I was going to write a recap of the Asheville show, but a few other pals of mine have already written some super ones, like Olivia, and I don't have much time. So I'm just gonna hit the highlights.

Be sure to read the quotes page for comments.

Me and Olivia watched that Hugh Jackman movie after she arrived. We went to bed at two. The back of Hugh's neck is a thing of beauty. When he was chasing that girl around the pool hall and manhandling her and whatnot, that was som e good stuff. Mmmmhmmm.

We listened to Elvis in the car. We also drove past Loni's camp and it all reminded me of my last show.

We saw a store that said "WARD'S" and later "Johnny's Lounge". Then I saw a biplane. Anna said that that was Matt. A weak kid on a bike was Evan. "Oh there, that's Jay," Olivia said. "Jay's the Jiffy Lube?" I laughed. "Wednesday is ladies' day," Jennifer noted.

Chris' dinner was a big surprise for him. he showed up a bit after 7 with Nicole. At about 6:50 Olivia and I went over to the venue to see what the deal was with the tickets. We didn't go in too far. No one was there and the band was soundchecking. It was SO tempting, but we had to go back to the dinner.

My total at dinner was $6.66. I had a giant salad bigger than my head and almost as big as Jay's.

Outside the venue Sara gave me my Powerpuff Girls toys and I gave her a Chupa Chup in return. Inside, a woman I had talked to on IM in regards to a column she wrote for the Gwinnett Daily News (my county) about Rosebud, came up to me. That was cool. She kept gushing about my webpage. She gave Sara and I her card.

I met up with Amber of Allison and Amber. I think she thinks I'm nuts. Oh well.

Nathan brought a screwdriver to me as a fulfillment of his promise to buy me a drink. Unfortunately a little of it spilled on me. Still, I appreciated it. :)

Me and Olivia and Adia managed to arrange ourselves around the right speaker around Amber. I was in the second row, back against the speaker and a breeze hitting me from the windows of the porch. Awww yeah. Being near the speaker is good and I highly recommend it as long as you aren't in front of it. There was a cello moment where Adia and I just looked at each other and said "Whoa."

I was not the only one that noticed that the audience's heads were at the level of the band's crotches. Chris Slack noticed too.

They did some yoga during "Not Today," specifically the tree asana. Apparently they are all taking yoga classes. I bet it was Ward's idea. They led us all in doing it, but it was cramped in there, you know.

They gave Chris a shoutout and played an Irish tune for him. Jay forgot the words to "Quiet." Ward displayed his newly shined shoes. He smacked Jonny on the ass a little bit too. At one point Jonny and Jay were singing really close in the same mic and Ward actually looked a little jealous. This was a pretty sex-laden show, but in a cute way. It was.... interesting.

So me and Adia are sitting on the stairs, with Olivia in front of us. I swear to God this band is trying to drive me nuts on purpose. There is all sorts of proof to be had. Ward is behind us on the stage, and Adia says something to him, and Olivia says she thought he was going to give backrubs. So he proceeds to give Adia a backrub as I pout and try to look unconcerned. He did that shiatsu thing where you chop at the person's shoulders with the sides of the hand. Now, this is what my dad does to my mother when he doesn't want to rub her back anymore because she doesn't like it and he knows she'll make him stop. So I said, "Oh, it's the kind that hurts," and Ward says, "Oh, I guess you don't like it hard if it's gonna hurt," and my vision blurs. So then it's my turn for a backrub. I get a bit of a scalp massage as well. Ward said something else about hardness and pain but damned if I remember it. "I feel like I should tip you," I said to him when he was done, "but I only have twenties." So I gave him a lollipop instead. Blaugh.

So Anna showed Evan and Jonny her nipple rings. I bet they were all "I love being in a band."

I talked to Matt a little but he seemed annoyed with me, possibly because I complained that he was crushing my ear when he hugged me. He told me I should speak to Jay about them playing "Seven Days" for me in Charlotte. "I don't want to talk to Jay, he's scary," I whined, but I did. He was nice about it. I don't think I made it clear that I wanted it played for my two year Jump anniversary. Oh well.

On the way out of Asheville we saw the PNF a few times but didn't think anything of it. They seemed to take an exit that led away from us. But later on 26, in the gloomy, foggy dark, on the lonely road, there it was.

It can't be, it's too clean, I thought. But it was. We raced it in a sense. Sometimes we'd be neck and neck, sometimes we'd be far ahead. Anna would flash the inside light on and off. We cranked up the 311 and the South Park soundtrack. We didn't know who was driving. We didn't take our exit on 25 South, so we continued on to Spartanburg down 26. Hey, it was keeping us all awake. ;) We were practically ready to drive to Charleston, or at least Columbia.

One cute moment was when it was right behind us, and Anna yelled "BRIGHTS!" and waved her hand in the rearview mirror, and the headlights went down. When Anna revved, the PNF revved. When we were near Spartanburg, Jennifer got a look and declared that it was Ward driving. Then we had to get off. The road. Sorry.

After that it was pretty subdued. I am sorry to report that if I had known it was Ward driving it would have been more interesting. But I should have figured it out for myself seeing as we saw him walking to the PNF back at the venue to start it up.

In the lonely streets of Spartanburg we saw an RV dealer whose lot was full of PNFs. I proceeded to shout "I am officially insane now!"

I got home at 7 in the morning and slept until FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON.

That's all for now, I have to eat. I already skipped work to write this crap! :)