just the most recent example of me forcing myself into new territory, which is a good thing. Repetition of familiar behavior is safe and comfortable but if you don’t take a chance on something outside of your normal, you never know what opportunities could pass you by. Life is about movement and learning along the way.