Look at this dorky icon! Recap post.
On the flight to LA I tried to do the impossible: recap my summer in bullet points. Which means I'm missing lots, but here's some key things that make me smile or whatever the past three months. Cookies to you if you read the whole thing.
...thank you to everyone who made this summer possible. To my family who allow me the time to do things my way, to my Bside and Troh who listened to me ramble about it all, to Jessy and Metal and Erick at FBR who gave me a home/tent. Gym Class and Academy and Evaline and Sunstreak and all the other Warped bands who made me feel welcome. To my girls on the west coast, in the midwest, and in the NYC area who gave me places to stay and entertainment or joined me on the journey. To my bosses for giving me the freedom to take this time and have life-changing experiences. To my friends back home who understood why I have been gone all summer. This wouldn't be possible without each and every one of you and I'll never forget that.
A "short" list of memories.
- Fall Out Boy in the Pacific Northwest with Sara. Standing in the rain, almost fainting, Patrick singing Let’s Get it On, vowels, Are You Amish!??, no sleep/sleep in mall parking lots. Making out.
- FOB Atl and Charlotte. Calling Nick Wheeler gay to his face.
- Paramore with Kev and LD. Posing for pictures with torture devices.
- Jack’s Mannequin with my Nathan and Abeeda. (Them) shrieking at Andrew in the car. Milkshakes. Sitting in that alley, second row, Shaant’s hair, meeting Monty Are I.
- Monty Are I! Realizing I would have gone to school with all of them, talking about old friends. Cage dancing.
- June second row. Knowing all the words. True small show. Beautiful.
- Last minute trip to Chicago for The Hush Sound. Quinn and Jori. All day in line, packed house. Greta! Vegan pancakes + soy milkshakes + certain drummers and certain piano players. Linguistics babble, comic babble, sex babble. WTF.
- West Coast with Jessa!
- BAKERSFRIELD. “Fighting” for the front row. Dancing with Greta. Giftbags, set lists, photos. BUTTON.
- Las Vegas for the Panic boys. All day in line, crazy fans. Greta + button. Nobody noticing JWalk but me. Second fucking row. First time seeing The Rose Vest in person. First time seeing The Gay in person. My awesome anchor in front of me who kept me safe. Crotch of the Ok Go guy. Waves at Hugh Sound. Hand holding.
- ELIZABETH VISITS!
- Panic in the ATL. Chatting with Hushies, chilling by the buses. Waves with BrendonAndRyan. Waves and chat with JWalk. “Are you looking at me because you think you know me, cause you don’t.” “No, just looking.” Smiles later. Chats with Zack about tattoos. Proving my age. BUTTON. Upper level standing on chairs to see. Sweating. No sleep.
- Nashville Warped the next morning. Meeting Amanda. Meeting Metal and Jessy. Getting my wristband. First time seeing The Academy Is in 4 months. Sidestage alone. Almost Here. Front row for Monty Are I. Sweating. It seems so long ago now.
- Missing Brand New to head to Charleston Warped. Sweating. The Academy Is on the mainstage. Driving Armor to Walmart. Bus parties. BBQ. Staredowns. Fucking rain. Gym Class Heroes for the first time, getting a hug from Travie. Sleeping in a hotel parking lot on the way home.
- Atlanta Warped. Hometown, baby. Gym Class sidestage. Love from Disashi and Eric. Dining hall adventures. Evaline for the first time. Amazing Academy energy. Meeting Jen and Casey. Techno dance parties. FOB singalongs. Yelling at certain band members. Uhm.
- Philadelphia! Four hours with baby Mira. Lunch with Joyce. Rushing over to the pier and jumping in line just in time. Second row. Hearts with Greta. Waves with Chris. Holding on to Lah’s hip for dear life. Losing Jori, Chloe and eventually Lah. Toughing it out with Quinn. Hearts with Ryan. Crazy energy. Chats with Hushies post show. High-fives with Brendon. Hugs with Jon. Chats with Ryan (BUTTON OMG).
- Long ass train rides to Boston. Boston show. Hanging back with the sound and lights people. Saying goodbyes to Hushies post show. Chris making weird faces.
- NYC! Staying up with El and Sky and Vhary and Lah and watching footage. Lifetime with Lah.
- Taking Back Sunday in the pit. Not dying. Wow, look at that mic chord.
- October Fall list issues. Getting gossip from Nick. Nashville visits with Nicole and Jennifer.
- Butch Walker alone. No crazy teenagers. Bliss.
- Warped Midwest. Jori and Quinn. Indiana sucks. William on 7weeks. Gym Class Acoustic front row. TAI with a beer and in the shade. Meeting Paul merch, seeing Jade from AFI and calling him a douchebag.
- Wax on Radio. Harrison is so cute about Greta.
- Chicago Warped was fucking hot. The Sounds front row. Evaline front row. TAI from the back, Armor from the middle. SWEAT. Making fun of Aiden. Meeting Wil from Aiden. Discussing anal sex. BBQ. Vegan pancakes minus drummer.
- WORKING FOUR WARPEDS IN A ROW.
- Camden. No tent. No materials. Evaline on Hurley before TAI. Beckett playing with my glasses during Slow Down. Chats about booty shorts. Seeing Pink Spiders, Hellogoodbye, GCH, Aiden.
- Phonecalls from Jessa while she’s talking to Greta in Cali.
- Scranton. GCH, Aiden, Me Without You, Evaline. TAI, always. Meeting HeyChris. Beautiful surroundings. Ruby Tuesdays with Evaline and Jessy. Driving through NYC and sleeping in a parking lot in Long Island.
- Long Island. TAI mainstage. Smiles all around. Getting posters signed, hand holding. Hi-fives for GCH. Overcrowded backstage for GCH. Travie has awesome bling. That dude from Monster is creepy. Beckett’s pedicure. Hiding in the AC for 30 minutes.
- Skipping the afterparty for dinner at Hooters with Chris, Fruity and Jack Marin. Some of the nicest boys ever. Also dirtiest. Great combo. Chills by the TAI bus after.
- Englishtown, NJ. Getting my Armor hoodie because Paul is my favorite person ever. Evaline on mainstage. Paul merch being our neighbor. Bitchy security. Hanging with Claudio on the Motion City bus.
- Day off. OMG YAY.
- Charlotte with Nicole…….seriously, too great to even explain. Evaline kills it. Travis has a crush. Beckett steals sidekicks and smirks a lot. Pictures. Meeting The Sleeping. Jen, Casey and Carrie in the tent. Making videos with Jessy and RJ. Seeing Wil. Bus hangs. Metal singing songs to us and talking about Pee-Wee. Putting my cousin on the back of a motorbike. Snarking with rockstars. Spending the evening with a very drunk boy. Finagle. Solitude. Family. Hugs.
- Paramore. Guestlists rock. Shaant smoking with a bunch of moms. Sold out show. Shaina. Hayley is too cute for words.
- Dashboard Confessional. My brother is a snarky bitch and I love him. Ben Lee looks older than I thought. Say Anything shouldn’t say anything (a cross between MCR and Jason Mraz - pick a persona and stick with it! - brother). Chris is always so damn good on stage.
- MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES ON A MOTHERFUCKING PLANE. This hasn’t happened upon writing this, but I bet that’s going to be my reaction.
...thank you to everyone who made this summer possible. To my family who allow me the time to do things my way, to my Bside and Troh who listened to me ramble about it all, to Jessy and Metal and Erick at FBR who gave me a home/tent. Gym Class and Academy and Evaline and Sunstreak and all the other Warped bands who made me feel welcome. To my girls on the west coast, in the midwest, and in the NYC area who gave me places to stay and entertainment or joined me on the journey. To my bosses for giving me the freedom to take this time and have life-changing experiences. To my friends back home who understood why I have been gone all summer. This wouldn't be possible without each and every one of you and I'll never forget that.
A "short" list of memories.
- Fall Out Boy in the Pacific Northwest with Sara. Standing in the rain, almost fainting, Patrick singing Let’s Get it On, vowels, Are You Amish!??, no sleep/sleep in mall parking lots. Making out.
- FOB Atl and Charlotte. Calling Nick Wheeler gay to his face.
- Paramore with Kev and LD. Posing for pictures with torture devices.
- Jack’s Mannequin with my Nathan and Abeeda. (Them) shrieking at Andrew in the car. Milkshakes. Sitting in that alley, second row, Shaant’s hair, meeting Monty Are I.
- Monty Are I! Realizing I would have gone to school with all of them, talking about old friends. Cage dancing.
- June second row. Knowing all the words. True small show. Beautiful.
- Last minute trip to Chicago for The Hush Sound. Quinn and Jori. All day in line, packed house. Greta! Vegan pancakes + soy milkshakes + certain drummers and certain piano players. Linguistics babble, comic babble, sex babble. WTF.
- West Coast with Jessa!
- BAKERSFRIELD. “Fighting” for the front row. Dancing with Greta. Giftbags, set lists, photos. BUTTON.
- Las Vegas for the Panic boys. All day in line, crazy fans. Greta + button. Nobody noticing JWalk but me. Second fucking row. First time seeing The Rose Vest in person. First time seeing The Gay in person. My awesome anchor in front of me who kept me safe. Crotch of the Ok Go guy. Waves at Hugh Sound. Hand holding.
- ELIZABETH VISITS!
- Panic in the ATL. Chatting with Hushies, chilling by the buses. Waves with BrendonAndRyan. Waves and chat with JWalk. “Are you looking at me because you think you know me, cause you don’t.” “No, just looking.” Smiles later. Chats with Zack about tattoos. Proving my age. BUTTON. Upper level standing on chairs to see. Sweating. No sleep.
- Nashville Warped the next morning. Meeting Amanda. Meeting Metal and Jessy. Getting my wristband. First time seeing The Academy Is in 4 months. Sidestage alone. Almost Here. Front row for Monty Are I. Sweating. It seems so long ago now.
- Missing Brand New to head to Charleston Warped. Sweating. The Academy Is on the mainstage. Driving Armor to Walmart. Bus parties. BBQ. Staredowns. Fucking rain. Gym Class Heroes for the first time, getting a hug from Travie. Sleeping in a hotel parking lot on the way home.
- Atlanta Warped. Hometown, baby. Gym Class sidestage. Love from Disashi and Eric. Dining hall adventures. Evaline for the first time. Amazing Academy energy. Meeting Jen and Casey. Techno dance parties. FOB singalongs. Yelling at certain band members. Uhm.
- Philadelphia! Four hours with baby Mira. Lunch with Joyce. Rushing over to the pier and jumping in line just in time. Second row. Hearts with Greta. Waves with Chris. Holding on to Lah’s hip for dear life. Losing Jori, Chloe and eventually Lah. Toughing it out with Quinn. Hearts with Ryan. Crazy energy. Chats with Hushies post show. High-fives with Brendon. Hugs with Jon. Chats with Ryan (BUTTON OMG).
- Long ass train rides to Boston. Boston show. Hanging back with the sound and lights people. Saying goodbyes to Hushies post show. Chris making weird faces.
- NYC! Staying up with El and Sky and Vhary and Lah and watching footage. Lifetime with Lah.
- Taking Back Sunday in the pit. Not dying. Wow, look at that mic chord.
- October Fall list issues. Getting gossip from Nick. Nashville visits with Nicole and Jennifer.
- Butch Walker alone. No crazy teenagers. Bliss.
- Warped Midwest. Jori and Quinn. Indiana sucks. William on 7weeks. Gym Class Acoustic front row. TAI with a beer and in the shade. Meeting Paul merch, seeing Jade from AFI and calling him a douchebag.
- Wax on Radio. Harrison is so cute about Greta.
- Chicago Warped was fucking hot. The Sounds front row. Evaline front row. TAI from the back, Armor from the middle. SWEAT. Making fun of Aiden. Meeting Wil from Aiden. Discussing anal sex. BBQ. Vegan pancakes minus drummer.
- WORKING FOUR WARPEDS IN A ROW.
- Camden. No tent. No materials. Evaline on Hurley before TAI. Beckett playing with my glasses during Slow Down. Chats about booty shorts. Seeing Pink Spiders, Hellogoodbye, GCH, Aiden.
- Phonecalls from Jessa while she’s talking to Greta in Cali.
- Scranton. GCH, Aiden, Me Without You, Evaline. TAI, always. Meeting HeyChris. Beautiful surroundings. Ruby Tuesdays with Evaline and Jessy. Driving through NYC and sleeping in a parking lot in Long Island.
- Long Island. TAI mainstage. Smiles all around. Getting posters signed, hand holding. Hi-fives for GCH. Overcrowded backstage for GCH. Travie has awesome bling. That dude from Monster is creepy. Beckett’s pedicure. Hiding in the AC for 30 minutes.
- Skipping the afterparty for dinner at Hooters with Chris, Fruity and Jack Marin. Some of the nicest boys ever. Also dirtiest. Great combo. Chills by the TAI bus after.
- Englishtown, NJ. Getting my Armor hoodie because Paul is my favorite person ever. Evaline on mainstage. Paul merch being our neighbor. Bitchy security. Hanging with Claudio on the Motion City bus.
- Day off. OMG YAY.
- Charlotte with Nicole…….seriously, too great to even explain. Evaline kills it. Travis has a crush. Beckett steals sidekicks and smirks a lot. Pictures. Meeting The Sleeping. Jen, Casey and Carrie in the tent. Making videos with Jessy and RJ. Seeing Wil. Bus hangs. Metal singing songs to us and talking about Pee-Wee. Putting my cousin on the back of a motorbike. Snarking with rockstars. Spending the evening with a very drunk boy. Finagle. Solitude. Family. Hugs.
- Paramore. Guestlists rock. Shaant smoking with a bunch of moms. Sold out show. Shaina. Hayley is too cute for words.
- Dashboard Confessional. My brother is a snarky bitch and I love him. Ben Lee looks older than I thought. Say Anything shouldn’t say anything (a cross between MCR and Jason Mraz - pick a persona and stick with it! - brother). Chris is always so damn good on stage.
- MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES ON A MOTHERFUCKING PLANE. This hasn’t happened upon writing this, but I bet that’s going to be my reaction.