Night of the Drunken Old Whiner

` Last night was of the ‘Oh my God WTF!?’ sort. After poetry reading, I led someone I’d just met – let’s call her Flinch – over to the corner of the Everett Event Center before the Silvertips game let out to look for the abbreviated Lou Ryan band. As I didn’t see Lou and Dryan pummeling the air with sound by the time people began to pour out, I called Lou's cell a few times to tell him not to bother. (It turns out, however, that he was in a car passing by the far corner and saw that they were about five minutes too late to start any songs.)
` While we were waiting for any signs of them, however, two guys began fighting and needed to be pulled apart by other people and then chewed out by a girl whose car they jumped on top of.

` It was then that this gray-haired, round and drunken guy comes up to us and starts bullshitting about the behavior of people, and soon, the fact that taxes went up 17% as a result of the Everett Event Center and other types of things.
` Okay, fine. Whatever. After it was clear that Lou was not going to appear anywhere nearby, or answer his phone, we attempted to break away from the guy. Unfortunately, every time I kept trying to walk off, he kept ranting about stuff and telling me things about his life and kept saying; ‘Oh, I just want to talk to someone!’
` Which is fine in and of itself, but I don’t care to be ranted at much these days. (Don't get me wrong; it wasn’t anywhere near as unpleasant as what I had to put up from my dad, though it was starting to get somewhat annoying.)
` I was getting the idea that he probably wanted more than just a sympathetic ear, so I kept attempting to escape and was going about it somewhat the wrong way and not very well at that. I kept saying to Flinch; "Hey, do you want to get going?" and she kept saying; "Well, I don't want to go home right now, I want to stay around here," and the guy kept saying; "If you want to leave, I'll drive your friend home."
` None of this helped much in the lame excuses department for fleeing. You see, I was having great trouble coming up with them (as I had no engagements of any kind and could think of none) because the guy wouldn't stop barraging my brain with words of irk.
` Soon enough, we went into a nearby bar because he had to pee (out some of the alcohol from his system) and so my brain finally had a chance to churn into motion.
` I was like:


` Oh yeah! Let's get the hell away! Flinch noted that it was tempting to run away while he was in the bathroom, but we really did feel kind of bad for this guy - all he wanted was attention. From girls. Or at least someone. I judged that he probably most wanted someone to listen to his troubles and other things.
` I figured I'd at least give him the courtesy of saying goodbye.
` When he came back, he kept on at it and whispered to me that my flinchy friend looked as if she needed an 'ego boost'.
` Okay... for one thing, I think that a night with this guy would lower, rather than raise, one's self-esteem.
` We assured him that no, both of us had boyfriends (actually, she didn't), and we were leaving - despite his previous begging for someone to at least talk to him because that's what he wanted most. That was that. (And I would have done it sooner if I was better at multitasking).
` He was actually relatively nice and understanding about it, and we hauled ourselves to my closet for a few minutes and then I offered to drive Flinch home. She said; "Oh, you don't have to do that, I can just take the bus."
` Poor Flinch. I was very much like her not so long ago.
` Anyway, I did drive her home - because it's really no problem! - and we talked about stuff and I got her phone number and I expect that we might hang out soon enough. And, before I drove back to Everett, I called Lou Ryan to exchange stories on what was happening with one another that evening and was relieved to hear that he had not been detained by any archenemies of some sort.

` Yay. The end.

` Kind of amusing, no? I'd also finish a science-oriented post, but I have no time for that now, and I will continue to have no time until Monday when I return from Real Camping (with Lou, Dryan and NegaSara). In the mountains. Surrounded by bears. Where you can get lost on your way to the 'rustic bathroom' in the dark of night.
` I'll post a bunch more stuff then, but for now, I'm going to stop writing this post because there are people talking nearby and I am, as you know, apparently incapable of thinking in this situation. (Multitasking is not my forte.)