BlakeRoberson.net

A while ago my cousin called me up and said, “Blake! I just heard your song!”

Confused, I asked him what the hell he was talking about.

It was at that moment when I was introduced to an Indie Rock band from New York called Vampire Weekend. He told me to listen to this song called One (Blake’s Got A New Face). At first I chuckled. I thought it was funny. I had never heard my name in a song. I mean let’s be serious; Blake really isn’t really a common name and if I were to put it in a song, it would have been something about cake, lakes, snakes, or snowflakes. But that’s just me.

Since then I’ve been a big fan of Vampire Weekend and have really wanted to see them in concert. Sadly, since I’ve known about them they’ve yet to come to Nashville. Then yesterday I heard on the radio that they were coming in April. I was stoked!

Today as I was sitting at my desk, listening to the radio, just finishing up lunch, and I hear, “The first caller that can correctly tell me what song Vampire Weekend is giving away free on their website will win free tickets.”

I pulled up the website and immediately dialed the radio station.

Busy. Hang up.

Dial again.

Busy. Hang up.

Dial again.

Ring. Hang up. CRAP!

Dial again.

Ring.

And just like that, I answer the trivia question and win free tickets to their concert!

I’m not going to lie; I’ve been really excited for 2010. I’ve just had a feeling that this year is going to be a great one. I don’t know if it was because 2009 wasn’t filled with a whole lot of life milestones or perhaps my memory was just clouded because I spent too much of my time in bars, but for some reason I felt like it was an overall kind of bad year for me. And to be honest, I was extremely eager to see it go.

However, then I sat down and did a little assessment of my life during this previous year. While there have been some ups and downs, it really wasn’t all bad. Here is a quick breakdown of the highlights of my 2009 (in no particular order).

• I ran 2 half-marathons
• I went snowboarding
• I went to Las Vegas, New York City, New Orleans (twice), and Gulf Shores, AL (the beach!)
• I gained a roommate
• I later lost said roommate (but only because she fell in love)
• I saw some great concerts
• I made a lot of new friends
• I spent a great deal of time with both my new and old friends
• I went to the lake several times
• I played on 2 kickball teams
• I played on my work’s flag football team
• I finished another year of graduate school
• I dated several lovely ladies, although none of them actually worked out, I still enjoyed the time spent with them
• I got a little bit of a promotion
• I went camping
• I went canoeing a few times
• I went to a lot of football games

All and all it was pretty good year. Plus I am still very optimistic about 2010.

A few weeks ago I met this girl at a bar. She was there with a mutual friend and we kind of hit it off. She was a decent looking girl and actually a few years older than me (I’m 27. She was 33). I really enjoyed talking with her because she seemed witty and easily carried a conversation. Naturally we exchanged numbers and agreed that we should meet up. A few days past and I asked her if she’d like to go get drinks with me one night. She accepted and we set a time and a place.

The date went well. We had a couple beers, cracked a few jokes, talked about what we do, our hobbies, our interests, etc. Basically just normal first date stuff. However, on the way home I received a text from her…. While this normally a pretty good thing (it’s usually a sign that girl is into you if she texting you before you even get home), our text conversation kind of turned weird. During the course of a normal text conversation she started throwing in various cuss words. It normally doesn’t bother me when girls swear. In fact I kind of like it a little. However, this chick was just cussing like a sailor [Insert Red Flag Here]. At the end of the eff-ing conversation we agreed that we should hang out again when she got back in town from a business trip she was about to go on.

Fast forward a couple days and I randomly get this facebook message from this chick (It should be noted that she and I are not actually even facebook friends). While it was odd that she sent me a facebook message in the first place, it was “blow your mind crazy” when I actually read it. The whole message was her asking how I was doing and her looking forward to seeing me again but it was written as a letter from a sensei master to a young warrior (the relevance of why it was written like this is because I mentioned during our date that I played on a kickball team called Cobra Kai). I assumed she was trying to be amusing; but honestly, that was just weird. Needless to say, I didn’t write her back and/or call her again.

A few days later I began to feel bad after I completely dodged her in a bar. I assume that she probably wondered (although I honestly hope she has a little bit of clue) why it didn’t work out. I told my friend Candi that I was thinking about writing her a nice letter telling her what happened and what she did to completely scare me away. I figured if nothing else, perhaps it would be beneficial if she knew. I mean she’s 33 and she’s acting like a wack job.  Candi severely advised against this and said I said I would be better off if I left it alone. Mainly because she thought I’d probably just end up hurting this girl’s feelings.

The whole ordeal got me thinking about how much easier dating would be if we told each other why things didn’t work out. Imagine if a girl/guy told you that they were turned off because they thought you checked out the waitress/waiter when they brought your drinks. Maybe they just didn’t like your style (you’re preppy and they like the rocker type). Perhaps you came across as an asshole. Possibly they simply could have also been seeing someone else and chose to pursue that option instead. The list could go on and on.

All garbage aside about finding the one who loves you for who you are, I think that knowing what mistakes you’re making might be beneficial… Even if feelings do get hurt from time to time. Just sayin’

Last weekend I went camping/canoing in Kelso, TN on the Elk River.

Well summer break is officially over for me…

If you didn’t notice, I took the month of May off from writing about my life. This wasn’t actually planned, I was just really busy. I started playing in a flag football league on Tuesday nights with the guys at work and also playing on two kickball teams on Wednesday and Thursday nights. 

There was honestly one point in which I was looking more toward the work week than I was the weekend. I know that sounds crazy, but my weekdays were filled with fun activities that allowed me to exercise and be social.

Sadly though, school starts again tonight and it’s back to the grind. The rest of the summer will be filled with work during the day and class two nights a week. However, on the plus side, I should be able to get back into running again and I’ll probably start enjoying my weekends a little bit more.

Moving On Up

When I was hired for my job I was told that within a year or so my grandboss would be retiring and my boss would be moving into his position and I would begin to take on more of my boss’ role. A year or so came and went, and while the grandboss talked of retirement, nothing ever came of it. Then around last October, the grandboss started making some serious comments about leaving at the end of the year. Unfortunately the economy, and his 401k, took a serious downturn and he came to us and said he would be staying a little longer. A few more months passed and my department just started assuming he’d be there forever. Then one day at the beginning of March, out of the blue, he announced that he would be leaving April 1st.

At first we were skeptical that this was some elaborate April fool’s day joke, but surprisingly it was the real deal. The grandboss moved out, the boss moved up, and got a little bit of a raise, an office and a little more responsibility.

My View

I think I’ve been so slim on the posts lately because I update my status so much to facebook, share articles and fun stories with my friends via email, and just all around connect with people through other forms of electronic communication. I guess it’s a good thing I’m reluctant to start twittering. 

Last night I decided not to go out and celebrate ole Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. Instead I stayed home cooked a black bean quesadilla and drank a couple Bud Lights (In some areas, a traditional Irish meal).

The roommate did comment on my Irish accent though. I was surprised when she said that it was actually better than my British accent.

I just didn’t think that was possible since my British accent is so amazing. 

This week at work I’ve been doing a little spring cleaning. By this I mean I’m purging a filing cabinet that’s full of various contracts and/or agreements that we no longer need anymore. Some of these files literally go back to 1986.

Judging by the amount of coughing I’ve recently started doing, I am apparently pretty allergic to 23 year old dust.

This past weekend I went to Gatlinburg, TN with twelve other friends for a random fun getaway. Since the weather was so terrible this weekend we mainly spent our time in the chalet hanging out playing cornhole and beer pong.
However, we did manage to eat a lot and we even ventured out and visited an upside down building and played laser tag.

All and all the trip was a lot of fun. Although it made realize I do in fact need to go buy a new camera.