F of the C

I haven't blogged for a little while. Things have been a little stressful but I'm hoping to have a non-dramatic few weeks to make up for it.

Tomorrow I am doing something very exciting. Exciting things tend to make me nervous, but as one of my TYSIC goals is to do things that scare me, this is a good thing. I'm going to see Flight of the Conchords at the Apollo. But even before I reach the venue, there are fearful obstacles to cross.

1. Getting the bus. It's something that I used to do every day to get to uni, but then I got a job just down the road so it has been some time. It's not something that I'm consciously scared of - I know how to get the bus - but there's an undercurrent of anxiety due to the lack of familiarity. And I've always been irrationally worried about being late. The rational part of my mind says, "You have a mobile phone so it doesn't matter if the bus is late" but the irrational part says, "This is the worst thing that could ever happen". I'm not even thinking about the bus home yet as that's even worse.

2. Meeting a friend whom I have only spent about 10 minutes with face to face. We e-mail regularly but we've never actually spent any real time together. What if she thinks I'm a dick? What if there are lots of long silences? What if I make an inappropriate joke? So many possibilities. On the other hand, we are going to the museum, and there will be lots of things to look at and talk about.

3. Going for food. Last time I went for food before a gig, the bar had run out of potatoes. I had decided on a baked potato but there were none. This threw me. This time I will make a back-up food plan.

4. Entering the Apollo. I heard some terrible stories about Saturday night's gig with bouncers checking everyone's bags and taking their water. I can't not have water with me. It's not very pleasant but the phlegm in my lungs gets too viscous and I can get 'plugs', which make me feel like I'm going to choke to death. Will a bouncer understand this? Will he even bother to listen? What if they think I'm being argumentative and don't let me in?

And then there's the gig itself where I know I'll get agitated by everyone else in the room. People who talk, people who keep getting up for drinks, people who laugh at the wrong time, people who sing along too loudly, people who heckle, and the very worst, people who bump into me. This is made infinitely worse by the fact that I adore FotC. I have been looking forward to seeing them for so long that I want it to be perfect. It's annoying enough that our seats are so far back when we phoned as soon as the lines opened, and that there are still better seats for sale on these stupid websites for astronomical prices.

So, do I assume it will be terrible and hopefully have a nice surprise? Or do I assume it will all be fine and risk the possibility of having my expectations dashed? Or do I stop overthinking everything and just act like a normal human being? I think the latter. :-)