Last Thursday I was going to see Ka-Baam!!, the improvised comic book show put on by HUGE theater, for the second time. My plan for the evening was to sit at work and eat canned soup until 6pm, so I wouldn’t have to drive home and then immediately turn around and head for the Bryant-Lake Bowl theater. The eating beef and vegetable soup while watching edited Star Trek: TNG clips part of my plan worked fine. And so, at the correct time, I was off to the theater.
I arrived at Bryant and Lake at around 6:30. I was early enough to hop over to the gas station to buy some gum. With the quenching power of gum, I wouldn’t have to buy anything to drink at the theater. And I wouldn’t have to bother with tips or being interrupted in the middle of the show. Aric, you genius you! Gum in pocket, I entered the Bryant-Lake Bowl.
But inside, there were no improvisors getting ready to peform. Instead, there was jazz business going on. Odd. Maybe they were backing the theater time slots together a little tightly, to maximize profits in the floundering economy. I went into the bathroom in the hopes that the jazz would be ending as I was exiting with an empty bladder and clean hands.
Nope, the jazz was still there. I looked around for a poster, and found that Ka-Baam!! was actually at 10pm instead of the regular 7pm slot. Aww, nuts. I wasn’t going to hang around until 10pm. So, I left.
While pointing my mini van towards north western suburbs, I realized the Uptown trip could be salvaged. I wasn’t far from Matt’s Bar, where my high school chums hang out every Thursday. Hooray! I’ll go there, drink some Grain Belt, and do some catching up!
When I arrived at Matt’s, the place was packed. The foyer was thick with people waiting for a table. Okay, I just needed to move past them and check for my friends. Umm, didn’t see them. Maybe they were at the back table that I couldn’t quite get a look at without feeling like a jerk who was budding in line. That table looked awfully packed. If it was them, there probably wouldn’t be any room for me. OhmanIneedtogetoutofhere.
Outside. Phew. Good work, pal. You’ve failed to save your evening. And your friends were probably in there.
So I went home, miserable and ready to sleep. Too dumb to see some improv and too anxious to see my friends.
Oh, wait! There was a Tweet-Up at Gumpy’s! Wait, where was Grumpy’s? And did I really think my growing social anxiety would subside by the time I got there? Subside enough to talk to partial strangers? Probably not.
Strike three. It was time to go home and play video games until my wife got home. A regular Thursday night, really. Except for all that other stuff.
[Photo by Ed Kohler]
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