Wow, this weekend was a blast. I just finished reading Amber's Blog and I can't help but write my own. She focused on the best parts but I'm going to give a much more detailed description of the weekend.

So it was Thursday night and I could not sleep. I spent a large amount of time just packing my small suitcase because I was a little paranoid. I took four sets of clothes for three days and changed clothes once. So the next day I woke up at 10 and did some stuff for about a half hour and then called Ian. He picked up the phone and I told him I'd be over at 11.

It's weird, but I didn't actually tell my parents I was going. I don't know why I didn't tell them all week when I had my ticket (I didn't even tell my dad when he noticed I had taken the money for it out of my debit card). The day I left my parents weren't home so I just left a note on the table that read "I've gone to Warped Tour with Ian, Amber and Tracy. Be back Monday or Sunday. Happy Father's day! Love, Rob."

When Ian and I left Ian's house we went to Sky Bank and he deposited a check from work. Ian, like Ian, was wearing only one sandal (he brought his work shoes, but no socks) and his guitar. He also brought his Moroccan outfit and his Kilt. That was it; he was the most unprepared person ever! But he's Ian and that's understandable. So after depositing his check we went back to his house because Ian FORGOT HIS TICKET! HA! I found it truly fitting for Ian.

On the way down we listened mostly to Spanish, Celtic Puck cd that Ian bought in Spain. It was such a good CD! It blew my mind. I think the first track on the Cd is just the sound of an accordion while people are being slaughtered in the background. It was awesome! The lead singer has such an awesome range, he'd sing notes that were opera worthy and sound like he wasn't even in falsetto. I was amazed.

We drove for a long time, following Amber's excellent directions. If you know Ian and I you'd know were not good with directions. One time, when we were recording our album, Ian gave me directions to find the place. The place was about 50 minutes away but with the directions and me getting very lost the trip took three hours. Ian actually told to go North on some road and when I stopped to at the road the sign only said east and West. Back to the Warped Tour. We drove for a long time and didn't get lost once, it was really good going.

So we got there like 2:30 to 3:00 and found Amber's dorm alright. The only problem was that we couldn't get in. We nearly broke in through a window, something which seemed easier than you might think, until someone saw us and let us in. That night we did a little drinking, Ian of course didn't do any drinking and believe me I tried everything to get him to. Unfortunately I think I'm the only one that got plastered that night, and Amber introduced me to a great game. What you do is get a bottle of rum (we had Captain Morgan's) and you pass it around the group. When it's your turn you take a swig and then say ARRH! And pass to the next person. I won, but of course I got the most drunk. I can't really remember all we did that night but it was most definitely fun.

The next morning we all got up to go to Warped Tour. Ian and I had decided Friday that we would dress up to be funny. Ian wore his Kilt with my black leather vest while I sported Ian's Moroccan out fit complete with Fez. I got many, many looks that day and three people got pictures of me. At one point, early in the day, out of nowhere some girl just ran up to me. She asked my name and said I looked just like her friend Ralph. She took a picture with me and then went on her way.

I think the first band we saw was Tsunami Bomb, who was really good. Ian, who was worried about his eardrums never got more than 300 meters close to the bands, stayed away while Tracy, Amber and I went closer. Amber was much closer to the stage and got into a mosh pit. Apparently she took a spill in the pit and everyone just stopped to get her out. I think it's a great example of how cool people can be. Amber went to the main gate to get some first aid and Ian and I made our way there. The first aid looked at her leg which was bleeding and badly scrapped and he just cleaned it with some soup and told her to let it get some air.

We went on to watch some more bands play and when we were watching Hawthorne Heights I saw all the people crowd surfing and when Amber asked me if I wanted to I could refuse. I thought it was fitting, the way I was dressed should have looked funny. I took off my fez and people helped me up. I was then thrown into the crowd. One of the times I was flung into the crowd I think I actually kicked two people in the back to the head but I didn't see who they were, all I knew was that I was surfing and then suddenly I was falling. I was able to catch myself on my hands and knees but I lost my fez, glasses and the bottle of water in my pocket. I was luckily enough to find my fez and some nice person saved my glasses from the dangerous feet of other fans and gave them back to me. I checked over myself and my knees felt a little scrapped but I didn't think they were serious, that is, until my left knee felt wet against my outfit. I looked and low and behold I was bleeding. I told Amber and Tracy that I was going to first aid and when I found Ian he and I went to the front gate. By this time in the day I think everyone was getting dehydrated and hungry. I asked someone where first aid was and they pointed me towards a guy in yellow. On my way, however, some woman stopped me and made a big deal out of my tiny cut. She called the first aid people (even thought there was one sitting down nearby!) and told me to sit down next to him. While the first aid guy the guy sitting next to me asked me what happened and I told him I took a spill crowd surfing.

Ian told me he wasn't feeling well so he went and lay under a tree. The first aid guy and asked me what happened and then actually asked me if I could walk. Avoid a red neck comedian's "Here's your sign" joke I told him "I walked here." And we walked to the First Aid station. So, already I was getting better treatment then Amber. I didn't really know if it was because of my outfit or not but the guy seemed really worried about my leg. He cleaned the wound and swabbed it with alcohol (OWW!) and then put a band aid on it. The weirdest part is he asked me if I wanted to go the hospital, for a scrap! I told him no and he made me sign something to make them NOT take to the hospital. I left the first aid place and was on my way back to where I left Ian when Tracy chased me down and said they were sitting down in the Amphitheatre. I told her that I was going to find Ian and try to meet them there.

So, I got back to the main gate and Ian was no where to be found. I walked all the way around the amphitheatre looking for him but was unable to find him. I met up with Amber and Tracy and we spent most of the day together... Without Ian. We couldn't find him anywhere, and after about and hour or two I really began to get worried about him. I was worried because he was by himself and had no water, money or any kind of identification. That and the fact he said he wasn't feeling well. When about four and a half hours had passed with no sign of Ian I began to feel the worst had happened to him. I feared that he had been 1) thrown out of the park and was just waiting in the parking lot or 2) had gone to the first aid stand with dehydration and was taken to the hospital.

We saw a lot of awesome bands. To many to describe each one but the highlights were Dropkick Murphy and My Chemical Romance. I really liked both bands Dropkick just rocked out. What was not fun was that they played an awesome set and then just finished a song and was gone. They didn't even announce they were leaving. I would dwell on this more but My Chemical Romance came on directly off of that with "I'm not Okay" with was awesome! Then the lead singer cussed at the audience which almost ruined the experience. I had listened to the two songs I had of them for hours and he cussed at everyone. It's just like "You're the most emotional band I have ever heard and you have to demean yourself by using the word FUCK in EVERY sentence?" He did have some sweet advice for everyone which everyone really like and is the only reason my opinion of them hasn't been tarnished.

After a long time my legs just started to kill me. While Amber was busy watching a band named Emery and Tracy went to get stuff autographed by Dropkick, I sat down on a hill. I sat for about fifteen minutes and then Emery finished and Amber came by. She then went to see MxPx while I stayed waiting for Tracy to come back. While I was waiting I actually found Ian! I was so releived! I raced down to meet him and we both went and found tracy who was still in line. After MxPx finished we found Amber and didn't stay too much longer. By the end of the day we were tired, thristy, hungry and SUNBURNT! I made out the best becuase of the morocan outfit, only my face got burned. Everyone else got super burned but we all agreed that the experience was well worth it.

The next Jenna (Amber's roomate) came back and when she and her parents walked in Tracy was lucky enough to realise that the captain Morgan's rum was still out and hid it under a blanket. Eventually we played Taboo which I sucked at and then we tried to barbecue some food. We tried the propane grill but we could get it to work at all. Instead we bought charcoal and used what we thought was a public charcoal grill. Unfortuately it wasn't either and this really bitchy person came out and yelled at us. She told us to finish and clean up becuase it apparently happened once before. All we could think was why she didn't put up ANY kind of sign or anything. All I could think was I hoped she came back later and demanded that we cleaned it up so I could say "Guess what, coals... are hot. It's kinda hard to clean up."

When we finally got to cleaning the grill Ian found a plastic trash bin and filled it with water. He put all the coals in the water to cool off but there was a layer of ash. We discussed this until the bitchy lady yelled out the window at us that we should just leave it alone and that they would fix it. She then proceeded to watch us as we left.

That night was the greatest night ever! We all got drunk (except Ian) on rum and pinacolatas and had a three hour conversation that spanned from our views on abortion to the entire universe. It was way better than I could ever imagine and was way longer than I can even remember. Some of the high points was the debate between me and Amber becuase I am Pro-choice and she's Pro-life. I was really glad that it didn't get as heated as it but the conversation eventually lead to my hatred of christianity. It was then amber who set me straight that she was christian and I needed to be more specific. She was right, I don't hate christians, I hate those christians that try to force their beliefs on other people. I think the conversation then lead to me telling everyone about this person I met online. You'll have to ask me about it becuase this getting too long to go over the whole story.

Eventually we all passed out around 3:30 A.M. Ian and I woke up around 10 and we headed out around 11. All in all the weekend was excellent and I only wish I could remember every detail.