1 Convention-2 Concerts-4 Days

So this past extended weekend (including Friday through Monday) was pretty amazing. We attended our District Convention, which would have made the weekend awesome itself. I won't give anything away for the los....I mean the friends whose conventions are not scheduled for another month, but don't miss anything! My personal highlights include the symposium on Saturday, along with Saturday's talk for youths, and of course-the drama. And it's always fun to see all of your friends in one place, and meet new ones. Saturday post convention was a barrel of laughs. After briefly assisting with our cleaning assignment, Ernie and I met up with Audra, Emma, Bree, Levi, and Nick for Mexican. 5 miles took like 20 minutes with the traffic, good grief! Ernie and I rode with the Leedy sisters and as we're waiting to turn into the restaurant, a guy in a wheelchair rolls up behind us. Audra immediately (and conspicuously) locks the doors and simultaneously makes eye contact with said handicapped man. This seemed to annoy him, as he started acting like he was reeling our car to him with a fishing pole. Luckily, a break in traffic came before he could gut us. Six of us voluntarily crammed into a booth made for 4, with Bree adding a chair at the end. And then it started. My first recollection of side splitting laughter came when Nick and Levi started calling Emma emo. Though the actual name Emma is not a far cry from emo, she herself is quite anti-emo and does not appreciate being misinterpreted. I distinctly remember Levi asking, "So are you emo or do you just wear black all the time?" It was all downhill from there, but we all got entertainment at her expense (sorry Nessy). Those of you who were at that table-I'm pretty sure that conversation is going to resurface anytime Levi, Nick, and Emma are in the same room. The winner of best conversation topic of the night is a close tie between Emo Emma, AMSA, and the Christopher Walken disaster("Ohhh the dad with the barnacles all over his face?!"). The 6 of you who are able are welcome to vote. Oh, and Nick dropping extremely hot chicken all over himself and Levi was definately a shining moment.

Sunday post convention was another winner: Chelsea, Emma, and I dashed to the parking lot and headed over to House of Blues for the Dashboard Confessional concert, with opening acts John Ralston and Say Anything. Actually, talk of the concert was what began the emo jokes the night before... causing Emma to dress as emo as she possibly could for this event-I will try to get her to recreate the outfit later so I can get a pic. Anyways, the openers were decent, but Dashboard was awesome! Chris Carrabba is great. Becca and I always seem to be standing next to the most interesting people in these concerts. This time, it was the 2 drunk girls who kept going back to the bar for more. The one girl asked everyone she passed if they needed anything from the bar on her way up. And I'm pretty sure she called someone who was not even at the concert and told them to buy and bring her a gray hoodie. At some point, I spied what I thought was a mosh pit not far ahead of me; I told Becca we should rush it to get closer to the front. It ended up being a puke pit, for which I am very thankful I stayed where I was.

To end my weekend with a bang, last night was the Yellowcard concert with openers Hedley, Rock Kills Kid, and Matchbook Romance.....that's right, 2 concerts in 2 nights. Up until a week or two ago, I had given up hope of attending this concert. I didn't want to push it with the parental units. Then, my new best friend, Levi, told me that the Orlandians were getting a group together to go-sweet! Long story short, my puppy face actually worked and we had a blast. My "peeps" met Levi's at Wolfgang Puck's for some dinner before the event....I only regret not having a camera for Levi's face as he consumed a wasabi dipped sushi roll with extra wasabi on the top. We hung out in Virgin until the line died down, then headed inside HOB to get ready. My group and I lost track of the rest after a bathroom break and conducted a thorough search of the facility before Garrett spotted Levi's head above the crowd. We had just enough time to join them before Candaian rockers, Hedley, took-or should I say destroyed-the stage......and our eyes. I didn't mind the music so much as I minded the musicians. Since there were 3 openers, YC didn't start til 10:30 or so, which put us out of the concert after midnight, home around 1:30, and in bed after 2-I was a regular ball of energy in service today. It was all worth it though. I plan on being in attendance at the next Yellowcard concert. I just was annoyed with the fact that I've managed to stay on my feet through all other standing room only concerts, when I'm in the middle of the floor. Yet, standing on the steps to the side of the stage, I got knocked over twice.....isn't it ironic?

Needless to say, it's time for a nap....