Thursday, March 08, 2007
The Concert That Almost Wasn't
Exercise: 180 crunches, 60 leg lifts, 30 push ups, 30 squats, and various stretching manuvers. I'm still waiting for the weather and walks to straighten themselves out so I can start running again.
This past Saturday was the My Chemical Romance concert in Lincoln, NE. They really aren't my "cuppa" tea but TBB wanted to go and didn't have anyone else to go with her. The tickets were fairly cheap as far as tickets go so I figured what the hell. Besides, MCR does have a few songs that I like so it's not like I didn't have any interest at all. Of course with the untimely snow storm that decided to blow through, we almost didn't get to go.
From Wednesday evening through Thursday evening, there was a blizzard warning and the interstate running between here and Lincoln was closed. I guess cars and trucks were just flying off the road right and left. Thursday my office closed about 15 minutes early (yah like big woo!) and it wasn't a very good drive home. A trip that usually takes me about 20 minutes ended up taking 45 because of drifting snow and white out conditions. Chi was let out of work at noon which shocked the shit out of me. It's a very rare deal when his employer actually shuts its doors for weather problems.
Friday didn't seem to be shaping up much better either. Chi's office didn't even open that day. Of course you can bet your ass that mine was. We did have a late start (10am) and at the time I had to leave the house, the snow wasn't blowing to the point where I couldn't see out the window, however, the roads really weren't in any shape to be driven on and they had only become worse by the time the day was over. I can understand the whole bottom line issue that a company faces when having to close for a day but in this case, I think it was really stupid that the decision was made to stay open. You think closing for a day is going to hurt the profit, try having a couple of people from your staff out long term because they were in a car wreck. No day of business is worth risking people's lives in my opinion.
Friday night after I got home, I was talking with TBB and we were trying to decide what we were going to do about the concert the next day. She had pointed out that we could take an alternate highway which I wasn't too keen on just because those tend to be in worse condition than the interstates and they're notorious for being drifted shut when there's blowing snow about. Originally the plan was for TBB to leave her house about 8 and get to mine about 10 so we would have plenty of travel time for the 3 1/2 hour trip to Lincoln. Instead, TBB decided to hold off leaving her place until 10:30 in the hopes that maybe the reports of the interstate opening at noon would be true.
I-80 did reopen just after noon time but something else came up which gave us a major delay. When TBB was about 35 minutes from my house, she ended up getting in a wreck. Luckily her car suffered minor damage and she was ok other than being rather shook up which would be expected. I guess some dumbass tried to toe his son's car out of the ditch with his pick up (something that, at the time was not allowed) and rather than getting the car out, his pick up got stuck too and was still sticking out in the road a bit. According to what TBB said, everyone was getting over in the other lane to avoid it - everyone that is except for this dumb bitch who wasn't watching where she was going. The dumb dumb ended up smacking head on into the truck and spinning around - that's when she grazed TBB's car. What really took the cake, however, was later when her mommy was there, this chic tried to say that TBB cut her off. Oh yah because that's so easy to do when you're BEHIND someone. It would seem what she was getting at was that TBB didn't yield to her and let her in the other lane. How typical especially of a 19 year old driver. Obviously she had never heard of a gas peddle nor had she learned how to use it. *RE* Ok kiddies, here's a short little driving lesson for you. When you're driving down the road and there is something blocking your lane, you are the one who is required to yield not only to the road block but also to the traffic in the other lane. The same goes for when you're entering any roadway especially interstates from on ramps. I can't even tell you how many times I've had people come down those things and expect me to get over in the left lane to make way for them. Stupid bastards.
So anyway....back to the concert roadtrip. We finally ended up getting on the road just before 4. With Lincoln being 3 1/2 hours away and the concert starting at 8, we knew it was going to be tight timewise but decided to go for it. Thankfully, the interstate over wasn't too bad. There were a few spots here and there which were icy and some blowing snow but for the most part, traffic was moving along at about the speed limit. We ended up hitting Lincoln about 7:15 but we didn't get to the hotel until at least 7:30. Turns out TBB was reading the wrong map and detoured us on the scenic route. LOL I've been there before once or twice and didn't think where she was going was right, however, that was over five years ago. Things can change quite a bit in that amount of time and I didn't want to get us lost even more than we were especially since we were running so late. It turned out not to be that big of a deal though. Getting back to the main road was easy enough and the hotel wasn't very far from there.
After we got checked in and settled in our room, we rushed to get ready and walked the two blocks over to the venue. Definitely much colder than I would have liked but the hell if I was going to drive the car. When we got there, the opening band had already started. Not that it really mattered though, neither of us were overly interested in them although I think they had one song (hell if I know what it was) that I kind of liked. TBB wanted to stand on the floor in the mob so during their set, we snuck up the side towards the stage. I think when we finally stopped, we were probably about 6 - 10 rows back from the railing which was a good 4 feet from the stage.
When intermission came and the lights were turned on, I took a look around and boy did I feel really old. The majority of the crowd that was there was probably between the ages of 15 & 25 (if that old) and anyone attending who was my age more than likely was there with their kid. While we waited for MCR to take the stage, the kiddies in the crowd on the floor started getting impatient and pushing (UGH!). That coupled with the security guards who kept dousing us with water and getting in my eyes (not a good thing for a contact lens wearer) just outright pissed me off. It was then that I decided I was going to go sit in the stands because I really just didn't need that kind of shit especially at a concert for a band that I'm really not into that much. The good thing was that Mr. PIB's wife and daughter were also attending the concert and there just happened to be a seat free close to them so I was able to sit by people I know.
The show for the most part was entertaining although I think it could have been better. I mean when MCR first came out, you had this dramatical entrance that looked like something straight out of an Alice Cooper show but after that it just kind of fizzled. The whole rest of the show consisted of very little other than pyros (which scared the shit out of me every time they went off because I was sitting right next to where they go boom. So close in fact I could feel the breeze) and a bunch of guys jumping up and down because they more than likely can't dance to save themselves. I swear there were times when it was almost more interesting to watch the crowd where there was plenty of body surfing and moshing/body slamming going on. I had seen and heard about these things on tv but never actually witnessed them. I gotta say, today's kids are certainly a different breed.
Towards the end, TBB ended up getting pulled out of the crowd because she was getting crushed. Because of where I was sitting, I was able to see her come out. I sent her a text to let her know where I was so she could come and sit by us. Now this is one instance where the wireless age is truely a blessing. 15 - 20 years ago, it could have been a total nightmare trying to find someone at a concert if you got separated.
After the show was over, we headed back to the hotel to get some warmer clothes and then returned to the venue to see if the band would come out. As cold as it was, we were doubtful but stayed for awhile anyway. As it turned out, they never showed but we did end up getting some food out of the deal which was good since TBB and I had hardly eaten all day. Some guy came off one of the busses with a pizza box complete with a whole pipping hot cheese pizza and told us we could share it. Not the best meal especially at midnight but given the hour, that was pretty much our only choice.
I think the most humorous moment, however, came when we were on our way home. We had stopped at a gas station just outside of Council Bluffs so we could get something to drink. I pulled into a parking space that was next to this older Cutlass (not a total POS but not overly well kept either). As I was getting ready to get out of the car, the two guys who owned the car next to us had come out and rather than driving away after getting in, they just sat there kind of looking over at my car. Stuff like this always makes me a little suspicious but I figured it wasn't like they could really do anything without getting caught since it was broad daylight and there were quite a few people at this station. Anyway, when I get out of my car, I notice they have the passenger side window open. As I'm walking by, the kid in the driver's seat yells at me, "Hey! I like your car!" LOL That just totally cracked me up. I, of course, was polite and said, "Thanks!" but it just makes me laugh everytime I think about it.
And now for something completely different...
Today is a very sad day. As I was reading the BBC News earlier, I found out John Inman of Are You Being Served fame died at age 71. It was his character on that show (Mr. Humphries) who always made me laugh the most.
Well that's it for today.
Til next time....
Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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