Mistaken Identity

Last night I went to see Here Come The Mummies, an awesome funk band at the Vogue with a group of people. Usually, we get there early enough to get seats on the balcony overlooking the stage, and that is where I watch the show from. But the doors opened earlier than expected, so we were too late to get seats, so we all went to the dance floor when the Mummies took the stage.

Managing to get only a few feet from the stage (and one of the speaker stacks... my ears are still ringing), we had a pretty good vantage point on the show, and on the stuff that I normally miss by sitting in the balcony


The show was a sell out, which meant that the floor was packed elbow to elbow. More than one person was toppled by overly-kinetic dancers. A couple of fights almost broke out due to jostling. Some girls got pissy when people wouldn't let them wheedle to the front of the crowd.

While on the dance floor, amid the wardrobe malfunctions and incidental (or not so incidental) contacts, I spotted a woman that I thought that I recognized. I don't even know her name, I've just seen her at the past three GenCons. And now I'm a dark, crowded dance club.

At one point she was dancing by me, so I got a chance to get a good look at her. She was the right height, build, hair, and eye color, and her facial features looked as close as I could remember. Even her mannerisms seemed familiar, but that may be because they also reminded me of my last girlfriend. But it's hard to strike up a conversation over 115 decibels of music and crowd, plus there was a guy with her.

I figured out pretty quick that the guy was just a friend, having been at enough events with female friends. But I couldn't say anything without leaning over and yelling in her ear, and even then it would be unlikely she'd understand me, assuming this was the right person and she knew what the hell I was talking about.

And there's the whole being reserved thing. I'd call it shy, but that would imply a consistent obstacle. I'm just not very talkative, and not at all practiced at walking up to strange women and striking up conversations with them. Helps explain the whole six years without a date thing.

Eventually she and her friend drifted into the crowd. I wasn't about to walk across the dance floor on the chance she was someone I'd seen (not talked to, mind you) at a convention only fellow geeks would even understand. I might as well walk up to her and go "Uh huh huh... yooor purty."

So cut to the Mummies' encore. I noticed that she was moving in my direction. We'd made eye contact a couple of times over the course of the night, so I'm thinking maybe she recognizes me from GenCon (it wouldn't be the first time). And if she thought I was some sort of repulsive wierdo, she wouldn't spend the last two songs dancing next to me.

I thought that the gods must be giving me a sign to come out of my shell and say something to her. After all, if she goes to GenCon, we'd have something in common. The show ended, she was still next to me. So overcoming my introverted nature, I lean over to start a conversation.

"I know this sounds cliche, but I think I've seen you somewhere before. Have you been to GenCon?"

"I don't know. I have no idea what that is."

*crash*

Have I mentioned that the gods have a sense of humor?

"Sorry, you look like someone I recognize from there." The rest of the conversation has been rendered academic. I look around for my group and follow them off.

A much quicker but more humorous case of mistaken identity happened during the show. In the middle, a woman grabbed my hand. I turned, expecting it to be someone I know getting my attention (and maybe hoping it was not-GenCon-girl). I was surprised to find an attractive woman I didn't recognize holding my hand.

So was she when she realized her boyfriend was drinking his beer with the hand she thought she was holding.