Contrasts

[lnr]

Funny to contrast feeling absolutely wrecked after the gig last night with the feeling of utter jubilation from enjoying the crowd and the music. I shouted myself hoarse, drank too much beer and spilled lots of it too, got squashed to death in the front of the crowd crammed against the barrier having a whale of a time, and barely centimetres from the band. And it felt like they played non-stop solid hits to sing along to as loud as you can and grin at the other people near by in the crowd and let your hair down and mosh a bit too. Mobbsy got a mouthful of my hair at one point, which was only fair as I was still disentagling myself from bits of his at 1am. And I even broke my glasses again but managed to get the nice security bloke to look after them and didn't even lose the screw. And only got hit on the head by one of the crowd surfers. How can you not feel buzzed after that? But at the same time I was rather hoarse, perhaps the start of Mike's cold, and shattered beyond belief.

Then a drink in Frankie and Benny's (mmmmMargheritas) before staggering home in a taxi. For another contrast of culture clash proportions, which was a bit of a shame. kaet summed it up quite well. I just wish people hadn't had to end up upset. And I'm not looking forward to trying to mediate as Ian and Mike hammer out just what needs apologising for from whom. I guess I'm sorry I didn't see it getting awkward sooner and say something stronger to calm it down. Ah well. We did have a nice chat with Dan mostly about computer games. And actually quite a good long chat with Rick about what was actually the problem, though I'm not sure he agreed. And then to bed, with a headache of gargantuan proportions, but at least I didn't feel too rough when I woke up. Just time to bump start the van down the road before heading off to work. Extremely silly!

It's horrible having to tell one group of friends they can't be themselves around another group, and vice versa, or to have to try and justify their behaviour to each other afterwards and know that neither understands what the other is so annoyed by. Perhaps it would have been wiser to try and tell the friends to be careful in advance, rather than hoping it would work out.

Comments

[karen2205]

And I'm not looking forward to trying to mediate as Ian and Mike hammer out just what needs apologising for from whom.

So refuse to mediate. Tell them they're both adults who can/should sort out their own problems. Even if they're people you care about, it's not your responsibility to fix problems for them.

I guess I'm sorry I didn't see it getting awkward sooner and say something stronger to calm it down.

*nods* - been there, done that countless times. It happens, and the more often it happens the more one learns when one should intervene. On the other hand, everyone else involved was an adult and ought to have been capable of not letting it get that awkward/sorting it out when it did without your intervention.

It's horrible having to tell one group of friends they can't be themselves around another group, and vice versa, or to have to try and justify their behaviour to each other afterwards and know that neither understands what the other is so annoyed by. Perhaps it would have been wiser to try and tell the friends to be careful in advance, rather than hoping it would work out.

Yeah, sometimes warning people to be careful in advance works. Other tactics I find helpful are sitting next to the person likely to be the biggest trouble maker and having 'neutral' topics of conversation up my sleeve so I can inject a change of subject when necessary.

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

d00m. *hugs*

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I don't like that sort of thing happening. I tend to just run away when they start arguing as well, which doesn't seem to make things better for anybody but me, and then not for long.

You've just reminded me why I need to go to more gigs though :)

[simont]

Just time to bump start the van down the road before heading off to work.

Ah, so can you clear up the mystery of what the van was doing there? It perplexed the early part of post-pizza, and all Ian could tell us was that it was something to do with Mike but he wasn't sure what :-)

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

Being nosy and not there, what were the two clashing cultures?

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

Rick and iwj was a disaster waiting to happen - I think I'd agree that warning both parties in advance would have been wiser.