Lake Neuron

Well, I went to the Flying Saucer, on the back of Union Station in Nashville, tonight for a blogger meetup. I had a good time; I saw ‘coma and Squirrel Queen and GingerSnaps (who organized the event), and met Laura in person for the first time. (”Uncle Ben” Neal, were your ears burning?)

Unfortunately, Bad, Bad Ivy didn’t make it — and it was her birthday, and we were all looking forward to wishing her a happy one.

I didn’t stay as long as I had planned. I had some wonderful conversations, and really enjoyed catching up with the people I mentioned, but then in the lulls I remembered what a lousy mingler I am. I didn’t want to just monopolize the time of the people I knew — after all, they were there to mingle too — but then, I spent too much of the time just sitting or standing to myself. I had a good time overall, and I’m quite glad I made the drive to Nashville; I just didn’t stay as late as I’d originally envisioned, which is probably just as well given that I’m preaching tomorrow morning.

Although the Flip Video camera does surprisingly well in low-light conditions, tonight was an exception. There were bright lights and reflections here and there and most of my video is muddy and not very attractive, so I’ve decided not to post it.

I had never been to Flying Saucer before. It’s definitely beer-centric, with scores of different beers and suggestions for pairing them with different dishes on the menu. But even though beer is not my thing I found the food to be terrific and reasonably priced. I will have to recommend to my brother and sister-in-law in North Carolina that they try the Raleigh location if they get the chance.

Although I’m sad about the circumstances — someone had to drop out at the last minute due to a family illness — I’m thrilled to be headed, along with my parents and a friend from church, to the Nashville Symphony and Nashville Symphony Chorus performance of Handel’s “Messiah” tonight at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. My parents have been going to see “Messiah” for several years now, and it’s the high point of their holiday season. The first year they saw it, they were literally in tears by the end of the evening.

I’ve wanted to go ever since, but just haven’t been able to work it out. I’ve never seen “Messiah” live before. When we had our meeting on Tuesday to plan the Nashville Symphony concert in Shelbyville, I was reminded that Shelby Strickland — the symphony’s director of education and community outreach, and an important part of our committee — is also a member of the chorus, and we were chatting about the concert. I mentioned that I probably wouldn’t make it this year, and we said that maybe I would get to see it next year.

When Dad called me last night to invite me, I knew I had three things to cover tonight for the newspaper and wasn’t sure if I could make it. But a co-worker is going to cover the most critical one and I’m going to talk to someone after the fact to get stories on the other two.

I like it
I love it
I want some more of it
I try so hard
I can’t rise above it
Don’t know what it is about the Predators staying but
I like it
I love it
I want some more of it