I can’t remember how many weeks ago this was, and I have been too damn busy lately to write this, so my memory of the night itself has grown a little hazy. However, I will write this report to the best of my knowledge. Actually I’m a bit uncertain as to whether I should even put this in the “field report” section because I didn’t get any kind of close (number, email, kiss, or anything), but I figure what the hell…I guess a report can be about a night of failure too. So here we go.

Every Wednesday night I try to make it a habit to go out to this weekly open mic night that takes place at a bar called Positively 4th St. So this week I go and I spot a really cute girl who looks somewhat familiar to me. Then I realize she took a class with me at my college during the Fall 2006 semester. Actually she was kind of hard to forget because one night I was walking through the parking lot to class and this girl (whose name is Katie) stopped me to ask if I could tell the professor she had to go down to the police station and file a report because someone had tried to run her off the road (a very despicable thing because she was pregnant at the time).

By the time I saw her at the open mic night, she was no longer pregnant and had snapped back into shape quite nicely. However, I was worried about saying anything to her because the “don’t I know you from somewhere” line is so damn deadly. It makes the words “pick-up line” light up immediately in a girl’s mind. So I went from one end of the bar to the other, talking to various people I knew who were regulars at the open mic, just trying to pass the time until I could figure out an approach.

The issue was taken from my hands when, on the way back from the bathroom, I heard a voice say, “Hey, I went to school with that guy!” I looked around and, sure enough, it was Katie. She was sitting on a couch with a female friend; another female and a guy were standing next to them. She was beckoning for me to come over, so I did. First thing she did was reach out her hand to me, so I took hold of it to shake. Right here I should note that she did NOT immediately let go, which I took as an IOI.

“Hi, you were in my class with me last semester. Do you remember me?” she said.

“Yeah,” I replied, “you were the one who nearly got run off the road while you were pregnant.”

This got a big laugh out of her and the two female friends. The guy cracked a wry little grin and said, “Small world, huh?”

I said, “No, not really…that happens to all the pregnant girls I know.”

This brought more laughter. By this point, Katie had let go of my hand. She said, “Are you playing tonight?”

Originally I hadn’t been feeling up to it, but when I thought a performance might woo her, my mindset changed. But I didn’t let HER know that. I said, “Well, I was thinking about it…wasn’t sure I felt up to it.”

“I remember hearing you talk to our professor about your music a lot. I wanna hear you play!” she said.

“Well, in that case…now I have to play,” I said with a grin. “I’m gonna grab another drink and talk to some people…I’ll see you later.”

Then I walked away. In my mind I thanked God we’d had such a cool, laidback professor last semester. The only reason she knew about my music was because one day, when he did roll call, the professor had stopped to ask me, “Hey, are you performing somewhere this weekend? I saw your name in the paper.” Kudos to that man!

So I walked away, got my beer, and mingled with some other people for a while. It was taking forever for the open mic host to get around to me. The event started at 9pm and I had actually been at the bar since 8; I was wondering why the hell everyone before me was going, so I tracked the host down. He told me some girl wanted to go up and sing one song, then I could go.

I found Katie and let her know I was up next. She said something that I misheard (can’t remember what it was), and I poked fun at her. She called me silly and gave me a playful little tap on the chest.

She went over to the bar to get a drink and I waited for my turn, which came soon enough. I was allowed to do four songs. My plan was: get up there and do a good set and, if she liked it, say to her, “Well, if you’d like to see me play out more, I could always send you an email and let you know when I have a gig.” Going for the email seems less aggressive to me, plus I can always say “write down your number too.”

So I get up there and start performing. During my first song I look around and see Katie at the bar talking with one of her friends. Then, from the second song on, I started engaging in the worst stage habit I have: singing with my eyes closed or looking at the ground. I lost track of her for the rest of my set. When I looked up between the second and third song, she wasn’t around. I assumed she had gone out for a smoke. Unfortunately, when my set was done I found out she had left. The AFC in me was thinking, “Damn…did I suck so bad that she had to relocate?” This is the downfall of talking about my music to someone who is unable to hear me play: if I keep bringing it up as a topic, they are going to think, “Wow, he goes on and on about it so much. He must be really good!” And what happens is when they finally hear me…if they don’t like my style, the letdown is only that much greater because of all the building up I (unintentionally) did. By talking about music so much, I raised her expectations to unbelievable heights. And even though I did really well that night, maybe I didn’t live up to what SHE thought I should have sounded like.

Then again, that is the AFC in me. Although disliking my music is a possible reason for her departure, it could have been that she just had to go home. Maybe her friends persuaded her to relocate. Who knows? I sure don’t because I have been unable to make it back to the open mic since that night. And actually, that was the first time I’d ever seen her there so I don’t even know if she’ll come back again.

Afterwards I was telling the story to a coworker. He said, “You know what you should have done? You should have told her, ‘you wanna see me perform? Well, instead of just watching me here, I’d like to play sometime just for you,’ and THEN ask for the number.” I think he was probably right.

Naturally, this entire time there WAS one question floating through my mind: how do you know she isn’t still with her baby’s father? Well, if I’d had a chance to try for the number close that night, I would’ve found out. I wouldn’t mind dating a woman who already has kids because (as any of you who read my posts know) I already have three myself. Plus Katie is GORGEOUS. Even when she was pregnant and not feeling all that great, she still came into that classroom looking better than every other female in there. (And no, that doesn’t mean all the other ones were ugly!)

Well, this is my first field report. I look forward to your comments about what I did right and wrong. Most important of all, I’d like to know what any of you think I could have done different to avoid failure.

PS Sorry about the length!