.. dammit

AUGUST 2ND 2009 - B, Brett & Pam picked me up around 130, we began our adventure (stopping in Brandon to get glowsticks) and 3 hours later we were in Winnipeg. By 5 we got to the MTS Centre and met up with Steff & some of her friends - who were almost in the front of the line! At 530 or so they made the girls line up on one side, & the boys on the other, so Brett went and stood with B's cousins, & we waited a bit longer. We got searched at 6 and then proceeded to the next line, we waited for about 15 minutes (which felt like 3 days) and made friends with Gerry C, some guy who worked for the MTS Centre, who told us that he'd be letting us thru right away. Poor Gerry got completely trampled when he opened the doors, ha but B Brett & I linked arms and sped-walked (not ran) and came to the next line, where they gave us our wristbands. We ended up in the line getting right hand wristbands, and carried on thru and went to yet another line. B ran and got some merch, & the security at the front of the line told us to split into lines of left & right wristbands (left & right sides of the stage) they started to let us thru and B still hadn't came back so Brett & I freaked out a bit, then she came running & we went thru and almost got killed by some crazy hippie security guard for running. We got to the barricade just to the right of the center of the stage and tried to put our glowstick plan into action.. B asked if anyone had a knife and I've never seen so many faces that represented the smiley : haha, the guys behind us tho were really hilarious & helped us out. The one guy broke most of them for us & in exchange we gave him two glowstick bracelets and he put them thru his gauges :p for about 5 minutes me b & brett were glow in the dark and then it faded .. so note for next time - dont buy glowsticks from the dollar store. Anyways AAR started and we moved up to the barricade, the floor wasn't too packed yet, so we still had quite a bit of room. They played a lot of old stuff & Tyson was either crazy drunk, crazy high, or both, but they put on a pretty good show. I was a little scared at times, & Tyson was wearing pink skinnies, no shirt, & was covered in glitter .. but all was well. After AAR some girl got crushed by a crowd surfer and they had to clear out the middle of the floor and bring in stretchers and paramedics and everything .. she either broke her leg or busted her knee, or maybe both, but it was a bit of a delay on FOB starting. When FOB came on they opened with SWGD, and they played .. Thriller, GTA, Headslide, I Don't Care, America's Suitehearts, Dance Dance, Sixteen Candles, Arms Race, and Thnks Fr The Mmrs (not in this order) .. they also asked if we wanted to hear The Take Over, or an old song - collectively the crowd chose 'old song' and instead of playing anything of their own they played Journey (!!) which was a good time. They closed with Saturday, and it was absolutely perfect, Pete came into the crowd at the end and I couldn't do a thing but smile. Favorite band for almost 6 years running now, its unbelievable that last night was the first time I've seen them live. Worth the wait - although I'd like to see them on their own headlining tour when they have a bit more time to perform. Anyhow, the wait in between FOB & Blink 182 was a bit stressful. There was a lot of pushing, altho I held my ground well with the two girls on each side of me .. we kind of made a pact and pushed back with all our might if anyone tried to get through. Blink played: Dumpweed, Feeling This, The Rock Show, Easy Target, Whats My Age Again, Obvious, I Miss You, Stay Together For The Kids, Down, Always, Stockholm Syndrome, First Date, Man Overboard, Going Away To College, Not Now, All The Small Things, Adam's Song, Reckless Abandon, Josie & Anthem Pt 2 - in that order. I can't even explain how absolutely perfect the entire thing was. They looked so happy and so alive being up there performing together again. I couldn't help but wonder how the hell they could've walked away from that. They were just as immature, hilarious, and stupid as they always have been. They seemed legitimately & pleasantly surprised with our crowd actually, they said we definitely killed all the other Canadian dates. Some bands just say that, but they seemed to mention something about us after almost every song. Someone threw a bra on stage & Mark had to check out out to make sure it was 'worthy' and after finding it was a 34C he decided it definitely was .. Mark & Tom freaked on Pete for leaving half way through their set, then Mark dedicated 'All The Small Things' to Pete .. until Tom broke the truth that they weren't playing All The Small Things until 3 songs later .. hahha, I've never seen a band that has so much fun, and I've never had as much fun at a show myself. Tom nodded & winked at me a couple times, and Mark would wave and smile and look at me everytime he came around :) He was sitting down on the speaker just playing his guitar, and made the most ridiculous face ever and stared me down completely, I stared back and then made the same face to him and he pointed at me, smiled, and then got up and continued on. They were very thankful to us, and really I just wanted to show how thankful I am to them for doing what they're doing. I felt totally happy and ok and content and overall I just felt like I belonged. I'm totally bruised but I managed to maintain barricade the whole time. After Anthem Part 2, they said their goodbyes and goodnights and whatnot .. but since I was in front of the confetti gun and it had not gone off, obviously they weren't done yet. When the curtain fell again, it was Travis alone doing a drum solo. I've never seen a drum solo that fucking awesome in my whole life .. and I'll never see anything like it again I'm sure. I can't even begin to explain it hahaha, I was legit speechless, the Winnipeg Sun did an article on it and its probably the best way to explain what was going on - "Barker and his kit — which was set atop a giant replica of a Technics turntable — flew several metres up into the air, spinning around as it tilted at precarious angles and as Travis bashed away to hip-hop samples." It was SO sick. And after he had finished doing the impossible Mark & Tom came back out and they played Carousel & closed with Dammit. It was un freaking real. SO good. When it was legit over we waited around a bit, the security guards gave us a bit of stuff here and there, and then we left and headed to the merch table so Brett & I could get our stuff. I went to the side of the merch table just so I could actually see what they had and some girl came and helped me right away .. even though there were like 50 other people there. I ended up getting the 182nd limited edition shirt (aka the last one), even though it was a large and I absolutely swim in it. It's an amazing shirt, I also got a hoodie and a poster. We cleared out after that, went for a walk, found all the tour busses, altho B & Brett didn't want to wait by them, so we didn't. We went to Jordan's apartment and hung out for a bit and then Pam picked us up and we headed home. I slept most of the way and cried when I got home because I was so happy :)

Mark's twitter updates about our show included;
1002am - In Winnipeg. About to stumble off the bus in search of food. Stoked to be in a city named after Winnie the Pooh!
1019am - Winnie the Pooh is named after Winnipeg. Now I've got a rumbly in my tumbly and I gotta go find rabbit, hit him up for a smackeral of honey.
somewhere around 2am - Super fun show tonight in Winnipeg! Possibly the raddest show so far. Now waiting for a long time trying to get into our home country...
also around 2am - thanks to canada for an awesome first leg of the tour. see you again in a few days. thanks to US customs for an easy crossing. now i sleep!
Travis said "Winnipeg I bleed 4 u. I had fun 2night, thanks." and included a picture of his hands infact cut & bleeding, haha.

I think that's all I've got, but I am so happy and a part of me is actually complete now. Those 3 boys on a stage together is exactly the way things should be. I will never forget!

i've never gone with the wind just let it flow let it take me where it wants to go till you open the door there's so much more i've never seen it before i was trying to fly but i couldn't find wings but you came along and you changed everything you lift my feet off the ground you spin me around you make me crazier feels like i'm falling and i im lost in your eyes you make me crazier i watched from a distance as you made life your own every sky was your own kind of blue and i wanted to know how that would feel and you made it so real you showed me something that i couldnt see you opened my eyes and you made me believe you lift my feet off the ground you spin me around you make me crazier feels like im falling and i im lost in your eyes you make me crazier crazier

this this is the remix

this past week
-monday; went to work, brayden colin and drayden came in for a bit to make me not so miserable (when really the job itself isnt quite as big of a deal as i try to make it)
-tuesday; had basketball! we lost unfortunately, but it was in ot so that makes it a little better, came back and rented valkyrie and watched it with brayden drayden and colin, it was spectacular, i wont lie
-wednesday; worked at the greenhouse & went to the fair! i had lots of fun actually, almost threw up on terry but never did so its ok, and i could eat hawaiian ice & drink fair lemonade all day
-thursday; basketball! we dominated :) josh came over when i got home for some math help & we watched the first game of the nba finals .. magic also got dominated unfortunately but i'm going to say it was just a rough game one
-friday; went to work, brayden drayden katie jlee jeff troy & tanner came to visit, the 'raydens picked me up when i was done and we went over to dani's then back to braydens, played a couple decent games of 'fuck you' and then the crowd cleared and brayden drayden and i hung out for a bit

today i'm getting my blink tickets in half an hour, got my fingers crossed :) its all so unreal to me
i have the new eminem cd as well - its excellent really, i reccommend it
and coming up: safe grad on the 26th! and then drayden and i are driving up to the lake together the next day! i cannot wait to be back at sandy lake, then the rest of the summer holds the jonas brothers, blink 182, more trips to sandy, and taking a train to edmonton!? so excited! going to regina, and saskatoon, no warped this summer - but i'm totally ok with that! i will update soon

I guess I should update the past little while, eh?

Lost in the bronze game at provincials, but our team was nothing to be disappointed in this year, it'll be missed. My double math slot is tons of fun! I am working two jobs & playing basketball .. we'll have to see how this turns out. Things are on rocky terms lately but I'll pull thru it. After 3 years I finally went and sat down to talk to someone about whats going on. I can't tell if I like that or not though. I want to read a good book. I read George Orwell's 1984, I was pretty impressed. 'Good times' lately; All the girls went to New York for spring break (I regret not going) but I hung out with Bray, Delaney, and others I haven't in a while/don't usually hang out with. I miss Ottawa like crazy. The girls here seem to be doing nothing but getting to eachother. And not that its to stay or anything, but at this moment I've actually found myself a really good guy friend, it's a little weird to get used to. But as long as he's around I shouldn't be complaining. Not that I need to really write this town, but Blink 182 is back together again and everything seems a little bit more ok. It's the NBA playoffs, right now - my babies the Magic are doing good! Round 2 right now vs the Celtics .. Really I have respect for the Cavs, Celtics, and Magic, so we'll have to see how it all plays out. Not sure what else really. I'm trying to plan a trip to Alberta this summer but we'll have to see. & I could really use some time away from here, but it might be a while before that wish comes true.

been a while?

i'd say so. things are somewhere inbetween rough and even terms.
i've come far in some areas, and i've fallen back to the beginning in others
we'll see how it turns out

on and on reckless abandon
somethings wrong this is gonna shock them
nothing to hold on to
use this song to lead you on
break the truth with more bad news
we left a scar, size extra large