Best gig: I’ts a tossup between Ugly Duckling at the Sydney festival about 3 years ago & Oh Mercy at the Oxford Arts Factory just recently, I really fell in love with them there.

Best song: Coca Cola – Little Red, Jealousy – Sparkadia

Best album: Oh Mercy – Privileged Woes, Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (this album reminds me of travelling through SE Aisa, mostly because it was on repeat at the time, but when I hear it I feel like I’m on a sailing boat in Halong Bay, Vietnam.

Best band: Little Red, Sparkadia & The Shins, it’s really hard to pick just one. I also love Mumford & Sons but I think they are too new to be the best band on my list.

Best movie: Strangely fits into this theme as it’s”That thing you do!” produced by Tom Hanks, a movie about a young music group in the 60’s that make a hit record. Love it!!

Ok this proved a lot harder than I originally thought it would. I couldn’t pick just one thing for each category. It’s funny though as my musical taste changes over time but you get the drift. Indie and ozzie music is up there on the hit list.

If you want to check out more of my musical taste, it’s best to investigate my last.fm profile.

However it was a couple of weeks ago now, and I have been too busy to report on the day that was.

The first date started in a different sort of way, my sister had mentioned a few weeks earlier that she wanted to set me up with one of her friends she worked with, I was a bit unsure as he is 24 and when a guy is younger than a girl it becomes a bit of a barrier. I said no for ages and then I was convinced.

I wasn’t convinced in the normal kind of way, I had an extra ticket to a music festival (as it turned out I didn’t have a free ticket after all, but more about that later). I asked my sister if she wanted to go, she said no but then suggested her friend. By this stage I had just conceptualised 28firstdates and we decided with only a teeny tiny bit of convincing that it might be fun to give it a try and kick it off with a first date at a music festival.

There was the usual sms communication to organise the day, I spoke to him as well just to make sure he was comfortable going as just the two of us.  All good.

Woke up on the Sunday morning with the hang over from hell, my motivation to leave the house was so small but managed to get myself together and make it out the door.
We had arranged to meet at the Fox and Lion a pub at Fox Studios, I got there on time, he was late. A phone call at 3pm and he advised he was on Oxford St and was lost, not sure how he made it to Oxford St from Central station but nonetheless I knew there was a wait at hand. I sat in the pub with a beer in one hand wondering what this guy would look like. I knew I had a description, tall skinny with blue pants and a white top.  Well really that describes a lot of people a a music festival so I had fun watching people as they walked through the door, hoping that my date wasn’t going to be some strange looking mountain man with smelly clothes and crooked teeth who I would have to spend the whole day with (I knew he lived in Blaxland).

So I’m waiting there and he’s like 15 minutes late, and this tall guy walks through the door with funky electric blue pants and a white shirt and heads straight to the toilet. I’m thinking that must be him and wait for him to return, he come back a minute or two later, looks towards me and mouths are you “Jen” I smile and say hi as he approaches.

We get to chatting and don’t stop talking endlessly about the bands we are about to see, I know straight away I’m not going to have trouble talking to this guy as my sister was right we have heaps in common. We have a beer and head to the festival, wait in line for our free tickets only to be advised that in fact there is only one free ticket and it’s for me. The guy at the box office is really sweet after I insist that it should be two, he goes and checks and gives my date a wrist pass. Shh he tells us as he places his hands towards his lips, don’t tell anyway. We thank him and walk through the gates looking forward to seeing some bands.

Mayer Hawthorne

Small relaxed venue, few Sunday afternoon beers, chatting about music some random even comes up to my date asking him where he got his pants from, he becomes our friend and spends half an hour or so with us as you do at a festival. A little bit of Cat Power, my date introduces me to the greatness that is Mayer Hawthorne, I introduce him to the greatness that is Ugly Duckling.

We’re having fun, then I begin to feel a little strange. We are sitting down on the side of the pavement chatting when I have trouble talking my throat becomes slightly dry all of a sudden. My legs start to feel tingly all around my calf mussels and I know there is something weird going on, I tell my date I need to go to the bathroom and he comes with me. I’m lining up thinking what the hell is going on have I been drugged I walk a bit of it off, water on my face and try and think about what’s going on. If my date put something in my drink and I tell him I feel weird is he going to be glad that it’s working. I try and fight if off thinking what is going to happen if I pass out. Thoughts run through my head, I start to feel paranoid, one of the girls from work was around somewhere we bumped into each other earlier, should I try and find her? I start to feel slightly more normal again, I decide to stay a little longer where there is music and try and fight it off, it does work I feel slightly better but I know it is time to leave. I tell my date I have to go, he tries to encourage me to stay to the end, I tell him I can’t he wants to come with me, I tell him I’m leaving, he comes anyway and we leave. I look for a cab on the way out, but the fresh air, cool breeze and walking makes me feel better. He wants food, I can’t eat a thing, looking for a cab as we walk. It’s a Sunday evening and cabs are scarce. By this time I’m feeling much better, I find a cab and say goodbye, we have actually had a decent chat on the way out, he is very polite and gives some homeless people some money. I am even more confused as he doesn’t try and take advantage of me at all, which you would expect if he had tried anything.

In the cab I look back at the day and overall it was fun, I still feel a bit strange but much better than I was, I ask my sister if he would be inclined to spike my drink and she is horrified. I have a very restless night and wake up to dramas, my sister approaches my date the next day and is angry that he has done something to me, he denies it and is angry at me for the accusation, I tell him what happened. Everyone is angry at each other for the whole day, I have a terrible day at work feeling totally shattered and not thinking properly, I know now I had drugs and I know it was speed or some kind of party drug as the after effects were just trashy.

We don’t know what happened or how it happened, I only had a few beers that day and someone put something in my drink, it wasn’t my date but it’s strange to think why someone else would do it. I felt so stupid, I have partied for 10 years, not always hard but it’s not uncommon for me to spend a Sat night out on the town. I have heard the dangers so many time, watch your drinks, don’t let anyone near them but I suppose sometimes it’s just really hard. I’ll watch them more closely next time.

My date, yeah he’s a sweet guy and we got along like a house on fire but he is very young, too young for me. We are going out again though, going to see a gig but we’ll be friends and I’ll be careful when I have a beer.

Ugly Ducking ripping it up on stage

I’ve been quite lazy when it has come to actually creating this, stemming from a lunchtime discussion with two of my female colleagues, lets just call them Brunette Gemini and Blonde Gemini (that’s what Blonde Gemini wanted anyway, so yes you do get a mention) it struck me that it is so hard to find decent men.

Posed with the challenge as to how I was going to find one, 28firstdates was conceptualised. Now I have been pretty slack over the last few weeks. I quite keenly got my twitter account created @28firstdates, and created a facebook page 28first dates and then gradually slowed down. I have asked many of my friends what they think of this concept and they all agree it’s worth a go so here it is.

28firstdates is a social media dating experiment, no i’m not really desperate, but would like a decent man. The idea is to get all my friends on board so they can send my profile to all their single male friends and if they are interested then they send me their details and we go on a date with each other.

What’s the trade off for my friends you ask? Well they get to follow the story along the way through my blog and twitter or facebook page.

Dates can be anything, dinner, coffee (Chai latte for me as I don’t drink coffee), a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, a beer or even a music festival as was the location of date number 1.

I have the weekend to pretty up my blog, post a few more times and then finally get my act into gear and send this out to everyone I know. Wish me luck and follow the journey, or partake in what is 28firstdates.