Fight Night
(I wrote this last night)
Ok here's the deal. In case anyone is curious, and for the people who weren't there, and so people can stop jumping to conclusions:
I consider what happened last night to be two or three separate incidents: A kind-of fight, me getting choked out, and what happened during and after (ancillary to me).
Last night a lot of Reno kids went to Sacramento to the Acacia Strain, All Shall Perish, Warriors show.
It was way fun, lots of Reno kids showed up, and got lots of shout outs from the bands. It's always been the rule that when you're out of town, you look after everybody. Which would hold true in any circumstance, but especially when its your friends.
During ASP's set, a kid had danced into Julius and Julius got pretty irritated, but nothing happened. However, that kid landed on my radar and I kept an eye out for the rest of the night.
Later on, during Acacia Strain's set, the same kid kept running back and forth and gopher bopping the crowd. He almost hit me twice and the third time he came around and got straight on the top of my head. I had already been keeping an eye on him because of Julius, so when he hit me I got pissed off. I shoved him then hit him. Not hard, but just to be like, "Hey, what the fuck? Knock it off."
He turned to me and said, "Oh what the fuck man." The way he turned, and in my mindset I thought he was going to come after me, so I went after him first. I knocked him down and then I got tackled to the ground.
In the chaos, I was suckerpunched. I can't remember if it was before or after I started to get choked out. But I remember feeling it and being like, "Well, here it comes..."
After this point I've been relying on what people told me happened next because most of it is a blur.
After I hit the guy, I was grabbed from behind and taken to the floor by (who I assumed) the bouncers, especially since it was the 6'3" 250lb security guard who put me in a rear naked choke (for those of you who don't know what that is). .
He started taking me to the back of the room to kick me out, but then he started dragging me back into the crowd. I found out later that he did that because everyone was trying to get him to let me go.
At this point my air's been cut off and I can feel my head pounding and I start to fade in and out of consciousness. I keep tapping out but he keeps it locked in and I eventually blacked out. I woke up outside and remember saying. "Where the fuck am I?"
A bunch of kids were outside and were like, "Hey you're bleeding man." I start shaking the security guard's hand for such good moves and the guy informs me that I was just on the receiving end of 10 years of jiu-jitsu. I laughed and was like, "Yeah, I could tell. But I tapped you ass."
Brennan came outside to check on me and it was at that point he tells me, "You know, that was Tim from Before I Wake, man."
So then my heart drops and I feel like a total fucking piece of shit. Tim looks completely different from the last time I saw him. He wasn't the skinny pretty boy that I remember him as. He used to have short hair, wore a fidel hat constantly, chucks and skinny jeans. The guy I hit had long hair in a pony tail, looked pale and emaciated, wearing a baggy old metal shirt, and like he hadn't slept in a month. He comes outside and finds me. And again he goes, "Dude what the fuck man? I was trying to tell you it was me!" I couldn't apologize enough, but we talked it out and had everything settled in a matter of moments.
It was just an old fashioned case of mistaken identity. A lot of kids from Reno didn't recognize him, and nobody who was there was the least bit angry at me. Everyone has just said, "It (friendly fire) happens." He was very understanding, and told me not to feel bad, even though I still do. I told him I'd buy him a beer or a cherry coke the next time I saw him, he laughed and agreed to it. There was no problem. There is no problem. And there won't be a problem. If he is okay with it, and I'm okay with it, and we're all okay with it, then nobody else is entitled to not be okay with it.
Now as for everything else...I've been spending the whole day (starting with last night) trying to piece together what else happened. I still don't know most of it, and I don't know the ramifications of it all, but I know that some pretty heavy stuff happened. I start hearing little blips as soon as I get back to the front of the venue after changing my bloody shirt.
So here's what I've gotten so far:
As it turns out, it was Elzo who grabbed me from behind and took me to the floor because it was very obvious to him that I didn't know it was Tim I was going after.
This kid approaches Tim as I'm getting kicked out and says something like, "You know what? Don't even worry about that faggot. He's not even welcome in Reno. Nobody likes him."
My brother, being the good brother he is, flips out and was like, "Who the fuck do you think you are?" and almost fights the kid for not only saying it, but acting like he's ambassador to Reno, acting like his word is law or in any way representational. A few other people lash out and yell at him too.
He approached me while we were at In-N-Out and he informs me that he was the one who hit me when I was on the ground then makes an attempt at an apology. There will be a time when I'll choose to speculate about this whole interaction at length, but for now I'll settle for saying that I still had white halos in my vision, I could feel my eyes throbbing because the choke burst my capillaries, I was bleeding from my ear (I was informed this evening that I have a cut on the inside of my ear...somehow) and I could feel my left ocular and cheek bones swelling and I was on the phone with Myra, so I wasn't really paying attention to what was being said; the excuses, the rationale, or.. whatever.
As for this portion of the story, ultimately, it comes down to a few cardinal rules:
-(In Sean's words) "Don't ever let a broad fuck up your night."
-You watch out for your own when you're out of town and you squash your hometown beefs at home.
-And that's about it.
Addtionally, it's a sin to believe your own hype.
Also, people know opportunism when they see it. That's not a rule, that's an observation.
I found out very late tonight that it was actually the bouncer that ground and pounded me when I got taken to the floor. It wasn't the kid who said he hit me. it was the bouncer who threw a strike or two before getting me into the choke. Which made me feel a lot better because that guy wrecked me and I'm glad that I shook his hand.
That's all I got so far.
Ok here's the deal. In case anyone is curious, and for the people who weren't there, and so people can stop jumping to conclusions:
I consider what happened last night to be two or three separate incidents: A kind-of fight, me getting choked out, and what happened during and after (ancillary to me).
Last night a lot of Reno kids went to Sacramento to the Acacia Strain, All Shall Perish, Warriors show.
It was way fun, lots of Reno kids showed up, and got lots of shout outs from the bands. It's always been the rule that when you're out of town, you look after everybody. Which would hold true in any circumstance, but especially when its your friends.
During ASP's set, a kid had danced into Julius and Julius got pretty irritated, but nothing happened. However, that kid landed on my radar and I kept an eye out for the rest of the night.
Later on, during Acacia Strain's set, the same kid kept running back and forth and gopher bopping the crowd. He almost hit me twice and the third time he came around and got straight on the top of my head. I had already been keeping an eye on him because of Julius, so when he hit me I got pissed off. I shoved him then hit him. Not hard, but just to be like, "Hey, what the fuck? Knock it off."
He turned to me and said, "Oh what the fuck man." The way he turned, and in my mindset I thought he was going to come after me, so I went after him first. I knocked him down and then I got tackled to the ground.
In the chaos, I was suckerpunched. I can't remember if it was before or after I started to get choked out. But I remember feeling it and being like, "Well, here it comes..."
After this point I've been relying on what people told me happened next because most of it is a blur.
After I hit the guy, I was grabbed from behind and taken to the floor by (who I assumed) the bouncers, especially since it was the 6'3" 250lb security guard who put me in a rear naked choke (for those of you who don't know what that is). .
He started taking me to the back of the room to kick me out, but then he started dragging me back into the crowd. I found out later that he did that because everyone was trying to get him to let me go.
At this point my air's been cut off and I can feel my head pounding and I start to fade in and out of consciousness. I keep tapping out but he keeps it locked in and I eventually blacked out. I woke up outside and remember saying. "Where the fuck am I?"
A bunch of kids were outside and were like, "Hey you're bleeding man." I start shaking the security guard's hand for such good moves and the guy informs me that I was just on the receiving end of 10 years of jiu-jitsu. I laughed and was like, "Yeah, I could tell. But I tapped you ass."
Brennan came outside to check on me and it was at that point he tells me, "You know, that was Tim from Before I Wake, man."
So then my heart drops and I feel like a total fucking piece of shit. Tim looks completely different from the last time I saw him. He wasn't the skinny pretty boy that I remember him as. He used to have short hair, wore a fidel hat constantly, chucks and skinny jeans. The guy I hit had long hair in a pony tail, looked pale and emaciated, wearing a baggy old metal shirt, and like he hadn't slept in a month. He comes outside and finds me. And again he goes, "Dude what the fuck man? I was trying to tell you it was me!" I couldn't apologize enough, but we talked it out and had everything settled in a matter of moments.
It was just an old fashioned case of mistaken identity. A lot of kids from Reno didn't recognize him, and nobody who was there was the least bit angry at me. Everyone has just said, "It (friendly fire) happens." He was very understanding, and told me not to feel bad, even though I still do. I told him I'd buy him a beer or a cherry coke the next time I saw him, he laughed and agreed to it. There was no problem. There is no problem. And there won't be a problem. If he is okay with it, and I'm okay with it, and we're all okay with it, then nobody else is entitled to not be okay with it.
Now as for everything else...I've been spending the whole day (starting with last night) trying to piece together what else happened. I still don't know most of it, and I don't know the ramifications of it all, but I know that some pretty heavy stuff happened. I start hearing little blips as soon as I get back to the front of the venue after changing my bloody shirt.
So here's what I've gotten so far:
As it turns out, it was Elzo who grabbed me from behind and took me to the floor because it was very obvious to him that I didn't know it was Tim I was going after.
This kid approaches Tim as I'm getting kicked out and says something like, "You know what? Don't even worry about that faggot. He's not even welcome in Reno. Nobody likes him."
My brother, being the good brother he is, flips out and was like, "Who the fuck do you think you are?" and almost fights the kid for not only saying it, but acting like he's ambassador to Reno, acting like his word is law or in any way representational. A few other people lash out and yell at him too.
He approached me while we were at In-N-Out and he informs me that he was the one who hit me when I was on the ground then makes an attempt at an apology. There will be a time when I'll choose to speculate about this whole interaction at length, but for now I'll settle for saying that I still had white halos in my vision, I could feel my eyes throbbing because the choke burst my capillaries, I was bleeding from my ear (I was informed this evening that I have a cut on the inside of my ear...somehow) and I could feel my left ocular and cheek bones swelling and I was on the phone with Myra, so I wasn't really paying attention to what was being said; the excuses, the rationale, or.. whatever.
As for this portion of the story, ultimately, it comes down to a few cardinal rules:
-(In Sean's words) "Don't ever let a broad fuck up your night."
-You watch out for your own when you're out of town and you squash your hometown beefs at home.
-And that's about it.
Addtionally, it's a sin to believe your own hype.
Also, people know opportunism when they see it. That's not a rule, that's an observation.
I found out very late tonight that it was actually the bouncer that ground and pounded me when I got taken to the floor. It wasn't the kid who said he hit me. it was the bouncer who threw a strike or two before getting me into the choke. Which made me feel a lot better because that guy wrecked me and I'm glad that I shook his hand.
That's all I got so far.