if it's too loud, you're too old
N and I went to Dark Rave last night. This marked my first club outing since getting pregnant in late 2006. I never felt I could leave the boy for long enough to make a club night viable, since he needed to nurse every two hours at night until recently. Lately, he's been nursing every 3-4 hours, and the previous night, he didn't nurse at all for 6 hours straight! Thought we'd take a chance and see what happened, etc.
misslynx graciously reworked her schedule so that she could spend part of the evening with Aidan before I nursed him down to sleep and the rest of the evening, she'd spend chilling (watching season three Lost), checking in on him periodically to make sure he was ok.
N and I went down fairly early -- arrived close to 11:30 after walking from Ossington (just missed the streetcar and didn't want to wait another 10+ minutes for the next one). We checked out all three floors and liked what was playing in the old chillout room. Decided that we needed some warm-up time, so we hit another floor and started there. By the time we came back up to Holy Joe's, that DJ's set was over with and what should happen to come on next, perfect for Dark Rave? Why, a hip-hop rapper! Perfect! That is, for some alternate universe where dark electronica = hip-hop. WTH? *head desk*
So we headed back down to the main floor where we got some decent dance time in. The bartender recognized N, so we got free water. And a guy I recognized from when I used to go semi-regularly (OMGnearly3yearsago!), took a photo or two of me (and possibly N) while I was dancing. This gratified my ego, immensely. Thanks, man. :)
But really? the music volume got to me after a while and I needed make-shift earplugs. And then the vibrations from the bass started jostling my inner organs to an uncomfortable degree. I couldn't sit down to rest anywhere because leaning against any solid object intensified the vibrations. We weren't there for much longer after that -- there was no safe place where we could actually hear the music without also feeling assaulted by it. N was fine -- it was all me being overly-sensitive to it.
We decided to head out, with the idea that we could come back later to see if there was anything worth dancing to. We started walking east along Queen, having excellent conversations about how out of place we feel with the mainstream and how ridiculous it all seems. I felt suddenly that I just didn't belong in Toronto anymore. It's far too loud and too fast-paced and I just wanted a quieter place to live. By the time we were a few blocks away from the club, I realized there was no way I could go back there. My jaw was aching because of the tension of the bass. *shakes head*
I can still dance, yes, but there is no reason the music has to be that loud. This makes me too old, apparently.
I'm looking forward to Promise at Cherry Beach (Monday, this weekend) for more electronica. Outdoors means we can be a reasonable distance from the music while still being able to enjoy it. Plus, circus fun and drumming all in the same place! Add in the inevitable mix of people we know and this makes for a very good event. Just need to remember to bring stuff for picnic.
After we left the club last night, we walked to the subway station and headed back to our neighbourhood. Didn't feel like waiting for a bus, so we decided to walk home. While stopping by Tim Horton's on the way back for some crap food (their peanut butter cookies are YUM, but everything else I tried was meh/awful), we got a call from L... apparently the Smallest had been awake for an hour screaming at the top of his lungs for milk and would not be sated with anything less. No amount of other liquid, singing songs, reading books, walking outside, etc. would calm him, so she decided it was time to see if we could come home then. Good timing, as we were on our way home anyway. We didn't rush, though. I asked if she could give him some food, since he was likely wide awake.
After getting home,it took about a half hour to get him back to sleep, by which point, N was also asleep. L finished watching the episode she was on that got interrupted when the boy awoke, let us know that she was leaving, and then slipped out quietly.
A successful enough evening, as far as I'm concerned. I've outgrown DR, which is kind of a shame, since the next one is the tenth anniversary with a Star Wars theme. And a chillout room for real. We'll see what life brings a month from now...
misslynx graciously reworked her schedule so that she could spend part of the evening with Aidan before I nursed him down to sleep and the rest of the evening, she'd spend chilling (watching season three Lost), checking in on him periodically to make sure he was ok.
N and I went down fairly early -- arrived close to 11:30 after walking from Ossington (just missed the streetcar and didn't want to wait another 10+ minutes for the next one). We checked out all three floors and liked what was playing in the old chillout room. Decided that we needed some warm-up time, so we hit another floor and started there. By the time we came back up to Holy Joe's, that DJ's set was over with and what should happen to come on next, perfect for Dark Rave? Why, a hip-hop rapper! Perfect! That is, for some alternate universe where dark electronica = hip-hop. WTH? *head desk*
So we headed back down to the main floor where we got some decent dance time in. The bartender recognized N, so we got free water. And a guy I recognized from when I used to go semi-regularly (OMGnearly3yearsago!), took a photo or two of me (and possibly N) while I was dancing. This gratified my ego, immensely. Thanks, man. :)
But really? the music volume got to me after a while and I needed make-shift earplugs. And then the vibrations from the bass started jostling my inner organs to an uncomfortable degree. I couldn't sit down to rest anywhere because leaning against any solid object intensified the vibrations. We weren't there for much longer after that -- there was no safe place where we could actually hear the music without also feeling assaulted by it. N was fine -- it was all me being overly-sensitive to it.
We decided to head out, with the idea that we could come back later to see if there was anything worth dancing to. We started walking east along Queen, having excellent conversations about how out of place we feel with the mainstream and how ridiculous it all seems. I felt suddenly that I just didn't belong in Toronto anymore. It's far too loud and too fast-paced and I just wanted a quieter place to live. By the time we were a few blocks away from the club, I realized there was no way I could go back there. My jaw was aching because of the tension of the bass. *shakes head*
I can still dance, yes, but there is no reason the music has to be that loud. This makes me too old, apparently.
I'm looking forward to Promise at Cherry Beach (Monday, this weekend) for more electronica. Outdoors means we can be a reasonable distance from the music while still being able to enjoy it. Plus, circus fun and drumming all in the same place! Add in the inevitable mix of people we know and this makes for a very good event. Just need to remember to bring stuff for picnic.
After we left the club last night, we walked to the subway station and headed back to our neighbourhood. Didn't feel like waiting for a bus, so we decided to walk home. While stopping by Tim Horton's on the way back for some crap food (their peanut butter cookies are YUM, but everything else I tried was meh/awful), we got a call from L... apparently the Smallest had been awake for an hour screaming at the top of his lungs for milk and would not be sated with anything less. No amount of other liquid, singing songs, reading books, walking outside, etc. would calm him, so she decided it was time to see if we could come home then. Good timing, as we were on our way home anyway. We didn't rush, though. I asked if she could give him some food, since he was likely wide awake.
After getting home,it took about a half hour to get him back to sleep, by which point, N was also asleep. L finished watching the episode she was on that got interrupted when the boy awoke, let us know that she was leaving, and then slipped out quietly.
A successful enough evening, as far as I'm concerned. I've outgrown DR, which is kind of a shame, since the next one is the tenth anniversary with a Star Wars theme. And a chillout room for real. We'll see what life brings a month from now...