Rosie, Keith and I piled into their jeep and fought about whose way we were going to take to the train station to pick up Cody. My dad won, being that he had his hands on the steering wheel. When we got to Jones Beach, the sky was light enough to trick us into holding out hope for staying dry, but my mom brought four ponchos we had from Cody's graduation ceremony in May.
We walked in right as Yeasayer was opening, so Cody and I went to our seats, which were the closest seats I've ever had at a sit-down show. Like 13th row or something. I wasn't super into Yeasayer besides liking a few songs Cody had played for me, so I figured it would be a "see them live, then like them" kinda deal, which was half true; they sounded great, but they lacked any sense of humility whatsoever. The stadium wasn't packed out while they were on (because, um, they were the opener and all), and they totally bitched about it to the crowd! I don't know whether they're used to playing smaller venues or to more people or what, but the lead singer actually said, "There is no way we would be doing this unless our childhood idols asked us to. So whatever, thanks, all 10 of you." That kind of entitled attitude is what makes young people who live in Brooklyn so easy to make fun of.
As Yeasayer was getting their diapers changed or finishing up their last song or whatever, my mom pointed to my right at the dark clouds huddling together out over the water like gang members preparing to fight. She and my dad put their ponchos on. I scoffed. "It's a lovely summer rain!" I said as droplets began to pepper my face.
Ten minutes later I shivered under my poncho as a river of rain water ran down my legs and into my boots. When lightening struck, we made our way out of the stadium and into the vestibule to wait it out. I went over to the Candy Shack or whatever it was called and asked the girl there whether lightening automatically meant cancellation. She practically looked through me before saying, "Well it depends on like, whether the storm moves fast or it stays here. Because it has rained but like, sometimes people leave and they'll say it's back on and then they're mad they missed it, but then if there's a lot of lightening, like A LOT, then they'll probab--" and I tuned out.
We stood in some weird entry way that smelled like a sixth grade science classroom waiting for news. "This reminds me of this concert we went to at Watkins Glenn," my mom said. "When we were young, Daddy and I and a bunch of our friends piled into a pick up truck and drove to this state park for a show where the Allman Brothers and a few others played. A huge rain storm came with droplets THIS BIG and flooded the roads home. So we all stayed in some medical tent covered in mud with only hot red wine to drink and no food. It was great.
"But then in the morning, we all get back in the truck and Daddy starts driving and this guy starts screaming, 'My leg! You're running over my fucking leg!'"
Apparently some guy was so messed up he passed out underneath the truck and didn't wake up
up until after 8 people loudly got into and ran over him with it.
"What happened to him?" I asked.
"Well, we called an ambulance and waited with him and went with him to the hospital," my dad said. "Then he sued me for $3000.00."
Not soon after, the announcer came back on and said the show would go on! So we joined the people flow back into the stadium, and rather than sitting on the very right of the stage, my dad lead us to seats up a few rows and right in the center. A wise choice, as they were not claimed and I had the aisle to dance in.
The two bands alternated every three songs. It was really cool and refreshing to have music presented to you that way. I sang along to more Weezer songs, but was really awed by the Flaming Lips live show--big space bubbles, confetti, lazers reflecting off a giant disco ball.
Wayne Coyne is so adorably weird. He just wants everyone to be happy, I think. And Rivers Cuomo ran up into the stadium and the nerds of Weezer nerded out and all was well. Oh and Weezer covered "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead, which was awesome, but then really just made me wanna go to a Radiohead show. Also, I may have cried a little bit at "Do You Realize??" (which I don't think anyone in my family noticed, thankfully). I took a tiny video of the beginning. Look how cute he is!
I was thinking about buying tickets to see Band of Horses next week, but unfortunately, they were touring with Kings of Leon, whose lead singer cancelled the tour due to his inability to not be an alcoholic.
The past two weeks since my last chemo sesh went really fast, but I also feel like I didn't do anything productive whatsoever. Like, this is what I did:
-Saw "Crazy, Stupid Love" and developed a really intense crush on Ryan Gosling.
-Threw out my GODAMN topsy turvy tomato plant who could only find it within itself to produce rotten tomatoes after I painstakingly cared for it for 3 months.
-Took Lily to the beach in West Hampton, where she tried to sneak over to other peoples' blankets for food.
Anddddd that's about it. Well, I did go to Balbany to visit Thea and get caught in a ferocious thunder storm complete with tennis ball sized-hail on the way home, so there's that. I just need to get myself in gear and try to work out a plan for I guess winter. Even though it still seems really far away. And for some reason every time I think about going on on job interviews, I picture myself going in with my tiny, bald head. That doesn't even make sense, because beginning hopefully sometime in early September, my hair should start growing back. And GIRL, am I ready for that.
I've been struggling with the ambivalence of holding onto summer as long as I can while urging August to move at breakneck speed. Maybe this winter won't suck as much as the last one did. I kind of think it's impossible for that not to be the case, seeing as the Hodge should be behind me then, instead of inside my chest, making me wonder why my cough wasn't going away and why I was so tired. This winter I just want to wonder why Chipotle is so delicious, and which bar I should go to with my girlfriends for drinks to discuss why Ryan Gosling would be the perfect boyfriend.
I really enjoy reading your blog. Yer funny.
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