Older

I turned 29 years old this past Saturday afternoon. That's damn near 30! My next birthday I'll be married and 30. Weird. We started the day off at the Panthers FanFest where we were treated to 95 degree heat and a football practice. I reckon football practice is better than no football. They were serving beer, though. We ate lunch at Tavern and headed home for a two hour nap.
I didn't plan much, a simple dinner at Dish followed by cans of beer at the Thirsty Beaver. Dish is my favorite restaurant but I never get over there to eat. Everything you order comes with a deviled egg and a biscuit. Nothing sucks about that or the shrimp and grits. Jennifer got a veggie sandwich which had some black bean hummus. If you're a vegetarian, chances are you go crazy for anything that features black bean hummus.
We left Dish and headed to the Thirsty Beaver. We walked in and didn't recognize anyone, not even the bartender. We asked her where everyone was and she said The Loose Lugnuts were playing the Comet Grill. We finished our beers and headed to Dilworth to find the Comet was packed with people we knew and a band that actually didn't suck. The Lugnuts have come a long way since they let me play with them for a couple of months a few years ago. Mark and Brian added a bass player a while back who doesn't suck and found a guitar player named Bill Noonan. Noonan's been around Charlotte for years with his own band, but really enjoys playing with the Lugnuts. Word leaked it was my birthday and all of the sudden Shelia had shots for the band and myself. Ya'll know I'm not a liquor drinker, but I damn sure enjoyed the Jim Beam. Once again, I loved it, thus I don't typically drink it.
We did most of our hanging out upstairs where my old college friends Wes and Tiffany came to meet us. I hadn't seen Tiffany in probably seven years when Jennifer and I ran into her at the hospital last year. She asked me if I had Wes' number and they've been dating ever since. Tiffany went to see Journey Saturday night and a few emails and text messages later, they were at the Comet. Despite my High Life and Jim Beam induced drunk, it was great to see them. We need to see them again so I can really catch up instead of hollering over the music and trying to remember what they told me.

With dinner, The Loose Lugnuts, good times, good friends and great oldies, my 29th birthday was one of my better ones. Maybe 30 won't be that bad.