Part One: Honk If You Like Hanson

It was 4:45 a.m. when I woke from a sleep of roughly five hours at my friend Lauren's house. The night before had been long, it was her birthday and we were up eating frosting and marshmallows until about midnight. When we finally crashed, an alarm clock with a towel over it was shoved against my ear. I heard it in the morning, buzzing me out of bed. I hit 'Snooze' at first, then I turned it completely off. Lauren and her other friend Olivia were still in deep sleep, so I slipped out of bed, gathered my things, wrote Lauren a note, and stood by the door. When the familiar hum of my mom's van drove up, I quietly crept out and climbed into the car.

Phase two of the plan was going underway. My mom asked me, "What CD should we listen to?" Without a doubt, we picked "This Time Around." We listened to the CD as we drove. Mom was afraid to stop for gas in fear that we would lose time.

Our hopes were high as we rounded the corner that would determine our fate. If there were a lot of people camped out, we would be in trouble. We just hoped that the coast was clear. We looked across the street at the McMinamin's restaurant.

Not a soul. We freaked out, yelling and stuff. Then we scanned the parking lot. "Do you see anybody sleeping in their car?" my mom asked me. I didn't see anyone, but when we parked and got out, sure enough. Beside us was a car full of girls and their mother, sleeping. I smiled as we pulled our lawn chairs out of the back of the van and set up our "camp" at the door of the store.

It was cold, freezing in fact, but we managed to stay warm with my orange crocheted blanket and our good spirits. Soon the girls that had been sleeping in the car dragged themselves over to us and set up their place right behind us.

It wasn't long before we were friends with them. Their mom had a Hanson T-Shirt on, the three girls were named Raven, Laura, and Tanya. They told us of their adventures and failures as Hanson fans. Apparently they had been parked there since 1:00 in the morning. We offered for them to go in front of us, since they really had earned the first spot, but they refused.

Not long after, two other girls drove up with their mom. Named Nichole and Rosy, they were hyper from the very beginning. Nichole very much reminded me of Zac Hanson, while Rosy was incredibly humorous.

The first two groups of girls bonded with each other, and with us, but that was where it stopped. Over a long course of time, people arrived, but they kind-of stayed away from us and we were too busy swapping Hanson facts to meet them and learn more about them.

For many minutes we sat there, playing with little toys and writing Hanson words backwards (Did you know that Albertane backwards is Enatrebla?). I got some cocoa and the girls shared a pancake from a Coffee Shop across the street.

When a lady unlocked the door and came out, we got excited. But all she was saying was to move the line. She wanted us to line up by a different door. That wasn't a problem. We moved and stayed in the same order. There were tables in our new spot, so we sat down.

The "Boggle" game we brought came in handy at that point. We played for a couple minutes, while Mom drove the van over and started blasting my "This Time Around" CD.

A guy walked up to the restaurant with a bundle of little papers in his hands. "Are those the tickets?" my mom asked excitedly. When his answer was "yes," we all screamed.

We had drinks then, which drove us in search of a bathroom. Baskin Robbins was our only hope, but they weren't open. Finally we resorted to driving to Burger King.

When we got back, we saw a recycling guy trying to get into the restaurant. We thought he looked like Hanson's video director, David Meyers. It was funny, because he didn't know whom we were talking about. We also saw a lady. She said we had an hour. At 11:00 the tickets would go on sale. We were getting restless.

Then we had an idea. At first it was just a joke between Rosy, Nichole and I, but then we realized that there was a Kinko's right across the street and we made a plan. We jetted over, bought four pieces of bright orange paper, taped them together to form a big square, bought a huge black marker, and ran back. Quickly, but with skill, we wrote, "Honk If U Like HANSON!" on the makeshift poster. Then we went and stood by the road.

Seven people honked. A group of about three guys gave us a thumbs-down sign and stuck out their tongues. We stuck our tongues back.

We were psyched when the clock ticked down to ten minutes. We finally moved the table and just stood. We all looked at our hands. We were shaking.

Finally the lady came to unlock the door. She let us in, and we rushed to the cash register. My mom asked for two tickets, the lady asked for fifty dollars, and one of my dreams came true as she handed us two priceless objects - the tickets. Our friends got tickets too, and we screamed together, very loudly.

Then it was time to leave. With promises of meeting again, we hugged and parted, right there, at the spot we had met. Screaming echoed through the town as we climbed into the van and blasted "This Time Around" all the way home.

Part Two: Merry Christmas

We were only on track number three, "This Time Around," when we pulled into the parking lot of the golf course restaurant. Nichole lived near Molalla, which is about forty-five minutes away, so we had planned to meet at a halfway point. She was sitting in her car waving madly to us. I jumped out and again met my two newest best friends.

I grabbed my backpack/bag and threw it into the back of the car. Then Rosy reclaimed her seat in the back on the right side, while I sat next to her. Nichole sat in the passenger's seat, but it was okay because she leaned back and talked to us for the whole trip to her house.

I met her cat, her mom, her brother, her dad, and her beautiful Hanson infested room. We sat on the floor and I unpacked all the Hanson stuff I had brought: magazines, videos, pictures, and books. Nichole, Rosy, and I, turned the music up loud, sang along, stared in amazement at the pictures, and read every word about our favorite band in the magazines.

Then I gave Nichole and Rosy their "presents" I'd gotten them in Canada. I gave them each a little egg-shaped black maraca shaker, just like the ones Zac uses in live concerts. Nichole really freaked out because she loves Zac. I also gave her a collage I had made on the computer, entitled "Pictures That Make You Wanna Kiss Zac (Although you probably already do!)" She looked at it and loved it so much that she cried.

Her mom made us some yummy pizza for dinner, and we had the honorary Hanson drink: Dr. Pepper.

Nichole's brother, Korey, ran up to us and handed us a "Living" section from the newspaper. Entitled "Boys to Men," there was an article about Hanson! The Oregonian had interviewed Taylor! Under the picture it read: "Zac, Taylor, and Isaac Hanson play Wednesday at the Crystal Ballroom, in a show Taylor calls 'intimate, something for the die-hard fans.'" Nichole and I read that and screamed. All night we had been talking about how intimate the concert would be, and for him to practically call us die-hard fans was, in a word, awesome.

Then we went back into her room and fell back into Hanson Land. We talked about how we didn't really feel like we were going to see Hanson the next day. It was as if it was a dream that would never really happen. We kept asking each other if the reality had hit yet, and it hadn't.

When everyone was asleep, we sneaked out to the living room and watched Hanson videos. Nichole was by the VCR, so every time Zac did something funny or looked hot, she would rewind the tape. I got to see "Road To Albertane" for the first time as well.

We were tired after that, even though we thought it would be impossible to sleep. We pulled out a mattress from under Nichole's bed and laid out a sleeping bag on it. That's where I slept. Nichole and Rosy slept on the bed.

We talked and talked and talked until it was about 1:30. That's when we agreed to stop, and we all fell asleep.

In the morning we all woke at 6:30, thanks to Nichole's alarm clock. We got dressed in our Hanson outfits, brushed our hair and teeth, and got ready in a half an hour. Rosy wore gray pants, a low-cut red tank top, and a white overshirt ...kind of like what Taylor wears in the "This Time Around" video. Nichole had on normal blue jeans and a cool 60's orange tank top. I wore black jeans and a tank top with orange and green swirls and flowers. We tromped in the mud, over to Nichole's aunt's house.

We ate Coco-Puffs for breakfast.

Nichole's cousin, Kim, braided Rosy's hair in little braids, like Zac used to do. That took about four hours! Then she braided my hair into two big braids, leaving tiny ringlets hanging by my face. She curled Nichole's whole head practically and did her make-up. We all looked fantastic.

By that time it was about 12:00, so we thanked Kim and walked back to Nichole's. Rosy's mom was scheduled to pick us up at 1:30. So we started getting antsy. Rosy wrote "Hanson" on both Nichole and my arms, in a cool flower thing. I wrote "Zac" on Nichole's arm too. Then we decided to make our sign while we watched the movie, "Little Shop of Horrors."

Rosy had brought a big piece of yellow posterboard. We had a big black marker. We didn't know what to write. Our first ideas were, "This is not a sign. It is a figment of your imagination." "I love you Jack! Er...um..Zac." "Zac, you're my Romeo" and "Who the hell is Johnny?" But we didn't like those very much.

Suddenly Nichole goes, "Merry Christmas!" and we're like "YEAH! DUDE!" So that's what we wrote. "Merry Christmas". We did that because in a sea of "I love you Zac"s, we wanted to stick out and be noticed. We drew a little Santa in the corner saying "What would you like for Christmas?" and someone saying, "HANSON!" We also drew dancing candy canes.

We were almost done when Rosy's sister came and picked us up. We drove just down the road to Rosy's house and met her mom. Rosy did her make-up while I finished our poster. Then we piled into the car. Rosy and Nichole had to pee, so they went. Then they locked the door and came back.

We listened to some of a Hanson tape in the car, until it started getting weird and speeding up. Rosy looked out the window and said, "Whoa. I thought it said 'Taylor' but it actually said 'Buick'!" And I was like, "Yeah, and 'Safeway' says 'Zac'!"

Part Three: Will Work For Food

Finally we found the Crystal Ballroom. It was tiny looking, and made of bricks. It was weird. Then we saw the line up. It was nothing like getting tickets. They were lined up around all corners of the building. We were afraid. We drove by everyone, looking for a place to park, when we saw Tanya! We rolled down the window and yelled, "TANYA!" she turned and looked at us with this insane expression on her face and yelled, "Zac touched Raven's hand!"

We drove by. Nichole started hyperventilating. We found a spot and decided it would be completely fair if we stood with them. After all, they were our friends. They were pretty close to the front. They had been there since six in the morning. They wouldn't mind. We walked down and talked to them about it.

They said Hanson came out and touched people's hands, and that they got pictures. Denise said that she had our address, so she'd make us copies! We were like, "How long ago did they come out?" and they said, "about 10 minutes ago." I wanted to kill Rosy for having to do her make-up and both of them for having to pee.

One of the first things we saw when we were standing there, was Walker. Denise told us that it was him. We looked across the street. He was walking down the street! Nobody seemed to know except us. Nichole snapped a picture.

It was really really hot, and all we had was an umbrella and our sign to cover ourselves up. Mom came with Gatorade. Sunny left. I had an orange Gatorade. It wasn't very cold, though, so she went and bought us Sprites. Those were yummy.

Rosy wrote, "Will Work for Food" on the other side of our poster, and showed both sides to all the people driving by.

Three people, upon seeing the "Merry Christmas" side of our sign, replied, "And a Happy New Year!"

Word spread that you could hear Hanson warming up and doing a sound check on the other side of the building, so we walked over there. We couldn't hear a thing, but we did see their tour bus. It was red and silver. Girls were looking at it, but it was blocked off by metal railings. We looked in the front window and saw Zoe peek her head out of the curtain! It was cute! She looked, then closed the curtain. Five minutes later, a hand came out and buttoned up the curtain. That was the end of that. We went back.

A couple guys came by with a big water tank and cups for everyone, and another guy came with a fan/spray bottle and misted us. That was pretty cool. Literally.

Since we had chairs and most of us were sitting down, people that used to be behind us were walking over and cutting in front of us. We had nothing to do but move up there and stand while Denise took her stuff back to her car.

We stood there for an hour and a half. Every so often, everyone would scream and the "line" would move up.

The people with yellow tickets got "preferred" seats, which meant that when they arrived, they automatically went to the front of the line because they would get to go in first and therefore, get better "seats." Those were only aquirred off of Hansonline and Hanson.net. Nichole and Rosy had tried to get them, but failed. So there we were, watching crazy fans get backstage Meet and Greet passes, with green tickets.

Finally we walked up there and the guy tore our ticket stubs off. Then we walked in and up some stairs. We walked up for a while, until we finally came out where they were selling things. The booth had T-shirts, hats, tank tops, posters, keychains, lanyards, programs, and lots of other cool stuff.

We looked over and everything was very strange. It was just a huge floor with a tiny stage in one corner, and a mob of girls standing near it. It reminded me mostly of a school gym. Nothing like what I expected. There were odd paintings on the walls of goblins and fairies. It was very weird. We walked over and got a "spot." We seemed very close to the front. I kept looking at Taylor's keyboard and imagining him there.

We let Nichole and her dad go and buy stuff, then we went. I bought a T-shirt, poster, and program. Then we just stood.

There are no words to describe the feeling I had when I stood there waiting for them. It was as if my whole life had built up to that moment. It was so hot that we could see vapor sweat swirling around us. Girls pushed and shoved and frantically tied bows and letters to their little stuffed animals destined to eventually fly on stage and get thrown in the trash by the stagehand. Water was the ultimate high at the time. A guy kept coming by and splashing us with his water bottle water. When mom bought water bottles for Rosy, Nichole, and I, we passed them around. Everyone got a drink that was around us, and everyone was very thankful. But it didn't last for long. I read all the signs around me. Some of them said, "If Only Zac Was Mine," "We <3 U HANSON," and "Is it hot in here, or is it just Hanson!?" We waited for them to come out, forty-five minutes past the time they were scheduled to. I felt almost drained of energy. Nichole kept saying how once they came out, the pain would go away. I just kept nervously turning the flash on and off on my disposable camera.

Part Four: Apple Shaker

No silly string. No Super Soakers. Just their gorgeous selves walked out. Isaac was first, I recall. Then Taylor and Zac. They said nothing, just began to play.

Many people have told me that they look much better in person than in pictures, and I'm happy to say that that is an understatement. They looked absoutely amazing. Zac was wearing this black shirt with a silver eagle on the front, and grayish blue pants. Ike had on a long sleeved light purple shirt. The cuffs were rolled up, and the whole time he had armpit stains. Taylor had on a blue or gray overshirt and underneath a dark wife beater. Zac looked so hot, Taylor looked incredible, and Isaac was cuter than cute. I don't know how to explain it. They just knocked me off my feet.

"Can't Stop" was first, which was a shock to Nichole. She thought it would be "You Never Know."

They noticed our sign as soon as Rosy held it up. Zac laughed and Isaac smiled really big. That was totally awesome. They were probably like, "Merry Christmas!?" but that's why we wrote it.

Here are the songs they played, in no particular order, and the special stuff they did during them.

The biggest jumping songs were "Runaway Run," "This Time Around," and "In The City."

The swaying songs were mostly "Love Song," and "Dying to be Alive."

Then there were songs in which the audience pointed at their favorite Hanson a lot...like, "Thinking of You," "A Minute Without You," "River," "Can't Stop," and "Wish That I Was There." As you can see, there was a lot of pointing during the concert.

I remember a lot of people screaming when they played, "Thinking of You," and "Where's the Love." Also, during "Where's the Love," people kept swinging their arms like they had lasso's. Because the lyrics say, "'round and 'round and 'round."

For "Stories" and "Man From Milwaukee," Hanson stood in a line. I clearly recall Zac having an apple shaker. It was red and big. Isaac was in the middle with an acoustic, and Tay on the right end.

They also introduced their band during "Speechless." Everyone screamed as the band tested their instruments for the audience.

The other songs they played were, "MMMBop," "Speechless," "If Only," "Lonely Again," "I Don't Know," "Smile," and "Magic Carpet Ride."

Throughout the concert, they kept asking us to move backwards. Tay was like, "Everyone needs to take three steps back." and Ike said, "That starts in the back you guys!" When nobody moved, Taylor threatened to leave the stage. He started walking while Zac said, "We're leaving!" That made people move!

Also, at one point, somebody squirted a lot of water up on stage, and it got on Tay's keyboard. So Zac said, "Hey, when water gets on intsruments, you could get shocked, and they don't play very well." I also remember Zac had problems with his microphone at one point. He kept messing with it and looking at the stage people like, "HELP!"

Isaac would always make funny faces at the audience, and Zac made funny comments. The whole time Taylor was trying to get us to clap, wave our arms, dance, or jump up and down. It was incredibly hot, but the feeling pretty much evaporated once you got really into the music. I know at points I was in a daze. It really hadn't hit me yet. I realized that yellow ticket, green ticket, front of the line, back of the line, short or tall, no matter what, anyone could've made it to the front if they really really tried. Anyone could've gotten up to the stage if they pushed and shoved and made people mad. I know that for a fact.

I watched a lot of things get thrown on stage during songs. Many girls had roses. Some had stuffed animals. Feeling left out, girls who didn't bring anything threw their water bottles on stage. Isaac got a new purple bra.

"We're sorry to say this is our last song." Isaac explained. The audience sighed in unison, but not me. I knew there would be an encore. "But you guys were an awesome audience.." Taylor included. "You guys are awesome!" Zac yelled from the back as Taylor unbuttoned his shirt! Yes, he unbuttoned his "over shirt" and threw it down. Underneath was a dark wife beater tank top. They jumped into "In The City," and Taylor ran around the stage for the whole song just jumping and singing and clapping. When he sang, "I'm gonna ask you once again, you gotta tell me once again do you love me?" he leaned into the audience and touched their hands. At that point everyone lurched forward.

They waved and left at the end of the song, but that's when everyone started chanting. "Hanson, Hanson, Hanson!" we chanted. It took them all of thirty seconds to get back out on stage.

"So you wanna hear another song?" Taylor asked. We screamed. "How about two?" More screaming.

They launched into "Look at You," and then "Man From Milwaukee." In "Look at You," when the lyrics say, "Look at you, look at you baby, oooh oh baby," Tay put the microphone to the audience and we sang. Their last "performance," was when they gathered around one microphone and sang the chorus of "This Time Around" acapella.

The thing I think I most vividly remember about the way Tay looked was how sweaty he was, and how his hair stuck to his face. After every single song, he would lean back and run his hand through his hair.

Then, with a wave of their hands, they were gone. Ushered out quickly, no doubt. The lights came on, I looked around, and it still hadn't hit me.

I know for a fact that they all squirted me with their water bottles. Tay and Ike at the beginning, and Zac near the end. Nichole was freaking out because Isaac touched her hand. And we were all pysched about our sign.

As we walked back down the stairs, we saw a girl with Isaac's guitar pick! It was really awesome.

Once I got outside, I bid farewell to Rosy and Nichole, telling them to e-mail me and call me and keep in touch. Then I poured water all over myself. It was warm, even outside. I had been so hot it was crazy. I felt so much better and cooled off. Then mom and I walked to the car and blasted all the songs they didn't play.

I rolled my seat kind of flat and laid down on it. "A Song To Sing" came on, and even though I promised myself I wouldn't, I cried at the thought of never getting to be with the beautiful creature I had seen only moments before.

People keep asking me how it was. There are so many words to describe it. It was insane, it was awesome, it was hot, it was crazy. No one will really understand. Only the ones who were there. I've been searching for the right word all day, but nothing seems to fit. All day I have been waiting for it to hit, for me to realize that I actually saw Hanson. That they are not just puppets, or our imaginations. That they are living human beings, with thoughts, and lives, and feelings, just like me. At Nichole's I waited for it to hit. In line I waited. All night, at the concert, I waited for it to hit me. And you know what? I think, just now, as I finish this, it finally did.