my entire body ACHES. but what a trip it was...

we talked to lars monday night and set up how we'd be getting in touch when we got to providence. he was going to call us while we were on the road and direct us to somewhere where we could meet. he was going to get his ticket for john and his friend pete was thinking about coming as well. so everything is all set and i'm very excited to make the trip, see the show and have fun.

we didn't hear from him until around 6:30 because he got out of work late. normally, not much of a problem. however, since we'd arrived in providence around 5:15, michelle and i had spent an hour and twenty minutes driving all around the city. no rhyme or reason to where we went, just a random selection of streets. we stopped at "the best local market"--eastSIIIIIIDE marketplace--and finally wound up at a wendy's. we met up with lars around 7:30ish at the providence place mall and headed to pete's house before the show.

lars hadn't bought his ticket. pete was still undecided about the show. and when i called lupo's to see if there were still tickets available, it was sold out. but lars said he knew someone down there who might be able to let him in, so we all piled in the car and drove down.

of all the luck, pete knew someone who could let him in, but lars couldn't. so, after a bit of "well, err...what should we do?" deliberations, they said they were going to hang out in town and would meet us around 12:30.

john was disappointing. severely disappointing. i don't like him with the band and i don't like feeling like he's becoming a rock star. michelle and i stood there for maybe two songs and decided that we'd try to catch the guys. the show wasn't good and we felt bad about leaving them, so we figured we could all just hang out. so we left lupo's (where it's clearly marked no re-entry) and ran to where the car had been parked--and now was no longer there.

so we don't know where the guys are, we can't get back into the show, and we are two college women in downtown providence alone at night. this was a concern. we walked down towards PPAC and found a bar called mama's and were trying to look inside to see if they were there and the bouncers were trying to convince us to come inside and told us that there was no way we'd be able to find the guys because there are a million bars right around that area (funny, we didn't see a million other bars...). we got away quickly and wound up going to the met cafe. paid our $5 cover, walked in and watched a set with a really unknown band. we were the only people there who weren't friends with the band members. but it's warm and dry in there (because, naturally, it was raining a bit outside) and we had something to do to kill time until meeting up with lars and pete.

but the guitarist of the band freaks out after two songs and walks offstage, yelling that it's pointless, why should they bother, rockstar angst angst angst rage rage rage. so they end the set and we have to leave.

now we're down $5 each, we still have an hour to kill and we don't know where to go. so we walk back to lupo's and explain to the bouncer that we're aware of the no re-entry policy, but we've come down from vermont, our ride isn't due back until the end of the set, we just witnessed the breakup of a band and we haven't gotten a break ALL NIGHT. would he please just let us back in?

after grumbling about how he should punish us for listening to bad music, he let us back in and we chilled at the bar for the rest of the set with mcclane, a guy who works for abercrombie and is on the lookout for new music. michelle started to talk to him by asking for a cigarette and we wound up talking to him for the rest of the show. awesome guy--funny, hot and a sweetheart to two girls he's just met. we wound up giving him our email addresses and told him to drop us a line and we'll fill him in on more bands he'd like. amusement...

the show gets out at midnight, and we wait outside for a bit until it begins to rain. then we're huddled at the door to lupo's and we see lars and pete and proceed to tell them all about our adventure. lars' face was priceless--"you LEFT john mayer!??!?! what happened!?"

wound up going to a bar, drinking and talking about sports for awhile before heading back to pete's. good times.

the rest of the night was spent in drunken revelry, with some grand theft auto 3 thrown into the mix. we were all ridiculous--i wound up taking a shot of this fantastic german peppermint schnapps--and normally i have major problems with shots. but it went down beautifully and was really good (note to self: find this stuff). pete has the most adorable dog ever and it was fun to just relax and talk and have fun with everyone.

yes, it was very good to see lars. :)

we woke up around 9 this morning, after saying goodbyes, michelle and i drove back to quincy and then i drove back to vermont. i'm relaxing for a bit before i have to drive back to burlington. i'm exhausted and they SURE AS HELL BETTER APPRECIATE THIS!!!!!!! i think i'm crashing at school tonight and driving home tomorrow morning.

so all-in-all opinion of the rhode island road trip? despite all of the turmoil, i had a wonderful time. i don't know how michelle and i managed to keep our sanity and sense of humor, but we did. we wound up just laughing through it all, which was a relief. if she hadn't been there, i would have lost it numerous times! what a team, i tell you...fine holiday fun.

i like oatmeal.