The day before we left, I went home early because I didn't feel well. I was nervous. At the time, bieng nervous in this manner is all-consuming. You may intellectually realize that you should not be nervous. Afterwards, you may feel foolish. I usually do. But during, you're usually in the grips of it.

Next morning, I was even more nervous. The nausea pill I took knocked me out so I spent most of the trip sleeping. It was a nice day. Once we got there, we headed to our nice little Pimpin Suite on the first floor. I was expecting a bigger place, but given the location and the mini-kitchen deal, I was fine with it.

An important thing to keep in mind is that I did not eat much at all on this trip. And I was away from home; I usually don't do well away from home. And Brooke was sick; I was sure that my somewhat weakened immune system would catch it, but I didn't get sick then and I'm not now. My energy level was low, and I was spaced out. I'm surprised I didn't faint. haha. We went to Harris Teeter one night and bought milk and cereal and whatnot, which was great. I feel exasperated with myself in retrospect. By the time I was getting used to being there (incidentally at the same time our room was getting kind of gross) it was time to go home. I felt like a baby with my staying in the room while everyone else went shopping, or what-have-you. But you do what you can. I'm still kind of amazed at it.

I do regret missing the Friday dinner and the Opiate Picnic. But then, I've never been a social butterfly. I'm kind of avoidant. I only do what comes naturally to keep up friendships and acquaintances. I don't really go out of my way. I regret it when I don't, but.... More importantly, I felt crappy when time came to go to these things, and I therefore wasn't ready. Eh.

Anyway. The shows themselves have mostly blurred together. But they were very wonderful. Each was different. First night, we were way the hell down in front on the left side. It was difficult to see, but Erin and I had a good time and there were a lot of people I knew around me.

After the show Brooke and I bugged Ward about Sleater-Kinney, in the lobby. Later on, outside, after winking at me (the man looked good in a coat and scarf [hey, with boys, is it called a muffler?], people) Ward quoted the "Stonehenge" speech to me from "Spinal Tap" because of my cape. I suavely worked in a thing about how I was going to bring that tape because we have VCRs in our room. So he asked where we were staying, and upon being told said that that was near where they used to busk "and sometimes still do." I said that we didn't plan that, and really we didn't. Damn, I'm smooth.

The theme for the shows was tarot cards, which creeped me out since earlier in the week I had been trying to think of what tarot cards they would be. Hey, I wonder if "tarot" should be capitalized.

So on Saturday, I waited the longest to take a shower, and therefore had to wait for housekeeping so I could get new towels. By the time I was ready and the others had gotten back, and we left for the picnic, it was after 3. So by the time we got to the park, only a few people were left, but they were cool. So it was nice to meet Diana and Andrew and Tina. That's the people I remember. There may have been more. Then we went to Jestine's and did some shopping, and Megan bought me Spooky, The Thing What Squeeks. Yay! I think this might have also been the day we saw Jay on his bike (twice!) which was scary. Heh.

Second night, I got to wear my suit, and we went to Tommy Condon's. I was much relieved to have pants the next two nights (as opposed to a dress), and actual shoes on this night. All in all, second night was my favorite, although I was kind of sitting by myself for the show. I had people near me that I knew, but it was nice to just sit without constant wisecracks for once, as much as I love them.

Jonny had a solo each night. First night was a 20s-style song, with a mandolin. Second night was "Rainbow Connection," which had actually been on TV that day. Jonny didn't remember all the words, but since I've always wanted to see him play banjo I was happy. The third night took the cake because Jonny came out in a tux and sang "Lady Luck." He tore that shit up. He got a standing ovation. No one else's solos got a standing O, that I recall.

On either first or second night, I was walking past Evan looking for someone, and he grabbed my arm. What is Evan's deal? He doesn't talk to me for three years and suddenly once he gets a haircut he starts grabbing me after shows. I did have occasion to grab his elbow and it amuses me that we both have incredibly bony arms.

After second night, I talked to Ward about meditation, something I never thought I'd do. It was a garbled conversation like all the ones I have with Ward, but still cute, I think. I also suddenly noticed that he had green eyes, and when I asked he said that while he generally considers them hazel, yeah, they're pretty much green. I said that since I had green eyes, I was curious. He said "Maybe we're cousins." I really should have said "Kissing cousins?" or something, but I did not. When Gretchen and Samantha were paying him McDonalds coupons for kiss pictures, I did not take out my hundred dollar bill. Tsk. Comic moments lost forever. Topics of brief conversation also included North Carolina immigration, ancestral castles, and my grandmother having been a Hitler Youth. Ward also was really happy about his PalmPilot and his new cell phone. What. A. Dork. Oh, and there was some incident involving a hoochie that pleased me immensely.

So now we see why I liked second night best. Anyway. I can't remember what we did Sunday during the day. I think we went to Bocci's for Italian food and did some shopping. I found at Lazy River the cutest little mediation kit. It has a tiny wooden incense burner, wee sticks of incense, and 20 little cards with things like mandalas and pictures to keep in mind during meditation. It's Barbie's First Meditation Kit, I swear to god. It was tiny enough to fit in my purse so I brought it on the last night to show to Ward, but luckily fate stepped in and saved me from my own stupidity because he left pretty quickly after the show. So I only talked to Jonny and my dear Lauren after that show. JC haphazardly spirited the band away and I said a few words to Matt as he made his escape, but our conversations the nights before made up for that. My feet were very cold and I was very tired on our way back, so tired that I wanted to cry. We went to T-Bones in the same building as our hotel and I ate a hamburger, the most I'd eaten in days. haha. There was a nearby table that had some people we knew at it, some of whom I hadn't met, so once I cheered up we hung out with them a little and I got to check some more people off my "need to meet" list. Oh, and I got a naked baby, too. The naked baby is now in my cubicle at work.

Oh, this was weird. While we were eating, at about 2, I had had my phone off for quite a few hours, but suddenly I felt like I should turn it on, even though hardly anyone ever calls me. So I did, and just as it came on, Erin called about the valet situation. Weird, huh?

Somewhere in here I gave my Jaygirls Clifford The Big Red Dog presents and Cha got Harry Potter Uno, which I did not play because it confused the hell out of me. I'm a bad Ward girl. But I did play Scrabble. I don't really like Scrabble all that much, though. For at least two nights, Gene and Allen came by, bringing pink champagne and general annoyance. Oh, and Erin gave me some Dirty Girl stuff, which I love. Lotion with glitter in it that smells like Dirty Girl Soap?? I mean, if that is not the perfect product I don't know what is.

By Monday our suite was not sweet. We cleaned up as best we could and got all our crap hauled to the lobby, where everyone stood around as I checked out. The valet thing was kind of a mess. Oh well. Then our cars were brought out, and Brooke tallied up the payments and I collected the cash, and we went to IHOP, which was an adventure in itself. Ahhh, 5-star breakfast. When the trip was over, I was glad to have met so many people I'd been meaning to meet. I also felt accomplished.

I think that's about it. I might add more if I remember anything. Oh yeah. Cha and I talked to Ward about Scrabble -- well, technically, she insisted she was right and I half-heartedly argued, and later he told us about one time when he got 50 points on a word in a game with Hayne and Jonny and Evan, but we weren't really listening. Ha, now he knows how we feel.