June 7
From my brain
Contents |
2009
Me 13:17, 7 June 2009 (EDT)
And now for something completely different.
Ever wonder what would happen if God came to Moses in this day and age? This guy Jamie Quatro did: God texts the 10 Commandments
2008
Me 11:48, 7 June 2008 (EDT)
And now, for a supreme moment of fanboy-geeking out...
The show was absolutely unbelievable. I have a short video montage I made to keep me from obsessing before the show. If I get the chance to edit it all together, I'll upload it for my own self-deprecating humor needs.
I got there a little after 5:30...and was the only one there. So much for the forums on both JoCo's site and the CBR Bar going nuts saying, "OMG, gonna be sold out!" I sat and waited until after six...and still no one.
Eventually, I got to see the man himself pull up. At that point I realized..this was not the world's elaborate plan just to get me out of the house and into a bar for an evening. He actually was playing in Columbus.
It wasn't until after 6pm that I went to stand in line. Mostly, because someone else was there...first. I was forlorn. My geek cred rating fell a couple points for not being first in line. I did take it to heart that I was first in the parking lot though.
That turned out to be false, for as I talked to Parker, I found he'd first go there at 4:30, also expecting a massive line. They told him at the door, no tickets until they open the doors at 7. No exceptions. So, he went away for a bit and came back. I guess I'll take #2 fan locally. :)
It was shortly after that that Paul & Storm showed up too. While we helped by opening doors while they carried their gear in and out, we realized...we were hungry. A quick holler inside revealed that the bar did NOT serve food. There was however a Kroger's next door and it apparently had a Donato's. I abhor their pizza, but it was food, and it would be at least moderately filling. I then gave a perfect stranger $20 to go get me a mini cheese pizza (post-Lenten times are over...back to Wed/Fri fasting), while I secured his rights to First In Line. Even deal in my opinion if he didn't come back.
It was after 6:30 by the time the pizza was done. By then, another couple had arrived and we were now officially a line of people. While I inhaled my pizza (which was quite edible actually), we chatted with the couple who'd shown up. She wore a Mage t-shirt, and he was busily reading the 4th Edition D&D manual. Oh yeah, these were our people.
Shane (friend from church) showed up after a few minutes, and eventually, 7pm finally rolled around. We walked in, showed our ID, got our bracelets...and reveled in the air conditioning. I mean, it was like slipping into a hot bath after being out in the cold...but the complete inverse. I didn't even walk up to the bar for like 2 minutes because the cool felt so good. I neglected to mention that not only was it in the upper 80s yesterday, but the front door of the bar faces WEST. Twas hotter than Hades waiting in line. You know, the line of all five of us.
I ordered a Crown & 7, and then we scoped out the best spot to sit. I had Wifey's digital camera, and had intended to be that guy who records the JoCo show and YouTubes it later. So, I made it a point to grab a spot that would have afforded the best view of the stage without anyone walking in front. It was along the back of the main audience pit and behind a little wall with barstools. Great shots.
After we sat for a bit, I saw a guy walk up and sit more in the middle of the area where we sat...with a real video camera. I sighed a bit, realizing the quality of what he was to take would far surpass my vids. Oh well...these would be mine, but I'd just be a part of the audience in his. It turned out he actually interviewed several people in the audience (including me) before the show started so I could get my 33 seconds of interweb fame.
It was the whole decision between $15 t-shirts that would be relegated to undershirts (bastards didn't carry 3x...hey! geeks aren't just skinny guys!), a CD boxed set of JoCo's stuff for $50 (that woulda been nice to do to repay for all the music i've downloaded, but Wifey woulda killed me), and Paul & Storm's CD. That won out.
A short break, and JoCo took the stage, and kicked of his set with "Future Soon". I've watched a lot of the live performances people have put out there on YouTube. It was surreal to actually be there while he was playing. Mostly, it was because there was this voice in my head that was saying, "Hey, I haven't seen this vid before..."
I would love to say I had the whole show. I would love to have a couple dozen poorly-lit videos with moderately decent audio to show you. Unfortunately, I engaged in an act of epic fail as my one and only set of batteries I brought (they were new at least) ran out about 3-4 songs in. I was forlorn. I made it a point after the show to talk to video guy (who was taping the Cinci Thursday show, the Columbus Friday show, AND the Pittsburgh Saturday show. He swears that he's editing it all and putting it up on YouTube. Hopefully he posts all of the songs up.
The show was great. Paul & Storm came out for a few songs too, playing shakers (especially on CodeMonkey) and tambourines, but also providing a lot of backup vocals. You could really tell that these guys were good friends and worked together a lot. They harmonized well together (mostly), and when they didn't they laughed their asses off, telling weird inside jokes the left us a little deer-in-the-headlights, but still laughing at their goofiness. There was a huge finish (which of course was "RE: Your Brains") and then he came out for an encore and we all sang a fantastic audience participation cover of "Sweet Caroline" (bah bah...bah...").
After the show, a few of us waited around patiently for autographs. Some just wanted to meet him. Some wanted a t-shirt signed. Others like me had...other items. One girl's boyfriend had made a half monkey-half pony: a plastic pony with the head and neck removed and a Curious George head glued on. I laughed when I saw it as I produced my stuffed Curious George that I had intended to have signed.
A little patient waiting, and JoCo came back out. I got up to him and had him sign the monkey.
- "Hmmm...where should I sign?"
- Well, some of us joked you should put HTML tags on it for < body > and < /body > a the waist.
- "No, I know. I'm gonna sign his ass."
- Aww..we talked about that too. We were gonna reserve that for Paul & Storm.
Paul & Storm I didn't see come back out, but that might have been because after I got it signed, he said I could get a picture. The battery light had JUST gone on when I was recording earlier, so I hadn't turned it on. I saved it for one last shot. I had to get my fan pic. I went back, got Shane, and after JoCo was talking on the phone with someone who's not only a moderate fan (that didn't wanna go out), but also a huge portal fan, I got in line and took the picture you saw above.
Totally geeked out...if you can't tell by the look on my face.
The night was a blast. So glad I went. I think Shane is glad too. Oh, and for proof of my little take home prize....
2007
Me 14:37, 12 June 2007 (EDT)
Thursday was the big excursion day. The night before I had expressed part of my feelings about the trip to Wifey that when I go on vacation, I want to do something. Go some where. See things. Yeah, we were going to the beach, but I didn't know that's all we'd be doing.
So, based on that, we packed everyone up, and ventured out to Ripley's Aquarium.
En route to the aquarium, we took the complete tour of downtown Myrtle Beach (at least down Ocean Blvd.). Was a nice trip, but I'm officially too old to want to stay anywhere along the strip; I'm glad we're camping WELL away from there. (I believe it was somewhere along this route, I really started to notice...I was noticing honiez far too much.)
After bouncing round trying to find it, we finally got to the aquarium. It was amazing. So much cool stuff, and very interactive. Their main area was one of those tunnels that you walk through with the fish all overhead. In it, they had a conveyor, and I was able to put the digital camera in movie mode, and just hold perfectly still as it panned along the tank. The kids had a blast (and so did Daddy).
- Wifey still has the camera with her, so as soon as they're downloaded, I'll post them.
For dinner, MIL wanted "someplace quiet", and the kids suggested Chinese. In Myrtle Beach we discovered there are two Chinese restaurants: gigantor 120 item buffets and crappy Wal-Mart plaza Chinese buffets like we get back at home. The former was going to be noisy, but the second...I make a rule, "You don't go out to eat at your vacation location anywhere you can go at home."
It was then brought up to find an Italian eatery. MIL swore there was one they went to, but FIL didn't remember one where she described. We ended up finding one, and boy was it fantastic. Single-handedly the best Italian food I've ever had (outside of my Nana's kitchen). Should you ever find yourself in Myrtle Beach (and on the south end of it near 544 / 17), do your stomach a favor and go to Valentino's. Tell George and Angie that they come highly recommended (even if TheBoy said their clam sauce was slightly better than mine).
And, in case you haven't guessed...the meds are starting to kick in at this point. :)
