Thursday, February 06, 2003

I remember sitting at a table in the Arts Club, discovering that I was not as in control of my life as I thought I was. The Arts Club was the cool place to go see bands. I used to watch all the confident, crusty scenesters swaggering in the door, hanging around outside smoking....I wanted to go in, but I was too scared to go in by myself. It took months, but I finally wiggled my way into the "in" crowd, and the Arts Club became one of my favourite haunts. I saw some great bands there, The Gruesomes, The Enigmas, The Scramblers, Death Sentence, S.N.F.U.......punk rock at it's finest! I felt like I had arrived.

One evening in particular, I was sitting at a table with some new acquaintances. We were making our introductions, when the one girl looked at me..."Oh, I remember you. I've met you before!" I was sure I didn't remember her, and told her so. "Oh, yeah, I've met you...you were in the alley behind the Luv Affair, on your hands and knees, howling at the moon like a dog...it was so funny!!!" I didn't know what to say. I had absolutely no memory of that embarassing event. Not even a fuzzy one. I thought I had at least a fuzzy recollection of my worst moments. I was wrong. My mind started whirling...what else had I done in plain view of the Vancouver punk scene? Was everybody laughing at me behind my back? Was that why I was invited to the cool parties now? I slunk out of the bar and walked home, before I got too drunk to do anything like that again. At least for that night.

Part of me still wonders if she made up the story to one-up me. Maybe she was feeling insecure and had to make me look bad so she would feel good. But I doubt it.

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