Circles of Friends.
Today, I got a call from three friends I hadn't talked to in quite awhile. Aaron gave me a buzz and actually caught me on the phone. We talked for an hour. It was good, really good to catch up with him. Then Nick called me on the cell. Unfortunately I was out jogging when he called, but I'm sure we'll catch one another in a day or so. But the most surprising call today was from Nancy.I hadn't talked to Nancy in over ten months, I think. She was part of the Indie Music Crowd, as I have dubbed them. I tend to have different circles of crowds and they're usually associated with some sort of interest, activity or location(like my New York friends). Some friends cross the circles and end up not being in any particular circle. But Nancy is definitely part of the Indie Music Crowd. I met that group sometime last July or August and hungout with them pretty solidly until my burnout and subsequent hermitage from All Known Life.The Indie Music Crowd earned their nickname by being, unsurprisingly, rather into Indie music. Most of them are in bands or have boyfriends or girlfriends in bands. They follow the Indie music scene closely, especially the Dallas Indie music scene. I hungout with a core group of the Indie Music Crowd quite a bit, but there were dozens of people in the scene. The four I hungout with were Nancy, Cindy, Andy and Mahsa. Nancy was a half-Japanese, half-American wild child keyboardist for a band whose name now escapes me. Cindy was in the scene mostly because of her boyfriend, Andy, who is the drummer for Lift To Experience. And Mahsa was an Iranian(I think) girl who owned the Brickhouse coffee shop and often had musical showcase nights at her place. Added to that group were Erica, Martha and a ton more people whose names I simply cannot remember.These people partied and they partied hard. Nearly every night was a night at the bar, with an encore drinking performance at someone's home(often Mahsa's). For a few months, I kept up with them, but towards the end it was simply too much. While I think some of the group were my venerable age(28) or older, a lot of them ended up in the 21 to 25 category. I must have lost something in the extra couple of years, because going out nearly every night drinking for months on end really began to take a toll on me. I was worn out by the time I hit human-contact-burnout.I did enjoy their company; I wouldn't have gone out as much as I did with them if I didn't. And they definitely seemed to dig on me, which was great. I could always count on a phone call from one of them; I'd never have a boring night if I didn't want to. Part of it was definitely the flirtations, too. They were a flirty bunch and there was a decent amount of sexual tension at times. However, the conversations could get somewhat stale. While one on one, I could have a good conversation with most anyone from the group, in larger gatherings the conversation almost invariably turned to...Indie Music. And this didn't really interest me much. I'd rather talk about books. Or philosophy. Or politics. Or movies. But the music scene...eh. I either like a band or a song or I don't. Not a whole lot for me to discuss there.Also, it was reasonably difficult to break them from their routine. While Nancy or Erica were up for dancing on occasion(which I much preferred to drinking at bars night after night), most of them weren't into dancing or clubs. For me, if I'm going to listen to music outside my car or home, I'd rather be interactive with it. Which is to say, I'd rather dance to the music. Hell, if I'm alone at home, I'm more than happy to bounce around to some d&b. I do like live concerts, but just not as much as I like dancing.Anyway, I figured Nancy had forgotten all about me. I mean, it's been ten months or so since I'd last talked to her or seen her. Like many of my friends, she'd left voice mail, text messages and emails after I went into seclusion; she'd been pretty persistent about it for the first month or two. But she'd given up after that period of time. I mean, I'd only known her for a handful of months before I disappeared off of the face of the Earth. I really didn't expect to hear from her now, out of the blue.And yet she'd left a voice mail on my cellphone today. It was kind of cute, because of how tentative, how unsure she sounded on the phone. She said she'd missed hanging out with me and had an excuse to call me now -- there was some big party in Dallas she wanted me to come with her to. And then she rambled on a bit, much as I tend to do in voice mails. It was nice to hear her voice and nicer still to be remembered. I'd thought I was done with the Indie Music Crowd, but it's made me reconsider.I can't hangout with them like I used. I just can't. Beyond not being able to keep up with their break-neck pace, I also don't get jack or shit done when I'm with them. Before I'd been pulled into that crowd, I had been writing *a lot* for myself. Every night, I'd hit the computer after I'd finished Foundation work and pound away at some short story or the other. Or some wanna-be op-ed piece on some current affair issue. But it was good. I was writing. Fiction and non-fiction for myself as opposed to doing it for the Foundation. The Indie Music Crowd ended that for quite awhile and now with my renewed vigor for writing, I don't want to get too distracted.Still, I think I'll give Nancy a call in the not-too-distant future. I'll owe her a slew of apologies, not the least being one for not calling her back today. But hopefully I can repair the damage with those guys and still find a balance between going out and having some private time to read and to write.Random nonsequitur: I *looooooooove* the new Haagen Daz Blueberry Cheesecake Icecream! Its only out for a limited time, though. Its sooo yummy. Everyone must go out and try it. It is delish, baby, simply delish! And forget all those silly political petitions! We must petition Haagen Daz to make the Blueberry Cheesecake a permanent flavor!