The joys of being BOLD?
People often tell me I’m really loud in public. I like to call it being bold. When I’m with people I love, I forget other people are even around, and they’re busy living their own stories anyway. But being bold has made me a part of other people’s stories too, and I’m not sorry for that. It’s made me a bit of a storyteller, with stories of my own to share. Here are two of them. I’ve changed everyone’s names, so let’s say they’re all called Bob or something.
I was playing Valorant at a gaming café, completely in the zone, screaming, raging, and yelling everything any gamer would in the heat of the moment. About 15 minutes in, a guy noticed me and came over to say, “You’re bloody cool. You’re a true gamer.” I laughed and apologised, saying I might be a bit too loud. He waved it off and told me very few gamer girls are like that. He said I reminded him of his wife and daughter, and he was glad he’d met me. I’d fired him up, he said, and I should keep doing what I was doing because it was funny.
Then he went back to his gaming chair, and for the next five minutes I could hear him talking about me to his party. Before he left, he came over one last time and said, “We might not meet again, but from one good gamer to another, keep grinding and be funny. It’s what makes gaming fun.” His name was Bob, and he was 37. We ran into each other a few more times after that and played together.
Then there’s the time I was meeting two of my strangest friends, Bob1 and Bob2, at Flinders Street while we waited for another friend, Bobette. (Strangest is the kindest word I have for them, and yes, I’m getting real creative with the names.) We were talking about how we act when we get drunk, and Bob1 started telling everyone about the horrific time he got drunk and did a full dance routine for me. I teased him: “I’ll give you 10 bucks if you do that right now in front of this whole crowd.” Keep in mind, this was Flinders Street at around 6 pm.
He chickened out, but while we were laughing, a couple of guys our age overheard and yelled, “Make it 20!” We all burst out laughing. It turned out they were headed to the same bar as us, so we ended up grabbing drinks together and becoming friends.
Being loud and bold has led me to some unexpected friendships, and a lot of them stuck. These stories remind me that if you’re just yourself, quirks and all, the right people tend to show up. And the boldest moments are usually the ones people remember.
