This post is another entry for Manda’s (musicalpoem.me/tag/day-life/) A Day in the Life linkup.

This is the last A Day in the Life post of the year. Manda has decided that she no longer wishes to host the linkup and has kindly passed it on to me to host. After sorting out a few bits and bobs I should have a page ready for it, and I would love for you to all participate in 2015! It was lovely seeing the number of people who participated this year, and I really want to continue that.

I am writing this for Saturday the 13th December.

I woke up at about 11am, and ate a lot of apple danish for breakfast. I tend to eat less healthy foods on weekend mornings. Sort of like my treat/cheat day. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and tired. After messaging some of my friends on my phone, I put my sleep tracker on and decided to nap. I didn’t intend to nap for that long, but I set my alarm for an hour. I woke a little past 2pm.

For the better part of the afternoon I browsed the internet. I eventually took a shower and got dressed, because I was going to see Hey Geronimo that night. I had seen them on Friday night in the city and Tristan and I had caught a train back home.

We were planning to drive down south to the country town of Wollongong to see them this time. Tristan had asked me, “So why are you seeing Hey Geronimo again?” Yeah, I had seen them the night before, but I just didn’t hesitate at an opportunity to see them again. Wollongong is a ways off, but it’s not in another state. It’s about two hours (one-and-a-half if you’re lucky) from where we live. I remember once muttering under my breath, “Ah, the shit I do for my favourite bands”. Well, I don’t think it’s shit, I would see Hey Geronimo every reasonable opportunity. I’m not one of those fans who follows them around every city, as that gets a bit obsessive.

Tristan decided that his car wasn’t fit enough to drive down there. I decided that taking the train would take far too long, and if we missed the last train that night, we would be stuck in Wollongong for the night. Unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared for that at all.

My mum called, incidentally. She was at work and just asked how things were going at home. I just blurted out that I had a question… and I asked her if I could take my car. I was sure she would not like the idea. But over the phone, she said she had actually been thinking about it. She let me take it and just told me and Tristan to be safe. Score!

(Now, side note, and something I’ve yet to properly explain in a future post, is that I do have my own car, despite only having my learner licence. It just means I have to be supervised when I drive. Now I forked out the money for this car myself, but I was initially reluctant to share the fact that I was buying a new car to learn in. The amount of people who judged me in person was remarkable – for them to tell me how to spend my own money after working full-time for two years and having racked up savings from part-time jobs before that – they told me I would scratch my car or smash it, it was a waste of money… I’m a person who thinks long term about things like this. I would not spend money on something as expensive as a car if I was only going to use it for a year or two. I see myself keeping this car for as long as its life.)

I drove the whole way there, and the sun was annoying my eyes. I’m glad I brought sunglasses. I get sun headaches easily and it’s difficult for me to see in very bright light, like when the sun is setting.

It took us about two hours to get there, and we spent a while looking for parking but eventually found a spot. Then we ate at a little Thai restaurant. I swear, every time Tristan and I go out to eat, we always get Thai… turns out to be pretty good too. Every time I eat Thai with someone else, it sucks. I got noodles wrapped in an omelette with vegetables. It’s a shame I was too full to finish it because it was really quite tasty. It didn’t help that I had bitten my tongue somehow during the night and had a nasty ulcer on the tip of it.

There were a lot of people dressed up in Santa costumes around Wollongong. It was really strange. Bars and pubs were full of people, both boys and girls, with Santa hats. After we finished eating we walked through a strip mall to get to the bar where Hey Geronimo were playing. All the stores were shut but the walkway was well lit. It was quiet but there was a man busking with his guitar.

We reached Rad Bar (cool name huh), by way of a chalkboard sign outside the front. As soon as we walked in I saw drummer Tony and guitarist Pete at the desk. My name (GEORGIE +1) was on the door list. The Rad Bar was really cute and small. Apparently it is also a cafe on some days of the week. It was tiny, much like someone’s house. The first supporting band, The Vanns, had played the night before as well in Sydney, and they were just tucked into a corner of the room. You could watch from a set of stairs and an internal window at the side of the room too. It was quite cosy.

Tristan and I sat on a couch and chatted for a good while before I decided to chat to Pete and Tony. I told them I had driven down and it was only then that I realised I had actually driven my car… with my number plates… this was something I was planning to write about separately, but I guess it fits this context now. I got the number plate LZRGUN, namely because of Hey Geronimo’s song Lazer Gun Show. I remember thinking myself rather genius when I thought of the name. Yeah, I considered that one day I may not like Hey Geronimo as much anymore, but laser guns will always be cool, and there’s always the option to stop paying for a custom plate. But heck, I love that song, and I love the band and their music.

Anyway, when I mentioned that, I asked Pete if he remembered that I told him about my number plates and he said that he should come and have a look at it later and take a picture with it.

I messaged my friend Emma, who lives in the area, and she said “are you planning to get rekt?” It made me laugh. She said there was a Santa pub crawl, which explained all the people dressed in Santa costumes.

Later, when the boys were setting up, Pete asked Tristan and I to take over the door desk, and to stamp people’s arms as they came in, take their tickets, and tally up the number of people. He said he was once the door person at a party and got to meet everyone who came in through the door. The other guys laughed and said that he put my name on the door so I could get in without paying, and now I was “employed”. Haha. It was good though, Tristan and I enjoyed that for a while. After they played a few songs, Pete came to get some more drinks, and told us to get up and come enjoy the show.

It was fun, and there was a strange guy called “Big Red”, just a big, tall guy with very flushed pink skin, providing some entertainment by means of grabbing the microphone and hollering into it.

After the show we walked back up to my car and drove it to the little car park closer to the bar, and the guys in the band came to have a look. They all liked my car and we got a photo with it. Rad. As they say.

It was wonderful to see them again and I thank them for hanging out a bit after the show. It was about midnight when we headed back to Sydney, and it was much quicker to get home, just one-and-a-half hours.