S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!

I had quite the day. Starting from burning myself and ending the night not feeling so well.

My all time favorite band, Blue October, was in town. They were playing outside and for a typical summer here in these parts, it was going to be really warm and humid. So I decided to make my hair curly so I didn't have to worry about the frizziness. Well in the process I burned my shoulder, leaving a nice mark. It's still there today.

A little mishap but it gets better. I pick-up my friend, we eat, drink and headed for the concert. I swear if there was a Final Destination 4, I would be in it. I had three cars pull out in front of me. The first was a guy in a truck pulling a boat. He was just about half way through the street before he stopped and I slammed my brakes. Not even 2 minutes later did another truck try pull into the street in front of me. Slamming on my brakes again. Here's the best one, the third, is a bus pulling from the casino. I have a green light the whole time. The bus is turning left onto the street I'm on and in front of me. I had to slam on my brakes again, while the light was green. Therefore, he was turning left on red. My friend made the comment that I had a death wish getting to the concert. No kidding!

We finally make it to concert and there were just letting people in. We get through the gates, find our spot on the hill and wait for the Jon McLaughlin to come out and play. As we sat there watching people, our favorite thing, we spotted a couple interesting sights. Like a poor guy who was so hot, his entire back was nothing but sweat. Of course I had to take a picture. Another was a lady wearing leg warmers in July. She had bad hair too. So before Jon came out, a radio station requested someone to come on stage. This guy came up and brought his girlfriend too. He didn't win a prize but he did propose to his girlfriend on stage. It was sweet and yet sick to my stomach. You don't see those every day.

Jon finally comes out and starts to play. We have heard him before about a month ago and became instant fans. This time we knew the words to some of his songs. He is really good and we're looking forward to seeing him again. It's now time to switch the equipment and prepare for Blue October. We're standing up streching our legs, un-numbing our butts and looked at people some more. It was this time that I find one of two people that I hate and she was about 40 feet from us. No problem, I here to listen to my boys.

Finally, they came out. With Ryan starting on his violin, they came out to a crowd screaming. I've been to there concerts before and this one was different. They played songs that they don't usually play live. It was a good change and to see the audience's reaction was even better. At some point during the concert, the girl had moved to sit right next to us. We both noticed but choosed to not say anything. I think she noticed who I was after one song. No matter she kept quite and so did I. I wanted to enjoy the music.

After awhile, my friend and I left to the patio to meet her brother and wife. They were enjoying free drinks this whole time and we wanted to get in on the freebies. Blue October keeps on playing and does an encore. The concert is over. I was happy. We go inside to meet our other friends, for one of them was her birthday. We chat, sing, dance and then Blue October showed up right next to us. I can't say what my face was doing, but I know my heart was pumping rather quickly.

The first to show was Matt. He's a little guy with dark spiky hair. I felt very strange as I didn't know what I should do. Part of me wanted to go up and hug him, because he was so little and the other part wanted to stay far away and don't look at him in the eye. Well, I think the two Mai Tais I had said to go talk to him. I didn't want to become that obsessed fan who needs to touch him to get high. I really wanted to know this guy. So I approached him, gave him a light tap, told him that he did a great job tonight and that I have been listening to them since 98. To my surprise he actually was intrigued at what I said. I continued to tell him that I first saw them at the Music Box. He said he had missed that place and then asked for my name. Delighted I gave it to him, shook his hand, told him to have a good time tonight and went back to my group. I wanted to talk more but obviously there were a couple girls wanted his autograph so I didn't want to bother anymore. I was happier.

Next was Ryan, the ultimate violinist. This guy is amazing. He puts a lot of people to shame. When I saw him, my first instant reaction was "Look there's Ryan!" as I pointed at him. My friends told me to pipe down and not make a scene. They were right. CB and Jeremy showed up then. I was in heaven. I knew I wasn't going to see Justin as he would be swarmed with people around him. I was okay with that and found myself talking to the rest of them a little bit at a time.

At one point of the night, I started joking with him. Trying to get Matt to buy a birthday drink for my friend. CB was talking with another friend and I did a shot with Ryan. Ryan is pretty smooth talker if you ask me. He was always surrounded by the ladies. I was even happier.

Sadly the night had come to a close. I was in much need of eating something since the Mai Tais and shot took over my entire well being. Plus it didn't help that it was over 7 hours prior since we had dinner. My friend takes my keys and we were off to Village Inn. Apaarently I was a hoot, still slurring and not making any sense. No matter, I had a great, very eventful time. I get home and collapse in my bed. I did not feel good, but it was worth it. I was very happy.

This was one of the best nights in my life. Thanks to my friend for getting the tickets and thanks to my other friend for having her birthday party at Stir. It's a night I will never forget.