On Saying 'Yes'

I'm more of a person who says 'no'.

I turn down most people when I am asked to hang out.
I'm always concerned I won't have fun, won't have anything to talk about, and I dislike having things on my social calendar.  Here's a little taste of how the inner dialogue goes down:
Sounds fun!
What if it's not fun?
What if I don't have anything to talk about?
What would I wear?
What if I get hungry?
What if I get tired?
What if I say 'yes' now, but when the time comes I feel more like staying home and reading a book?
What if I have to get up early the next day?
What if I don't know how to get there?
Where will I park?

I am an extreme home body, an introvert, and I'm also quite socially anxious. Take away the alcohol of my early twenties and I'd rather stay at home with my knitting or my scrapbooking or a movie. I didn't even go out on New Year's Eve like I said I would. 

So I quite surprised myself on Wednesday night, as I was training a client I've had for a couple of years, she asked me to accompany her to see Mandy Patinkin and Patti Lupone perform at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. She had an extra ticket.

My first thought was 'no', of course, but I continued to say 'yes' aloud.  In the back of my mind I knew it was a great opportunity to see these two perform and see the new Kauffman Center.

Now, I had little to no idea who these two were before their performance, and when she said we should have dinner before I made myself say 'yes' again. I wanted to say 'no' to dinner very badly.

Her sitting across from me for an hour....What on earth would I have to say for that length of time? Sure I've been training her for years and she's a great friend in that environment, but sitting down and looking at each other from across the table made me nervous. *

So I said 'yes' to both and enjoyed myself very much. (surprise!) Dinner was great with great conversation and the show was enjoyable. I did enjoy Patti Lupone's performance a lot, Mandy's less than that,  but it was a great show and I didn't fall asleep. It even sparked my interest in seeing Evita and Carousel.

So I said 'yes' and I want to try to say 'yes' to more things in the future. It may seem like a funny pep talk for an almost 30 year old to have with herself, but it's truly hard work for me to be social.

*Let me say now that this post is all about my fears and has nothing to do with this friend of mine, she's wonderful.

My Night With Paul Simon.

Oh wow. We went to see Paul Simon last night at the Midland Theater and it was more than amazing.

The back story: Zeb came home one day to tell me that tickets for this show were going on sale the following Friday at 10am. So at 9:50am I was parked in front of the computer ready to get the best seats I could. Unfortunately, the seats were selling quick and I wasn't quick enough so we kept ending up with worse and worse seats. At that point I decided I didn't want to go if I had to sit in the back. I may have cried.

(I have a thing with concerts, if I'm not close enough to see some facial expression, I don't want to be there. I have a hard time seeing shows at the Sprint Center for this reason. If I'm going to watch the projection screen of you at the concert where you're performing, I would rather go home and put on the album and listen to your music. It's all the same to me.)

So....the dream of seeing Paul Simon wasn't panning out as I had hoped. Zeb (the calm one) thought we might have better luck calling Ticketmaster, and sure enough, we secured seats 15 rows back. Awesome seats. Amazing seats.

The show was so good.. Paul Simon was the cutest dancing man you've ever seen. His voice was beautiful and he and his band performed for two and a half hours. (He's 70!)

He played a lot of classic Paul Simon-"Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes"

some songs off his new album- "The Afterlife"

a couple of Simon and Garfunkel songs- "The Sound of Silence"

and some covers- "Here Comes the Sun"

It was the best night ever.

Photo Challenge Day 14: Eyes

Last night we went to see Blind Pilot open for Brett Dennen.

Blind Pilot was so amazing. It was my first time to see them live, Zeb's third. The show had so much energy; one of those bands whose members play several instruments, always switching around for each song. Amazing.

guitar
ukulele
harmonium
drums
bass
piano
pump organ
banjo
dulcimer
trumpet
vibraphone
violin

etc. seriously.

We had the best time dancing and singing and felt really sad when their 50 minute set was over. too short!

Brett Dennen's performance didn't even compare. so sad.

So we spent time after the show talking to the band in that weird way fans talk to bands, and getting their autographs and pictures. (I told you we love them)

You must check this band out....and to help you on your way...

That's what I've been up to. Now, go see what Kate is up to.