I took the walk! (again)

time for the play-by-play of my second hanson concert on this tour.

the st louis concert was originally scheduled for a saturday in october. isaac went into the hospital shortly before the concert, so it was rescheduled for a month later – and on a tuesday.

since I’m not on campus on tuesdays, I figured I’d keep my ticket and still go. the closer the date got, the more insane it felt to actually go. mom kept trying to talk me out of it. last friday was my date, saturday I worked 13 hours with my client, sunday I went to hanover for some testing, then did homework all day. I was in a panic all weekend – there was no way I could get all of my homework done by the end of sunday. I hadn’t been sleeping very much all weekend, either – four hours each night. it wasn’t good. I think I was up until 3 a.m. sunday night, talking to andrew and packing for my trip. I still had about half of an assessment paper to write by wednesday evening. my only idea was that I could do some more analysis for it before the concert, then not sleep on wednesday and write the paper right before class.

monday I went to work all day on campus, along with class, and left for home straight from campus. it was a little hard to stay awake, even though it was only a two hour drive. I got home around 6, spent the evening with my mom, and was asleep by 10ish. I set my cell phone alarm for 4 a.m. so I could get up, get ready, and drive to st louis for the concert. I knew it would be hard to wake myself up, so I didn’t have any expectations for exactly how early I would get to the concert. I dragged myself out of bed after 4:30, stumbled down the hall toward the bathroom for my shower, and noticed all of the glowing clocks in the kitchen along the way – all of them saying 3:30. maaaaan…..my cell phone hadn’t changed time zones automatically – it was still on eastern time. I didn’t really want to leave THAT early. so I went back to be for an hour. (it was even harder to wake up the second time.) I took my time getting ready to leave and talking to my mom, and left around 6:30.

I arrived at the venue at about 9:15 in the morning. I instantly recognized the girl ahead of me as I walked up – she’s short with long blonde hair – we had our meet and greet together at this same venue three years ago. she got on my nerves back then. when I saw her not far behind me in line in louisville, I didn’t bother talking to her. but we began talking quickly as soon as I sat down in st louis. the girl ahead of them was kind of insane – she was incredibly friendly, which I enjoyed, since I arrived alone – but she was very intense, and verging on hysterical by the evening. a few minutes after I settled in, the next group came to sit down behind me. they happened to be the second prize winners of a recent hanson concert – they had won a meet and greet for this concert.

I enjoyed my time on the street and the people surrounding me greatly. the meet and greet girls were excited and didn’t sit still a whole lot, and the girls ahead of me took a long nap. so I got a lot of homework done, quite thankfully. it was a couple of hours before any more fans showed up to join the line, which was odd. we did the numbering system after the campers woke up – I ended up with number 22.

before I knew it, it was 1:30 and almost time for the walk to take place. there still wasn’t much of a gathering of fans, really. unlike in louisville, no one made a move to crowd the line or crowd a door. everyone remained relaxed in their roomy spaces on the sidewalk. in louisville, we were nothing but a mob the last 45 minutes before the walk started.

that neurotic girl came RACING up the sidewalk from behind the venue (where the band buses are), screaming something about “Zac…GO….Zac….ZAC SAID GO!” as she ran. we looked at each other, thinking about how nuts she is, then realized she meant the walk was about to begin. we all scrambled to our feet and around to the front door of the venue. we waited, wondering which of the four sets of doors the guys would come out of. we joked among each other that they would certainly choose a different door than the one we were gathered in front of. I said they’d probably come out of the bar doors, and the girls laughed. sure enough, they did.

I treated the walk as before: enjoy it, but don’t get preocuppied with talking to/getting a picture with one of the guys. do make sure that I’m near the front, so that I can get my spot back in line. definitely ensure that I avoid all annoying hanson fans.

so that’s what I did. I never saw zac, but I saw and passed by isaac. I kept going, dodging fans and picking out alternative routes to get ahead of them. soon I was up near taylor. but I had no interest in fighting the mob to get to him. I did spend a few minutes in enjoyment, watching the fans and some of my new friends. I was happy to see one of my new friends get right next to taylor while her friend snapped a picture. I laughed as I listened the neurotic girl talk loudly about how tall taylor is. I continued to plot my route to get around the mob and get in front of taylor. eventually, I did.

I was thinking about the purpose of the walk – walking barefoot on the concrete for all of the children in africa who don’t have the choice – they have no shoes to protect their feet. so I was watching the ground and my feet, thinking about this, when I suddenly realized that taylor was BESIDE me!! if I only knew what to say, I could speak to him. I didn’t know what to say. I could feel my heart beating, though.

a couple minutes later (likely less), a girl literally shoved me out of the way. I stumbled behind taylor, momentarily worried that I would fall on him and push him. then I was just ticked. stupid crazy hanson fans. seriously! pushing me so she could get next to taylor? I wasn’t even trying to do anything, taylor was the one who walked up to me!

since I kept trying to get ahead of the group, it happened several times this way – I got ahead of the group, slowed to a reasonable pace, and before long taylor was next to me. when tay stopped for the midway speech, I was RIGHT THERE. near the end of the walk, I got to walk next to taylor again. I listened to this ridiculous girl tell him incredibly embarrasing stories. hanson fans are so ridiculous! and annoying.

for the end of the walk speech, I was RIGHT THERE again – right there with all three guys. I hope I find pictures later.

I think I’ll pause here for tonight. I desperately want to write everything down, but it’s already late. hopefully I’ll finish this tomorrow night.