Very funny blog.
http://figmentsoup.blogspot.com/2009/09/journey.html
Credit goes to Seven
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
journey
oh, what a journey it was!! last night was a blast, and i am left feeling very, very old.
(and more than a little nostalgic)
it seems that lighters held overhead during ballads have been replaced by the lighter ap on the iphone. wow. things our kids will never experience.
there were people there my parents' age who looked like they were fully ready to rock out as i walked towards them. fine jeans, nice shoes, retro rock n roll tees that definitely cost $100+. fantastic conert wear. i am not lying when i say that their 'rock out' factor went down just a smidge when i passed these people and saw the cotton balls and ear plugs in their ears.
the man sitting directly behind my friend was precious. he was totally gray, and quite possibly *the* happiest person there. he sang at the top of his lungs to every single song. after night ranger finished, he said, 'i am so happy i could cry!' after journey finished, he actually cried. somewhere in between the crying, he managed to air hump my friend's head. nice.
there were mullets aplenty. women sported their favorite 80s 'dos. i would be fibbing if i said that i wasn't tempted to wear a side ponytail & legwarmers myself even though it was at least 80 degrees outside.
we bought t-shirts as soon as we got there. mine is a long sleeved baseball tee. love it. i rocked the t-shirt during the concert. yes, i was *that* person.
the bass player for journey looked kind of chalky and i was hoping that he had some nitroglycerin tucked in his leather pants just in case. he had the 'weekend at bernie's' immitation nailed.
for the night ranger finale - the band lined up and did the obligatory bow for the packed crowd. the lead singer got a wild hair, likely due to the crazy aplause, and attempted a standing backflip using his buddies' shoulders as a lever. this was not a pretty sight. he almost made it half way over. this put me into bouts and bouts of chuckles for the better part of the rest of the night.
after the failed backflip attempt, i had a visual of all the guys from journey (except young filipino singing man) doing stretches backstage with richard simmons. my visual for young filipino man included, but was not limited to, a quick round of billy blanks' kickboxing dvd. this entire paragraph is disturbing to me on so many levels.
arnel pineda. alright, let's be honest. this kid walked directly into the cash cow!! he is incredible! energetic, spunky, dancy, jiggy, flippy, and his voice is identical to steve perry! he is the only one i didn't worry about having a potential stroke, heart attack, or aneurysm. i probably had extra confidence in him because of the pre-show billy blanks workout.
the concession stands were very entertaining, too. lots of water being ordered. and they served wine. decent wine, too. now that's just a plain old good sign of knowing your audience.
there was a man in front of me about my same age. well dressed. probably came straight to the concert from the law firm. all i wanted was my plastic cup of wine and my water bottle. after placing his foamy earplugs on the counter in an attempt to converse with the concession lady, this gentleman requested (get this) 'a healthy bit of real food.' the lady behind the counter was baffled.
(i was too: it's a concession stand)
she asked him to clarify. he said, 'real food. substance. not snickers, you know?' she sighed that sigh that people sigh when they are at the brink of losing their patience. 'uhhhhh. yeah. we got some sausages in wraps.' the guy said, 'perfect!! i'll take one of those on a whole wheat tortilla! oh - what kind of sausage is it?' now he could tell she was about to lose it. concession stands don't often have choices of sausage: chicken? beef? pork? mystery meat? tofu? yeah, no. it's a concession stand. he quickly insisted that it didn't matter what kind the sausage was.
the red in the lady's face faded. slightly.
at the last moment, he decided that peanut m&m's would be a nice touch to his mystery meat sausage wrap in a plain jane white (non-homemade) tortilla. the lady took his money and then seriously held the m&m's higher than necessary when she *chunked* them onto the counter. the cracking of the candy shells was audible. even over the bass. his facial expression was so, so classic.
i feel very fortunate when i get to be witness to scenes such as these. rare moments of people interacting with each other who should never actually interact with each other. humanity at its finest.
and you know what the best part was? walking down the hallway at school today in my brand new tee (oh, you can bet your bottom dollar that i washed it-in hot water-as soon as i got home!!). each time i would pass one of my teacher friends, she would start singing 'don't stop...believin' to me. loudly. this prompted the kids to start doing the same thing.
by the end of the day, i think everyone in the sixth grade hallway was believin'. and if they weren't, they were at least faking it really well. kudos, collegues!
it's just not worth it to stop believin'. ya know?
it is safe to say that a good time was had by all.
rach and holly - thanks for a great time & for full texting entertainment!! love you, girls.
t.t.f.n., peeps.
oh!!
p.s. one of my students asked me bright and early first thing this morning, 'miss - did you go to journey last night?'
(my t-shirt apparently didn't give this away to everyone - only a select few)
i told him, 'why yes, i did!'
my student proceeded to tell me, 'oh cool. because my mom saw you there.'
a.) sweetness that your mom was there.
a and a 1/2.) oh dear.
b.) holy crap! i ran the *entire* night through my head on lightning speed trying to think of anything that i might have done that could have been considered even slightly unsightly at any given point in the night.
b and a 1/2.) so far so good....
c.) and finally, sweet relief. i deemed bubba's mom 'super cool' after i realized that i behaved like an almost perfect angel last night.
so....it is now clear to me after writing all of this that i don't get out nearly enough.
i am going to put a stop to that. more interesting adventures out of my house coming soon to a blog near you....
Posted by it's just me... at 7:40 PM
