a gg evening (and a quick catch-up)

A familiar refrain: A drive to the city, a bouncingsingingpunkrocking night at Slim's, and the Gimmes.

The full band name is Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, but it looks like they are using "GG" as their identifier now...the banners on the stage and Spike's jacket had "G G" in gold on them, no "M F" to be found. It was a typical Gimmes show (I think I've seen them 5 or 6 times now, if not more), with a lot of "SAN FRANCISCO!!!" thrown in for the hometown crowd, plus some Christmas songs and decorations for the season.

(I looked it up last night, and the Gimmes have been going strong since 1995. I stumbled into them right near their start, back in the mid-90s. Damn, I'm old.)

Still love Slim's as a venue. It's just a smidgeon above "dive bar", and it's a great place to see bands. Intimate, big bar, a kitchen, easy parking (though the Costco doesn't open up for non-customer parking until 8:30p, which means a trip back out between openers to pay), and pretty easy to get to for an SF location. It's a hell of a drive from the south end of the valley, though, but good company and good tunes (and a bit of patience) make the drive less painful.

I'd deliberately been buying fewer concert tickets this past year (health (my stupid face) and money-saving reasons), but I don't think that will last another year, heh. We've got a big one coming up in 2020, the Hella Mega Tour with Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer. Tickets are long-since purchased, got the superduper VIP package for three of us and killer seats right at front center. Should be a blast.

Lots of other stuff has been going on: Heavy rains (finally). Still dealing with the nerve damage. Been doing a lot of exercising and been eating better. Darwin is old (almost sixteen) and has laryngeal paralysis, a liver issue, heart troubles, and just got over a bacterial gut thing (poor old man). Will is kicking ass, though he just had to get his first pair of glasses (as someone who has had to have correction since the fifth grade, it's amazing to me that someone can go so long without needing it. :^) )

Lots of flying, including a trip to Disneyland, random flights with friends, and a fun and random day for Will's birthday (he flew a couple of us to Santa Barbara for brunch, then we spur-of-the-moment decided to hit up Disneyland for churros and Dole Whips ). I can't ride motorcycles much anymore (can't wear a helmet because of the neuralgia), so that's a bummer. We got some electric kick scooters to zoom around on; they fit in the plane, so we can take them with us for sightseeing on some tripes.

So basically life keeps on keeping on. The pain is still an issue, and the extra exercise activity is making it rough. Some days are harder than others, but that could be said about life in general, really. I'm lucky to have good people around me, things to distract, and time to indulge in both...doesn't line up that way very often, so enjoying it while I can.