| The Road Less Traveled - CON'T!!! |
| March 1st, 2002, GWAR in D.C. Ahh how could I forget? The first time I had a roadtrip canned but then never had the option of hopping on a plane or going on another day to make up. No Moo this time, my friends Laura & Carla were all game to go! We all excitedly chatted about it, they hadn't seen the Orlando show but loved metal and were psyched to go. Hotel booked, directions printed out, the whole nine-yards. We were a bit concerned about the D.C. area, I'd lived there before but it isn't the safest place to be. I learned a long time ago to never show fear or let that stand in your way of a trip tho. Suddenly about 3 days before the trip, Carla bailed. She had something that came up. Laura and I were still going tho... she calls me the VERY DAY we were going to leave and says that she doesn't think it's very safe for the two of us to be running around D.C. by ourselves with no one there to call in case something happens. True, we knew no one but I still wanted to go. That morning also marked my first phone casuality. I flung the phone across the room so hard it never saw the light of day again. Bawled some, didn't go to school, the usual. When I finally gained my composure I remembered that "where there's a will, there's a way!" and I went online to look up the next time GWAR would be in the area on a weekend... the hunt begins... Late March (30th?) 2002, GWAR in Raleigh, N.Carolina Well, I found my next goal! Or so I thought! After the botched D.C. attempt I saw they were playing in N.Carolina on a saturday... I can't remember the day but it was late March, probably Saturday the 30th. I didn't reserve a hotel yet but I had directions, time off of work, schedule for when I was gonna drive, almost everything!!! I forgot how I discovered the show was canned but I remember I was on the 2nd floor in the library and I pounded the desk so hard the screen almost blacked out. Apparently there were some issues the city had with GWAR and some officials told the club that if they let the show go on they'd find something to bust them with a shut the place down. So I can't blame the club, sorta out of their hands. Pissed off but I didn't cry, instead I went back online and sought out another show that would be on a weekend on a Saturday. Ah ha... I found one... April 6th, 2002, GWAR in Birmingham, AL ... and it's on Saturday April 6th! I can do this! I learned my lesson tho and didn't ask Melissa, Laura or Carla if they wanted to go. I looked a lil closer to home... ah ha! This lil Moo person, she loves GWAR and she's not doing anything this weekend! She was more than willing to go and I knew she wouldn't bail! Unfortunately at the time she was looking to get into the Navy and had this physical test to take including a drug test. Of course this test was Monday the 8th. Moo was freaked that some of the inevitable weed that'd be smoked in the crowd would get in her system and fuck up her test results... she didn't wanna risk that. Instead we went to an outdoor show that afternoon, a free concert sponsored by a local radio station. While we walked around the booths of people selling shit, someone had a bunch of pins. Of course, there was a GWAR one right in my face. I almost started to weep as I bought it and showed it to Moo, who also had a pained look on her face. After that I quit trying to see more GWAR shows. I totally believe in fate and obviously it was trying to tell me something... I wasn't meant to see another GWAR show. Rather than fight it and check to see where they'd be next weekend I gave up. Actually the next weekend Moo & I were going to Virginia to see Lizzy Borden so by the time the end of April rolled around, GWAR was already in the northeast. Ya know... if someone approached me on April 8th and said in 4 months I'd have a life-changing experience I'd have told them to fuck off since I'd be busy that summer working 2 jobs and 19 hours a day. "No Lis, seriously! There's another GWAR show in your future... or 2... or 3..." December 20th - 21st, 2002, GWAR in Richmond, VA & D.C. How sad is this, I can't even remember which days the shows were and it was only a few months ago!!! It may have been the 21st and 22nd, I don't know. But I DO know I was pissed off. Pissed at myself cause now it was my OWN fault that I'd be GWAR-less that weekend. I was the one bailling, not someone else. Why? I was broke! REAL fucking broke! More broke than I'd ever had the displeasure of being. And I was Moo-less. Moo bailed to CA a few days after our last show in Rhode Island so I went by myself to see more DBX shows at the end of Nov/early Dec. Simply ran out of money! I'd already planned the GWAR trip tho, cause shit, it was gonna happen no matter what!!! I remember the details about this trip... hotels booked, I was going to stay at the Quality Inn on Cary St. in Richmond... the Holiday Inn in Arlington after the D.C. show... I was psyched cause while Moo bowed out in Rhode Island, I knew I had 2 more shows left! And just before Christmas, how awesome of a holiday season would that be? As it came down to the wire and I realized there was no way in hell I was going, I was bummed beyond belief. Except this time people were merciless!!! No one showed any sympathy or care, "You already went to 15 shows... do you REALLY need 2 more?" "YES!" I sobbed to whoever was in earshot. One of my roommates felt bad tho, we ordered some pizza and bought some junk food and watched a movie. After that I was still feeling shitty so I called up my sisters in CA. Ah, Moo cared! She probably cried along with me. Chrissy said I needed to get the hell out of the house and take a small drive right now so I can get that "roadtrip feeling"... good idea! It really helped... around 1am I dumped whatever money I had in my pocket in the gas tank and hit up the interstate. I had to avoid I-95 tho cause I knew I just might keep going north. Instead I went to Daytona Beach. It was closed and pitch black, water freezing. I parked right by the sand and hopped the fence... piddled around in the sand, it was so dark, quiet and peaceful! The water had absolutely nothing past it, except for Europe if I looked far enough! Took off my shoes and went in the water a bit... the only happy thought I had was at least I wasn't freezing my ass off cause the weather up in VA/D.C. looked pretty bad. I didn't get home till nearly 4am. My roommate was still awake and offered to put on "Almost Famous", a movie I'd never seen before but she said it was about concerts and being on the road, "You might like it!" she said. I think I nearly woke up all the neighbors while watching that. Whenever Penny Lane was talking about how much that guitarist loved her I kept wailing, "NO HE DOESN'T!! WAKE UP!! C'MON HONEY WAKE UP HE DOESNT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU!!!" My roommate howled laughing at the scene. Sure enough just like I expected Penny got dissed hardcore. God now I feel shitty for this poor character. This was supposed to make me feel better? Everything happens for a reason, yep. I had 2 real fucked up dreams that nite about the trip I shoulda been on, both bad and left me with a horrible feeling. Don't wanna get into it but I was at peace with not going after I woke up! After a few days the hurt of not hitting up a trip fades, there's more to life I guess!!! ROADTRIP PAGE!!! |