FF

Wednesday May 26th-
I am so grateful that there truly are some wonderful people in this world, people who are nice enough to help you out when they don't have to at all. And I'm so glad everything pulled through and worked out so well. Honestly finding a way to Newark, then to Wilmington, then to Philly, then a bus to Allentown and meeting up with 4 kids and a dog from Boston who's names I wasn't completely sure of and had never met before was the most iffy thing in the world. I couldn't believe I actually pulled it off and it could of gone so many ways, but I'm more than sure it was meant to be. I'm so happy about the turn out- meeting Vickey, Alex, Jake, Corey and Bandit is definitely meaningful to my life. Maybe just this month, maybe for many more times to come. But meant to be barely does it justice. They picked me up in Allentown after hours of sketchiness by myself (taxi drivers sans taxis, people walking around with beer cans, homeless men telling me the town is evil) and we crammed in Corey's tiny 2 door Honda hatchback and went on a 12 hour drive. 5 punk kids and a doggy. Strange 4:20 connections, Hoagie Fest, dead car batteries, veganism, Owen, pumping gas and new games (ghost, prayers to mother nature for taco bell, jokes being told ((nate the snake)), the rhyming game) We didn't get to Lexington until 8 am on Thursday and then we passed out at Corey's parents house until 4 pm.

Thursday May 27th-
I'm realizing in reflection that although I was quiet per usual around new people, I never once felt awkward or out of place with these kids. It was comfortable and there wasn't one place else I would of rather been. We ate peanut butter toast for a very, very late breakfast and they decided they wanted to camp out for the night and Alex invited me along- even though that meant squishing 4 people in a 2 person tent. We walked over to a park near Corey's, pet horses and then ran to avoid a thunderstorm. Corey dropped us off at a camp site later and Jake, Alex and I looked for things to starts a fire with. A 15 pack and 6 tall boys were consumed and awesome conversation was had. The rest of the night consisted of peeing in the woods numerous times, sitting around the fire and cuddling the night away while listening to tapes on alex's cassette player.

Friday May 28th-
We woke up and had Corey come get us and then went and took showers and then went on an adventure to Hobby Lobby and a bookstore that were easy as pie to steal from. Some how 3 days in, if felt like I had known these kids forever. We went to a record store and Chipotle, talked to a homeless man about quantem physhics , met some of the Lexington kids- Dakota, Carey, Heather and then decided to head over to the first night of Crucial Fun. We ended up at Tracey's whos one of the coolest women I've met..she's got so much to say. We walked over to Al's Bar, went into the show, I met Dakota from ATL, Alexis, Tesla......, Cameron, Disa and probably some kids I'm forgetting. We saw the Sundials, Timeshares, Dead Dog, I LOST MY SHIT FOR The Sidekicks and Delay was such a dance party. I talked to Jon from the Timeshares for awhile too. After the show we met Kevin and Nora (who were from Philly too, and the story gets weirder later), and walked with them to Triangle Park for the free midnight show. We sat around for awhile eating Disa's pretzels, talking and feeling so so content. I saw Laurie around too and said hey- I don't know why she seems not to like me so much. Eventually Chris Eugene, Laura Stevenson and Sean from AJJ played a few songs each while everyone sat in a huge circle in the grass. We went dumpster diving and got some good things, I survived off those dried pineapples on Sunday, went back to Corey's and had a good night's sleep for the first time in days.

Saturday May 29th-
Woke up after more cuddles, to more peanut butter toast. We got ready and headed to Gumbo Yaya for the second day/morning show of CFF. Walked in to high fives from atlanta Dakota, ate free vegan chili all day, met more friends, met a guy who's dog is named Tesla, watched Vicky give Alex a sit n' poke, and saw Slugging Percentage (hilarious), PheRamones (surprise!) Joe Magnum, Hop Along, Toby Foster, Madeline Ava, and LAURA FREAKING STEVENON AND THE CANS. The show ended around 5 and went back back to Corey's for a bit and laid in the front lawn and then went back downtown. We went to this awesome coffee shop and walked down to where a lot of kids where hanging out around this park and fountain in front of the court house. There was some traveler kids playing the harmonica and it might of made my day. After a bit of splashing around the fountain we walked down to Al's for the night show of CFF day 2. We sat around outside for awhile, I got some tea, saw Imperial Can and fell in love with Chris Clavin's dog (enter dog jokes of the weekend here "WERE TAKING THEM ALL HOME"), saw Pink Houses which was sooo good, and then Sean in AJJ played some AJJ stuff solo. I don't think anything will ever live up to the first time Brit and I saw them in Baltimore and they played my favorite album all the way through. I also ran into Mowgli right as I walked in and was so excited to see him!!

After the show we waited around awhile deciding on plans and ended up just the 4 of us walking around drinking for awhile. I think we missed whoever played triangle park that night but I had some crazy connection conversation with Nora about philly house shows and fucking DENISE, talked to Mowgli some more, introduced myself to Madeline which was awkward but successful. Became closer with Vicky. SO MANY 4:20 and wandered around Kroger before going back to Corey's. Alex and I got the bed for once and fell right asleep.

Sunday May 30th-
We decided to skip the daytime show on Sunday because there wasn't anything any of us really wanted to see since Slingshot Dakota dropped, and I've seen Spraynard so many times the past few weeks anyways it's a little ridiculous. So instead we went on a really, really awesome hike. I think another reason I liked thse kids so much is because while they're not straight edge, they're still different than the typical partying kids. I feel like it's hard to come across kids that arent one or the other- they're either straight edge and not into anything else, or drink and smoke and don't find fun in anything but that. But these kids can drink all night but still want to go on awesome adventures and if finally felt like I met people that I totally get and fit with. We hiked for about 2 hours, sang built to spill, saw the Kentucky River, sat on a bridge throwing rocks making them explode and then left for Taco Bell. We hiked about 3-4 miles on the harder terrain. I introduced the vegans in the gang ( everyone but Corey) to Fresco Bean Burritos and then we went to the bookstore again and I got Blankets (I'm making Vicky help get me into comics/graphic novels) and finally 1984 so I can start reading once again and since I've always wanted to read it/Melissa's been raving around it lately.

We went back to Corey's for a bit and layed around in the grass like usual..Vickey cut Alex's hair, we went to the coffee shop again and played Guess Who then back to the front of the court house and Jake and I played in the fountain and then layed around the park for a few hours. The travelers where there again playing songs, and they started to play the New Mexico song. I was internally freaking out about it. All day I heard that harmonica playing that song somewhere in the distance. Circles fucking everywhere. The entire car ride the day Jake, Alex and I read a play outloud. After a bit we walked to Tracy's, then to the liquor store when I luckily!! could cash my check, then went back to sit on that amazing porch when I fell in love with the south. We went to the show and I wondered around on my own all night and didn't really go inside until Max Levine played last. That was a fun dance party, I bought alcohol without getting carded just for fun and then we walked around for a bit I believe. I didn't get to say bye to everyone I would of liked to, but we did say bye to Disa and oh yeah! we walked to Alexis and Jennifer, the twins, to Tolly-Ho Diner where most people were going after the show. I played pacman and am still so awesome, got some fries, and we sat around a huge table laughing like usual (Alex is probably one of the most enteraining people I have ever met) we went for a pretty long walk and talked to Joe outside a gas station and took group pictures and didn't get back to Corey's until probably 3 am. We passed out on the floor, I told the Boston kids how much I loved them and fell asleep giggling as always. Cuddle, cuddle, cuddle.

Monday May 31st-
Corey didn't plan on leaving until Tuesday so the day after the fest as a free for all but honestly my day didn't feel complete at the end when there wasn't a show and all the faces I came to love through out the weekend and I wish that CFF was every day of my life. Nothing but good people and big hearts and heartfelt music and long walks and dance parties for hours. We slept in pretty late and we tried to get free veggie dogs but when we got there there was no veggie dogs to be found, so we got coffee at Tolly-Ho and then went to the Co-op and I got an awesome TLT (Tempeh, Lettuce and Tomato :)) sandwich although Jake told me he'll make me a better one when I come to Boston. I got the best text of my life from Chrystina "KID DYNAMITEEEE" and kind of gasped loud enough for everyone in the entire cafeteria to look at me and ran outside and jumped up and down while calling Andrew to freak the fuck out about them playing TIH and might of even teared up a bit. We hung out at Carey's dad's mattress store for awhile and Alex learned to drive stick. I really want to learn now for some reason. Corey had plans to go out to dinner with his family so he dropped us off downtown, we sat around the coffee shop for a few hours playing scrabble for a few hours, drawing on tables and enjoying our last day in town. We walked around for awhile later looking for somewhere to get dinner but just ended up walking a lot and ending up at Triangle Park waiting for a ride form Corey. He got us, we went to kroger and then cooked a really good dinner and sat in the backyard all night. Eventually we went to sleep for the last night since we had to leave at like 5 am.

The next day we left and went on the most ridiculous drive, they dropped me off somewhere in PA before the Cut Short boys found me and we took group pictures and said goodbyes and Jake told me to come up to Boston on the 16th for Defiance and then a show he booked on the 18th. I really hope I can pull it off.
Crucial Fun was easily my favorite week of 2010 so far, and has such a huge, huge place in my heart.
I might of teared up again a little as those kids drove off. Getting in a car now doesn't feel right unless I'm crammed in the back with 2 other kids and a pup.