Headphones on the Highway

05-12-03

~When I'm missing you are you forgetting me?~

So, for the 2nd weekend in a row, I went to Michigan. Took the boys with me this time though. I thought it was going to be worse than it was with the 2 of them. But it actually turned out quite well. I have Jesse and all of his friends to thank for that. But I'll start at the beginning. That always seems to be the best place to start.

~Once we hit the top, there's no stoppin' us.~

We headed out at somewhere around 9:30am on Saturday morning. Ended up running a little late because Troy didn't get up in time and we stopped at McD's for breakfast. Anyhow...Matt was a lameass and slept in the back of the van for parts of the trip. But Troy kept me company. Since we took the van (my car is still riding on a donut) there was no cd player. I couldn't find the portable adapter in time. So we flipped radio stations. That proved to be pretty entertaining. We listened to The Banana through a lot of Michigan. It's a wonderful rock station. Troy got a kick out of the name. We really didn't stop much. I had to pee wicked bad at one point in time and couldn't find a rest stop. So by the time we did find one, I was squealing and dancing around. We stopped for some lunch at a taco bell/subway in a gas station and ate in the van. When we got there, there were these 2 guys sleeping in the car to our right. Matt took a picture of them (with his digital camera) and there was a little asian woman standing next to the car on our left. Her husband...or some asian guy walked out of the station and started talking to her in their language. It could have been chinese, it could have been japanese. It could have been vietnamese...Lord only knows. But Matt pipes up out of nowhere and says, "This is the closest I have EVER been to an actual Japanese conversation!!!" So Troy and I busted out laughing. And proceeded to make fun of him for the rest of the weekend. Repeating his statement millions of times when it was least expected.

~Living high on yesterdays lies...~

When we finally reached our destination, around 3:30 that afternoon, I crawled out of the drivers seat and collapsed in Jesse's driveway. We could hear the band practicing inside. I think that's the only reason I didn't just lay there until I was picked up and forced into the house. I got up and brought the boys inside. For some reason, I just walked into the house. Didn't knock or anything. I don't know if I should feel rude or if it's cool because that's how comfortable I am with the boys who reside there. I got to meet Jer for the first time. The drummer of the lovely Escanaba Firing Line. We sat there and listened to the practice. And I was starting to have my doubts about the band. I mean, it was a decent practice. But I guess I expected them to be a little more serious. For as good as they sound on the cd that Jess gave to me. I started to think that it was all studio. Moving on, they finished up practicing and started to pack up the equipment. Time flew by...Jaxson came home with lots of goodies that he'd found at some garage sales. And Luke showed up. Another one I'd heard stories about but had never met. He was two fisting a couple bottles of wine. I guess he's in culinary school. He claimed that he was doing homework. He also bonded with the boys. He was rubbing Ryan's feet...and made Troy and Matt smell his hands afterward. Me, being the experienced foot professional...smelled his hands willingly. (because I'd rather do it that way than have him shove them up my nose and touch my face with them). Ok, so we all caravaned to Jacob's Well (the venue) And stood around outside while the bands unloaded their equipment. I didn't really know what to expect from the musical entertainment for the evening. There were a lot of younger kids at the show. Lots of boys that could have been mistaken for girls. (that means...prepuberty emo kids with long hair and pretty eyelashes) It was a nice scene though. I'll never pass up the chance to be surrounded by goodlooking guys. That was about the time that I noticed there were very few girls there. Which is fine. If noone knew...I tend to have many more guy friends than girlfriends. My theory on that is...girls talk too much. They gossip. And I'd hang out with guys before chicks anyday. With the exception of Laurie and Nicole. (I think we've grown past the hairpulling bitch fight stage) Anyhow, my favorite Scott showed up. And I met his cousin David. Who is absolutely insane. Still standing in the parking lot of a quasi-church coffee house...between 2 houses of God...smoking cigarettes. and then the show started. We all filed in to watch the 1st band which...was ok. I won't be mean. They were a little odd. And young, so I'm sure they'll have time to get better. But the 2 guitar players and basist stood in front of the stage facing the singer. And the drummer was tucked back in the corner. I couldn't even see him. It was very emo. Very sad...I wanted to console the poor boy with his sappy lyrics. I didn't even catch the name of that band. But I did include a line from one of their songs in this entry. The 1st quote I believe. It stuck in my head...I don't know why. Anyhow, after their set, I sat on the floor with Scott and Jess and the boys. Scanned the crowd around me. It reminded me a lot of the local scene here several years ago. More hair...more thrift store clothes and denim jackets...but ya. The 2nd band...blew me away. Adams's Castle...Consisted of a bass player, a keyboardist (who looked like Matt Harris with a bigger nose) and a drummer who looked EXACTLY like Keanu Reeves. (and we all know that I used to be obsessed with the leader of the Matrix nation) But I just stood there in awe...it was so unique. And like I told Scott later, it's hard to impress me musically. But I was totally impressed. No vocals...and that's usually the part the I enjoy the most. No guitar...it was just really heavy and funky. I can't begin to describe it because it was so different. But after that...I needed a cigarette (haha) so we snuck out the door next to the "stage" and I was bombarded by Scott's cousin David. Like I said before. This kid is psychotic. He claimed that he would molest me before the night was over. Matt dared him to pick Troy up...and Troy is a big kid. David was like 5 foot 6 maybe. And Troy towers over me. So David lifts Troy over his head and spins him around like he doesn't weigh a pound over 120. Then he proceeded to pick up Matt and do the same thing. That started it. Scott and David went at each other like a backyard wrestling video. I wasn't very impressed (David said he was proving his masculinity to me) But Matt and Troy got a kick out of it. At the same time, I was chillin' on the ground shaking my head and laughing at the stupidity while observing others. One of the guys from Adam's Castle was also shaking his head in disgust and making fun of them for being so retarded. So as soon as I saw Justin and Tick, I escaped the madness and smoked a cigarette or two with them. This is where I bummed a Marlboro off of Justin. Who is so in love with Marlboro mediums, that he has a story about them. They are "the cadillac of all cigarettes." Which was a 15 minute story about the marketing techniques of the Caddy company. I swear. I've heard more entertaining stories from Michigan boys in the past 2 weeks than I ever have in my life. He continued with the history of every car that he's ever owned. That's about the time when Escanaba started so I went back inside hoping to be impressed more than the practice earlier that day.

~i wish i was like you. Easily amused~

Sure enough, I was. Those boys have quite a following. Not only did they sound excellent, but the crowd was astonishing for a local "punk" band. These 2 guys from out of nowhere who were like...almost thuggish...danced like crazy fools through the whole set yelling things like, "you guys rock! I'm buying a cd!" Ryan broke a string half way through one song, and to kill time, one of their friends got up on stage and free styled for like 5 minutes straight. Jesse makes some pretty hilarious faces while he barks out lyrics. And of course, like I've said many many times before. A guy can be attractive, but if you put him behind a instrument and in front of a crowd, suddenly, he resembles a greek god. After they played, once again, I went outside to smoke. Maybe that's when Justin told me the cadillac story. I don't know. But I ended up searching for the boys and chilling with them in the van...and talking to Scott. So I missed the last band. Supposedly they covered an Incubus song. Outrageous. And I missed it. Jesse hunted me down when the show was about over and said we could either head back to the house or wait on him. He had to stick around and wait for Adam's Castle who were coming over for the party and then crashing with the rest of us crazy party people. I opted for #1 and regretted it once we returned to the house and I realized that Jesse had my booze in his car.

~Just like a rain drop I was born baby to fall.~

But I did stop to get more cigarettes at Speedway. Everywhere you go in MI, you get carded. I haven't bought smokes there once without being asked for ID. And as soon as they all look at my license they say, "ohio huh! what are you doing here?" I've had many long conversations with MI gas station attendants. That night, the guy was like, "are you moving here?" no dude, just visiting some friends. "oh ya! that's a long trip. Are you thinking about moving here? cause the winters are pretty harsh. We get the lake winds blah blah blah" and I'm like, "dude, I lived in Connecticut last winter. I'm sure lake winds have nothing on East Coast winters." (God, I've been hanging out with MI stoners too much. Every other word out of my mouth is dude. ugh) Anyhow, we got back to the house, and the party had already started. It started raining too. Which isn't good for us smokers. Justin, Tick and I were huddled under the little awning outside of the front door. Standing in a puddle. In fact, I was outside under that very same awning when Jesse finally pulled in and introduced me to the boys of adams castle. Zack and Sammy and I can't remember the other guys name. I've met so many people there. But I'm going to see if they have a website and link to it on my lovely link heaven. (which is really short and lame. I don't really have very many sites that I visit regularly. Unless everyone wants to check out verizonwireless.com or discovercard.com) And I may just link to Scott allen Miller's page where I hear you can buy t-shirts and thongs with his image on the front. Nice. Sorry, I keep getting sidetracked.

~after the show it's the afterparty. And after the party it's the hotel lobby.~

So, I knocked back a couple triple blacks. Lost track of Jesse. The social butterfly himself. They were jamming out on accoustic guitars in the living room. I don't know if he was in there or not. He was probably talking to people. He jumps from group to group with a beer in his hand. I just can't keep up. I like to just chill and smoke while I'm drinking. So when I stand up, I'm dizzy. Someone suggested we smoke in the garage since it was raining so we hopped through Jaxson's room (the breezeway between the garage and the house) where he was watching tv. He doesn't really join in on the festivities except for an occasional trip to the basement. Right, so Scott and I found Bridget "the midget" in the garage with...Guilles...I think that's what she called him. Bonging beers. I don't usually party like that. So this is all very new and entertaining to me. But I went back and forth between the one room and the kitchen and the garage for quite sometime. I don't remember all that ensued. I remember being very drunk and talking to Justin and Tick in the garage. I remember Jaxson closing off the entryway to the garage because Vinny tried bonging shots of vodka and puked everywhere out there. So I smoked in the basement. Which was shortlived because I could hardly breathe for all the smoke down there. And finally ended up on the broken chair in the living room in attempts to figure out what Jess was doing. But instead, Vinny came running through the house with his underwear up his ass crack claiming that he was wearing a thong. And then David followed him wearing nothing but a sock. That was about the time that I crawled onto the floor in the fetal position in front of the couch. I almost passed out there. But Scott was hounding me about getting up and going to bed. I could hardly hear him because it was so loud...and I was obnoxiously drunk. Zack handed me a pillow down from his coveted position on the couch, so I was trying to get comfortable on the floor. But Scott was still talking about taking a shot of vodka and Justin, who stole my chair, was telling him to shut up. I faintly remember apologizing to Zack because it looked like he was trying to crash and everyone was so loud.

~when I was down you came to me and promised you'd always be by my side, now you're gone and I'm waiting patiently. Jamie...~

That was about the time that Jesse came out of nowhere and told me not to crash on the floor. Personally I think it was just because he wanted to get me in his bedroom (har har). I said that if I was going to bed, I needed to wash off my makeup and my bag was in the van. So Jesse went out there and banged on the windows because my brother had locked himself in and crashed in the back. He wouldn't wake up so Jess came back in and picked my ass up over his shoulder. A compromising position when you're drunk. And I was too drunk to argue. He carried me outside in the pouring rain and we banged on the windows some more. But Matt wouldn't open the damn door. He must have been out cold. So we went back inside...soaked to the bone. And that was that.

~Somewhere in the middle we got caught up and dragged away.~

At about 6am Sunday morning, I decided that I was extremely hungry. I think the rain unfortunately sobered me up. So I convinced Jesse to take me out for breakfast. Stumbled out into the house and tripped over the sea of the bodies on the floor in a very old dare t-shirt, a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of old shorts. None of which belonged to me. And we went to the flap jack house. The first and only time that Jess and I got to have a real conversation the whole time I was there. That didn't even last very long. We left at like 6:30 and came back around 8:30 and slept until noon. I rallied up the boys. By then, the partiers were mostly gone. I think I saw Tony, and Luke before I left. The trip home sucked. I was so tired. The thought of 6 hours in a car was disgusting. Matt slept the entire way. Troy fell asleep for awhile so I turned off the radio and listened to From Autumn to Ashes on Troy's portable cd player. Hence, "headphones on the highway". Which probably isn't legal or safe for that matter. But I did it anyway. And just zoned out and drove. We got home around 6pm last night. I wanted to wish mom a happy mothers day but she was asleep on the couch. So I did my internet usual website and e-mail viewage and found a message from Jesse just checking to see if we made it home alright. So I called him to tell him yes. Then Laurie called while I was talking to him about the fact that after I left, Justin came back over and they all sat in the living room and talked about how awesome the show was...and how funny my little brother and his friend were. Justin joked that Scott wouldn't pull his mouth off of my tit the whole night. (referring to the fact that Scott was my drinking buddy...and I think Justin was a little jealous.) I thought it was funny. Although it did get a bit crazy there toward the end of the evening when he was on my case about the shot and getting off of the floor. Other than that, I enjoyed Scott's company. He's a really nice guy. And Jesse was off doing his own thing so I was often left to fend for myself. Plus, it's always nice to have someone who will jump to get you a drink anytime you want one. And hold onto your cigarettes so they won't get smashed. I used and abused that all night. It's nice to be surrounded by guys who will do whatever you want. Even if you're sloppy drunk and probably look the part. I digress. When Laurie called, she asked if I was going to come over. And I of course said yes. Even though I was ass tired. I just needed a shower. I thought that would wake me up. So I hung up with her cause Jess was waiting long distance on the other line. I told him that I'd e-mail him later cause I was going to take a nice long shower and head over to Laurie's. So I took my shower and I called Laurie back to see if she was home yet. She wasn't so she said she would call back when she was. I got dressed...and then passed out on the couch half way through watching the 2nd Lord of the Rings movie with my dad. So I never made it to Laurie's. I woke up around 10:30 last night and moved into my room where I then passed out on the floor because my bed is covered in piles of clean clothes and I didn't feel like putting them away. I slept on the floor until noon today. Didn't wake up once. That's how tired I was. And I still feel like crap. On top of drinking my ass off, that drive is horrible. Which is why I've decided that there will be no more weekend trips to MI for awhile. At least until Jesse comes here. And I also decided to quit smoking. (oh and don't forget about getting a job) Ya, I was going to stop after my last pack. But since then, I've smoked about half of my mom's pack. It's a habit. It's not just the nicotine. It's holding a cigarette. And having something to do with your hands. I think Justin was right when he stated that, "smoking is the best past time." It is. So since cold turkey isn't working, I think I'm going to buy a pack of Parliments (that is spelled wrong) they have these recessed filters, and they taste like shit. Maybe that'll help. Then we'll move to candy and gum. Suckers or something. I'm going to take a shower and call Laurie to apologize about last night. yup. Don't forget to check out Link Heaven for adam's castle and of course, The Escanaba Firing Line. And I'm putting up a picture that Matt took at the show. It should be on the front page. But, that's all folks.

~Do you serve a purpose or purposefully serve? Corey Taylor~

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