The Aftermath (part 3)

On Monday night, I was just screwing around online and happened to look at the rest of the "Scream the Prayer" schedule, only to discover that the tour would be in Dayton, Ohio the very next night. I thought to myself, "Self, I wonder how far Dayton is from here." Through the wonders of the internet, I deduced that it was only a two and half hour drive. I thought again, "Self, I could totally drive that far tomorrow for a concert." So on Tuesday, right after work, me, myself, and I hopped in the car and headed for Ohio.
I arrived at the venue (The Attic) just before 4. The show officially started at 3:30, but I didn't really care much about the early bands and had seen them all before anyway. When I arrived there was still a long line in front of the door, so I got in line and slowly made my way toward the front. But to my horror, with about twenty people still in front of me, a security guy came out and informed us that the show was sold out. SOLD THE FREAK OUT!
I stood there for a minute in disbelief, then not knowing what else to do I headed to the car and called Anna to inform her that I was on my way back. But then as I was talking to her a thought struck me. Project 86 had said they would be grilling out back before each show. So once again I thought, "Self, let us go see if we can find Project and at least hang out."
I pulled the car around to the back of the club, and low and behold, there was Andrew (the lead singer) himself setting up a grill. I quickly parked and started making my way over, when once again all my dreams were crushed. There were already several kids gathered around Andrew, and a security guard came out and informed them that they couldn't be back there. Andrew quickly informed the guard what was going on, which he decided was alright, but he said they would need special wrist bands. I didn't have a wrist band period, since I hadn't been able to even get into the show. So I decided the only thing I could do was walk up and say "hi" to the band and wait for the security guard to come back and kick me out.
I walked up as Andrew was introducing himself to the other people, and when he saw me, I am pleased to say that he did remember me (though I'm not sure if he knew exactly from where). I quickly informed him of my predicament, but he just told me I should hang around awhile because there usually would be some way to get into a show eventually.
So I hung around behind the venue with Project 86, while Andrew grilled hot dogs and bratwurst to order. There were maybe fifteen kids back there, but I was surprised when I gathered that only two of the other kids really knew who Andrew was. Which leads me to wonder how those other kids even ended up back there. It was actually kind of funny listening to them ask Andrew whether he was with one of the bands and if he was just along for the tour as a roadie or something. The best was when a kid asked if he was a permanent member of any of the bands or just a replacement, and he assured the kid that he was one of those people a band couldn't do without.
While out there, I got to witness Andrew do a tv interview with a local station and record a vodcast for their Youtube channel. I think my torso might end up in the vodcast.
I ended up out back with the band for roughly two and a half hours chatting and such and hoping for a way to get into the show. As it got closer to the time for their set I got more and more worried. The band started discussing what they could do for me. They said normally they'd try to just sneak me in, but the security there was apparently super anal. They finally decided that they could give me their extra all access pass. I started to feel better, but then they came back after roughly an hour of searching to inform me that they couldn't find it. Again, I was stuck.
With about ten minutes 'til the start of their set, Andrew suggested I just try back at the front again and hope maybe enough people would have left for them to sell tickets again.
It worked. Just as Project was about the take the stage, the venue decided they could let more people in. It was such sweet relief to know I had finally gotten in to the show and that my trip had not been in vain.
Project took the stage and was awesome as always. It took me a couple songs, but I was able to force my way to the front and center in order to sing along. The crowd was much more decent to them than they had been in Indy or in Louisville. They got a good response, and it seemed like most of the crowd was actually into the set instead of trying to look like they were too cool to care.
After Project played, I stood in back to watch Sleeping Giant, The Chariot, and Haste the Day do their thing. Sleeping Giant sucked again. The Chariot was good, though not as good as they had been in Indy. Haste the Day just bored me.
When the show was over I was able to chat with Andrew again as well as with the drummer. Both truly seemed glad that I had made my way in. I talked to the drummer for a bit about college and his life. I also got Andrew to sign a vinyl copy of "Picket Fence Cartel" for me.
It was a good time. I realize too, that by being sold out, I actually had a better time at this show than I would have had I gotten in right away. I got to hang out with my favorite band for a couple hours, and they actually know me now. The bassist and guitar player both remembered me from singing in Indy.
All in all, it was just a cool chance to go to another show and then magically hang out with Project 86.
I guess I'll keep this entry concert related and not completely change directions. But check back soon to read about me getting yelled at on the phone for fifteen minutes by a complete stranger.

The Aftermath (Part 2)

My mom left here Sunday the 5th.
Monday I started feeling sick again. Anna started feeling sick too.
We just got sicker and sicker over the next week.
I had radioactive greenish yellow snot.
I even ended up with pink eye in both eyes.
It wasn't until this past week that we even started feeling better.
This last weekend we headed down to South Carolina to see Anna's friend Jennifer graduate from basic combat training. That was an interesting trip. It was Anna, her mother, and me packed into this little Hyundai Accent. The Accent was the lowest level rental, and it didn't even have cruise control. I drove the whole way, and the lack of cruise made for a loooong drive.
The car also had zero horsepower. This meant it constantly received a great deal of mockery every time we tried to go up the slightest hill. Since our route to SC took us through the Appalachians, the car was mocked a lot.
We drove from here to Columbia, South Carolina on Thursday. We then got up Friday to go to Jennifer's graduation. It was actually somewhat interesting. They stood in formation the whole time looking serious. We made out Jennifer as they filed past and laughed a great deal at her awesome army issue glasses.
After graduation we met up with Jennifer and spent the day roaming a mall in Columbia with her. We even saw a real live furry in the mall. I think he was of the raccoon variety. I tried to hook him up with Sara, but apparently, she only goes for other cats.
We found out while we were in Columbia that Anna's sister has mono. This made her mother paranoid that Anna and I had it as well. Anna used this paranoia to harass her mother all weekend about her "enlarged colon and brain cancer."
We dropped Jennifer off at her base Friday night, thinking we wouldn't see her again but then we got a call later that day saying she wanted us to get her a duffel bag and bring it to her the next morning before she was flown to Texas. So Anna and I made a late night trip to Wal-Mart and then got up early Saturday morning to give her this duffel bag. She ended up deciding she didn't even want the duffel.
After we finally left her, we checked out from the hotel and made our way to the coast. We had a hotel reserved in Georgetown which is about 25 miles south of Myrtle Beach. So we drove through Georgetown and up in the direction of Myrtle Beach. We tried to get to the beach, but it was just too insane. So we decided to pay to go into the Huntington Beach State Park that was just a little south. That was an excellent decision. We practically had the beach to ourselves and had a really nice time walking and watching crabs and such.
We drove back to Indiana on Sunday. That was a long drive. The trip to the beach meant that we had an extra two and a half hours added to our trip. We made it though. I was glad to say goodbye to that little excuse for a car.
So this past week I've just been getting caught up, and the residents have been making sure I'm informed on what happened in my absence.
Apparently, George (old guy who car barely talk, smokes like a chimney, and constantly has bimbos over, who are always taking his stuff and money) had a couple of especially nasty girls over who forced their way into another resident's apartment and threatened to set their dog on another resident's dog. Then last night I was informed that one of the girls had been walking around outside half-naked. I talked to George about it last night. Naturally, he denied everything. If it happens again I'll have to start writing him up (three write-ups mean he gets evicted). Hopefully he'll start taking this seriously and stop letting these girls take advantage of him.
Well, I'm typed out, and I'm also caught up on the events of our lives. Now, I can start informing all my faithful readers on current events again. Goodnight all.
Camouflage Tasmanian Devil boxers.

Anna.

So, yeah. I haven't posted in a while, but that's mostly because things haven't changed a whole lot. I'm giving trumpet lessons on Thursdays and that's kind of fun. Still looking for a job. Still haven't heard back from anyone. What else? I guess there's a bunch of stuff going on at church that I'm not too fond of, and I'm not going to elaborate much, but I'll just say that it's bad enough that we're going to find a new one. This could be a good opportunity for us to get to know some new people. There's a Reformed Presbyterian church in Columbus that we're going to try. Hopefully we can find some place where we belong.

We went on a mini-vacation with my momma to South Carolina to see a friend graduate from the Army. It was really cool and it kind of made me want to cry. I'm not sure why. Haha. And then we spent a day on the beach. LOVE LOVE LOVED that. I was getting really frustrated because we were driving along the edge of Myrtle Beach and it was sooo crowded (naturally). I remembered seeing something about a state park online, and we found it (Huntington Beach State Park) and decided to pay to go there. It was so nice! We went to an hour long lecture about reptiles. It was actually really cool. We did a little bird watching and walked out on a long walkway in the marshy area. My dad would have been proud. :) Then we went to the beach and the crowds were non-existent! There was a wedding, and aside from the people attending that, it was all to ourselves. Really. We could walk for ten minutes and not see another person. It was amazing. We watched little crabs scurry in and out of their holes and mom named one "Hootie." I thought that was kind of funny.

When we came back to the apartment, we discovered Chiefy was pretty much in party mode the entire time. He had shredded two rolls of toilet paper. He even somehow got a bunch of it under a rug. He brought out a ribbon and moved a bunch of aluminum foil. Oh, and he got an apron and strung it out in the kitchen. And ripped off one of the straps. Oh, and he tore up some napkins... And knocked a few things off of the entertainment center... And ate a few daisies. He's pretty bad. But he's just so freaking cute we can't be mad at him. And Howie, of course, is always a gentleman. The worst thing he does is get hair in the tub. Silly boys.

I think most of you knew that Edna died. That was a really sad part of my summer. I'm not a fan. I don't think Edith is either.

I am taking my Praxis on the 25th. I'm kind of terrified, but not so terrified that I'm spending a lot of time studying. I could seriously find myself regretting that.

Yep, that's about it. Aside from my dream that Hehoff was pregnant. :)

Hehoff turns 25

On July 4th, I turned 25 and got exactly what I wanted for my birthday.
The fourth offered me my second opportunity to catch the Scream the Prayer tour. This time it was at a venue called the Emerson Theater in Indianapolis. So after leaving my mom and Anna to do some shopping at the outlets, I headed up to Indy. On the way to the show, I actually received a call from Jana, wishing me happy birthday. That was kind of nice. So thanks Jana.
The Emerson Theater turned out to be a rather interesting venue. The outside looked ancient and worn, and the inside was super dark. The whole floor of the place sloped down toward the stage, and portions of the ceiling looked as though they might fall at any moment. Acoustically it wasn't that impressive, but it was certainly unique.
The local acts were kind of annoying. I got the distinct impression that one band used to be "Christian" but had completely changed directions. The vocalist for that particular group was rather vulgar and rather disillusioned with Christianity.
Corpus Christi didn't play this show. I'm not sure why. I saw all their band members around, and they had their merch booth set up.
A Plea for Purging was then the first national act. They were again decent. I'm just not sure they have perfected the art of song writing as much as just that of throwing riffs together.
For Today was next. They are just too preachy.
Agraceful is annoying. The lead guitar player broke a string during the first song and then had is whole guitar quit working. He ended up borrowing a guitar from another band to finish the set.
Gwen Stacy is actually local to Indianapolis which meant they had a lot of local fans, but there was a group of kids right next to me who were obviously drunk and found it necessary to spend the whole set flipping off the band.
For some reason these same kids who hated Gwen Stacy loved Oh, Sleeper. I don't know why. Oh, Sleeper was pretty decent this time. I'm not sure what the difference was, but they just put on a better show than they did in Louisville.
Project 86 followed Oh, Sleeper. The center stage monitor broke somehow between sets, and about fifteen minutes was lost replacing it. This saddened me since it both delayed and shortened Project's set. When they did finally take the stage, I discovered that the same kids next to me also hated Project 86. Fortunately, I managed to forget them as I lost myself in Project's set. Project played roughly the same set they did in Louisville, though they were forced to cut out one of the songs off their new album because of the time crunch. As usual they were awesome. I made sure I had myself planted right against the stage, so whenever Andrew was looking for someone to sing the words, I was right there ready to scream. When it came time for their last song, Andrew announced that if we could demonstrate we knew the words we might get a chance to come on stage. I had known this might happen before hand and was hoping desperately for the chance. So "Spy Hunter" started and I made it obvious I knew every word. About halfway through the song, Andrew came over, grabbed my hand, and pulled me onstage. He beckoned me over to a mic, and I started singing along. Unfortunately, I also managed to unplug the mic. When he realized this had happened, he handed me his mic, and I got to finish the song all on my lonesome. Best moment of my life (not of course including any and all moments with my wife;)).
Sleeping Giant followed Project 86. They were awful. I had never heard them before and really wanted to like them, but I just couldn't. The lead singer literally spent half of their set trying to get the audience to sing along to the most retarded lyrics. There was nothing at all meritorious about that awful awful set.
The Chariot on the other hand completely dominated. They completely out did their set in Louisville. They spent far less time making random noises and much more time making massive walls of hardcore music. They concluded their set by having every member of the band grab a drum and beat it to oblivion, and then every member (plus several from other bands) jumped off the stage all at once and flattened the crowd. The crowd called insistantly for another song, and the drummer had to come out and explain that there was no way they could because of all the damage they had done to the set and equipment.
Fortunately, The Chariot was also the last band to play. Haste the Day was not there, and thus I didn't have to sit through another boring set.
After the show, I managed to talk to Andrew for several minutes about everything from getting to perform on stage to the books he is currently writing to the magazines and such with which he is involved. I told him that he had given me exactly what I wanted for my birthday. That night Project 86 even twittered, thanking me by name for performing with them. Yeah, I'm a rockstar (or so my wife says).
I drove home with the thrill of the evening coinciding with fireworks shooting off all around me. It was a good night.

The Aftermath Part 1

I started to feel sick the Sunday after the Becoming the Archetype concert. By Monday I had a fullblown cold. I also had my mother coming to visit.
My mom showed up Monday night, right in the middle of Anna and me frantically trying to clean out the Explorer so it would be presentable for her.
She got to meet all the critters. She was not aware of the existence of either the guinea pigs or Chief (or the fish for that matter). This didn't bother her too much though, in fact I learned things about her that I didn't even know. For example, I learned that her family became the crazy cat people while she was in high school and at one point, probably had eighteen or so cats. I had no idea. I had grown up my entire life not having pets. Apparently though, this excess of cats influenced my mother's decision to never have cats in her own house.
I think that she and Chief got along wonderfully though. I can still hear her lovingly saying "NO,NO,NO!" to him as he tried to eat her clothes as they hung in the closet, and I can still see her throwing him out of the room and shutting the door in his face.
Howie, on the other hand, spent pretty much the entire week in hiding, as usual. His first instinct, no matter what, is to hide under the futon.
So as I was saying, by Monday I had a cold and this lasted pretty much all week. My mom also started getting sick toward the end of the week though we are still not sure if that was from me or something she had caught back in Colorado that had made its slithering way from the country of Japan through a very logical though hard to explain series of circumstances. Needless to say, my mom was hoping it was just a cold and not whatever funny Japanese disease with which she had come into contact.
We really didn't know what to do with my mom while she was here, but she pretty much took care of that problem herself. She spent nearly the entire time reading. She brought something like thirty library books, and I think she may have read three or so a day while here. Anna had been nervous about seeming smart and stuff in front of my mom, but I think she felt better when she discovered that my mom's reading preferences include trashy romance novels and lame detective mysterys. My mom has horrible taste in literature.
We did mingle a little bit with Anna's family. Sarah came over a couple of times during the week, and my mom actually helped her with her chemistry homework.
One night my mother and I decided to make pancakes for Anna's family. We had found a great big bunch of blueberries at Sam's Club, and so we made a great big batch of blueberry pancakes for dinner. It had been a long time since I had had my mother's buttermilk pancakes, and it was a nice opportunity to eat something made from scratch and not out of a mix.
We tried to do some stuff with my mom, but none of that really went anywhere. We took her to Nashville, Indiana, where Anna found a really cool music shop, but my mom didn't really seem all that interested in much there. I guess it was fortunate for us that we were rushed, and we left quickly. This was on Friday night, the third.
Because my birthday was on the fourth and I was going to a concert in Indianapolis on the fourth, they celebrated my birthday on Friday. We left Nashville early and came back to Anna's parents. Her mother had grilled up some pork thingies and made a cake. They also got me the now traditional DQ ice cream cake. So we ate pork and cake, and then they gave me presents. Anna's father gave me a bunch of targets for use with my handgun, and my mom gave me Guitar Hero world tour. My mom and Anna both found me awesome birthday cards too. Anna's had to do with my plumber's crack, and mom's was a card with a couple of rednecks on it playing "Banjo Hero."
I shot up some of my targets that night, but I didn't have much ammo. So I didn't shoot as long as I would have liked.
Saturday, being my birthday and the day of the second Scream the Prayer concert deserves its own post so stay tuned in eager anticipation for that story. Keep reading this awesomeness of a blog, and you will continue to be a better person.
Oh and by the way, they are gray.