Friday
Jazz performance in K-town tonight at 10pm. U down to come watch?
My Friday was shaping up to be a chill one. Monthly work lunch club at a sushi restaurant in Little Tokyo with two colleagues—for free! I then proceeded to put in my two weeks’ notice right after getting back to work. Afterwards, I headed to the gym for the third straight day. I was feeling great. I added new plates on several exercises this week and was stoked with the progress.
It was almost 9pm when I got a text from a cycling buddy (now an acquaintance after tonight) about a jazz performance happening at the mall a few blocks from my apartment. He’s part of my cycling group, and has been to my apartment for boys movie night, but we never hang out one on one. I’m usually against last minute hangs, in fact quite known to be against them, but this was happening very close to me and I like trying new things.
Boy, did I regret it. I later learned this was a jazz performer who blew up on TikTok, because the mall was PACKED with LA TikTok trend chasers, both young and old. And this specific mall crowd was very pushy, with many having their phones everywhere, all trying to record themselves, the crowd, and I guess the performance. Things got ridiculous when I saw a guy lowering a camera on a string from the third floor to capture his “content.” Good grief. As someone who's entire social life once centered around going to DIY music venues, I get wanting to record a snippet of a good music show, but beyond like 15 seconds is too much. It's a shame about the distracting chaos, but the saxophone player actually did sound good.
To be fair, there were some decent people there—folks actually trying to listen to the music or sitting down, eyes closed or tucked into a corner with a book while listening to the music. I appreciate those vibes. But coming to a loud, crowded mall on a Friday night to do it feels like an odd, determined choice.
When I finally found the friend who invited me? “Hey Vince! Glad you could make it! Enjoying the music? Well, I’m going to catch up with people, see ya.” Wow. Thanks for the invite, bro.
I’m not beating myself up too much for saying yes to a last minute invite since it was literally a five minute walk from home. But man, between the flakey acquaintance and being forced around a crowd that's not my favorite kind of people, the suck really piles on when I break my own rules. Getting back home, it was a real shake-my-head-and-laugh moment at how weird life can be sometimes.