Ahh, Jersey

I made it to Jersey. I was beginning to doubt I would get here on one piece, but I made it. Let me explain why:

To begin with, I don't mind doing some things on the spur of the moment, but big things (say, travelling out of state for four days) I like to have some kind of a plan and an itinerary. It doesn't have to be planned to the minute, but I like knowing, for instance, when I'm leaving, where I'm staying, what time I'm coming home, how much it'll all cost, etc. I don't think that's too OCD. So, Harry and I'd been kicking around this idea for a few months and he wanted to do all the planning for it. Having extremely little extra time on my hands, I agreed to let him do it.

Where things became a problem is, even though I repeatedly asked for information on where we were staying, flight times, etc., I got no information or even a response. Come Wednesday of this week (we were supposed to leave Friday), I flipped out and told him that unless he gave me some concrete information, I was NOT getting on a plane on Friday. Luckily, that got me the information. However, I was dismayed to find that he decided to book us on a flight out of Flint (much closer to him than me) at 8am. This meant I had to get up at 5am in order to make the one hour drive as well as be there early enough to get through security. Now, I tend to get up around 5am on weekdays anyways, so this wasn't too awful. What was disturbing was that he'd initially told me we'd be leaving from Detroit in the afternoon (all the while patting himself on the back for "letting us be able to sleep in"). I suppose he wasn't being dishonest about the Detroit in the afternoon bit because, from Flint we flew to Detroit where we sat, waiting for our plane to LaGuardia until 2:3o pm. A total of five and a half hours.

The flight to NYC was less than comfortable as well because I got sandwiched between two big guys who had no concept of personal space. I was smooshed. One of the guys had BO. They kept pushing over onto my seat. I tried to sleep, and managed for a bit, but woke up enraged that I got stuck in the middle of them. The descent for landing was bumpy and at this point (4 pm) I hadn't eaten since 9am and the combo of the bumpy flight and no food in my stomach was making me nauseous. Of course we're at the back of the plane (a 747 I believe) and it takes a million years to get off. Initially I'd been told (this will become a theme I think) that we were getting a ride from the airport to Jersey from Harry's friend Andy. However, now that we're in NYC I'm told that we're taking the bus to Penn Station and then the train out to Jersey. I've done that kind of thing plenty of times before and I've travelled enough on my own to new places that this kind of thing doesn't phase me a whole lot. What irritated me was how it seemed I was initially told one thing and then not told that things changed until the last minute. THAT upsets me.

Of course we'd just missed the bus to Penn Station and were told another was coming at 4:30. Well...it was late. Now we're trying to get to Midtown Manhattan at 4:45 on a Friday. You can imagine what that was like...However, I will say this. It was pretty cool getting to see a little bit of NYC. I think the weirdest/coolest part was getting to see signs and stuff for all these places my parents talk about since they used to live there. I really wish I could have gone and explored the city. The skyline was unreal. I know DC is a pretty big city, but it is NOTHING compared to New York. There's no skyline in DC, it doesn't even have the same feel to it.

Ok, anyways. We're on the bus that I was told would go straight to Penn Station. Wrong. It drops you off at Grand Central where you have to take another bus to Penn. The other bus? It took at least half an hour of waiting before it got there. Now I'm beginning to really feel sick because it is 6pm and I haven't eaten. I feel shakey and want real food, but having no idea when bus #2 will get there, I wasn't about to run down the block to get food. Bus ride #2 was insane. I am amazed we didn't kill anyone or hit any cars. Again, the best part of that was getting to see some bits of New York.

Finally at Penn Station, Harry is at a loss for how to figure out a)what train we take and b)how to get a ticket. I am tired. I am hungry. I am so annoyed that I kept being told one thing and finding out it was gonna happen differently. Again, having ridden the train in DC as well as taken the train in England (both the tube and their national rail system) I took over. I got our tickets (not rocket science) I found our platform and train. It took about an hour to get to New Brunswick. Andy picked us up from the train station and asked if we wanted to eat. I was like, OMG, yes, I HAVE to eat right now!! Alas, my hopes were thwarted because he had to pick someone else up. He dropped us off at his house and then went to get this other guy. By this point it is 9pm. I am exhausted, annoyed and feel like I will be sick if I don't get some real food extremely fast. I admit, I was also feeling extremely sorry for myself (again, I blame the lack of food and fatigue).

FINALLY, we go eat. I felt so, so, so much better after I had food in my stomach it was unreal. We got back to Andy's and I went straight to bed and slept like a rock. I woke up retardedly early this morning (6 am!) but refused to get out of bed till at least 7:30, which was, in my mind, still too early but I always feel weird about sleeping in at other people's houses. Now I'm basically killing time until we go over to the Meadowlands for Bamboozle.

It's going to be 70-degrees and sunny here. The day looks gorgeous. I'm going to get to see lots of music, especially MCR. I have no idea if I'll be able to get in with my camera (I hope so) but at this point all I want is to get to wander around and check out all these bands. Today I'm going to try and see:

Silverstein
Bayside
Say Anything
New Found Glory
Muse
Permanent Me
Men, Women & Children
The Audition
Meg & Dia
The Hush Sound
My Chemical Romance!!
(the "just for starters" list)

Sunday I'm going to try and see:
Mae
Young Love
Killswitch Engage
Jack's Mannequin
Daphne Loves Derby
Lordi
The Oohlas
Catch 22
Drive By
Monty Are I

I have to see how this will all work out, but my priority, above pretty much all else is to see My Chem and The Oohlas. Anything else will be icing:)

I just want to get going at this point, I'm tired of sitting around and waiting but it's only 8am, so I guess I need to keep killing time.

More stories as they come up...