Missed Opportunities of an Audiowhore

Maybe my timing is off, or maybe I'm not as brave as I like to say I am, but lately I feel like I am surrounded by missed opportunities. I don't really feel like going into the details of the boring job-related ones, or the near-misses of my academic life, so I'll just cut to the chase of my love life - or the lack there of. I know this will come as a surprise to you dear readers, as this has never happened to me before, but I have a crush on musician. I know, how lame. It's like I can't help but fall for their stupid nonchalance (even though I know deep down they are just as self-conscious and awkward as I am). Sigh.  


Anyway, my newest infatuation is with this guy:



No, not the one singing, though he's a totally nice guy, but the guitar player, Cody Votolato. (Isn't it always the guitar player?) How annoying. To make matters worse, he wears jewelry, which I hate on men about as much as I hate a goatee. This dude wears his necklace like we are still in 1996 Seattle (where he's from). I mostly ignore that part and look at the tattoos... 


So I've seen this guy in two different bands a couple of times here in DC. The first time was with Jaguar Love at The Black Cat back in 2008, and I was convinced he picked me out of the crowd because I swore he kept looking at me during the show. Yeah, I might have made that up in my head, but it was nice to believe at the time, because the dude I was with was not worth the look. It could be possible - the show was in the Backstage (which is tiny), there was a pretty dense crowd (it was sold out), and I was directly in his line of vision (standing on a little platform just above the headline of the people on the floor down front). It doesn't really matter if I made it up or not, because I thought he was cute then, and still do apparently. 


Proven by the next time he came through DC with Telekinesis in 2009 (again at The Black Cat Backstage), and then again a few weeks ago to The Red Palace. I even met him this time around. Sounds great, right? Wrong. For some reason, my dumb ass left H St NE nearly immediately after the show was over (and after shaking his and Bob Boilen's hand). I must have had my OCD panties in a wad about catching the bus home or something stupid. Whatever. The point is, I probably could have hung out with Telekinesis, and The Love Language too, but instead, I bolted like some jilted high school teenager too embarrassed to ask my crush to the prom. 


If I had hung out, I might have been able to shake not only his hand, but the now-consuming desire to make sure I get to see him again. Even if nothing had come of hanging out (aside from feeling like a huge dork), and I had left with my yearnings still un-satiated, I could have at least claimed to have tried. What a Missed Opportunity. I hope there is a next time, and when that comes along I grow a pair and say more than "you guys were awesome". 


What an Audiowhore.