Woot

I just got back from 'The Reign of Kindo' CD release party. Yep that's right - I'm in with the band. lol. Not so much that I was on the guest list, but enough that I had personal invite from the bass player. Really I'm just an unimportant grunt....but you know me, always trying to make myself feel better. It was a great show. The guys sounded suuuuuper.....due in part to the Grand Supreme Master of Sound....but the've got skills. It really was great, I'm looking forward to the release of the full length album that's expected in March.

Long story short.....CHECK OUT THE REIGN OF KINDO!!!

Mini rant

One of the saddest things I've come to learn is when someone you know and care about is not the person you thought they were. It kindda breaks your heart. It leaves you wondering if you ever really knew them. But the worst part of it all.....is when all the memories you had with that person seem tainted. Did they have some twisted goal in mind, or were the moments genuine? I don't know how to react to this. It's all very strange. And then there's the time that someone doesn't live up to their own expectations. Hours of conversations about something where a decision was made, and then they back out on the decision they made. And it was a good solid decision. Why? Why would you do that? Just for comforts sake, when you know full well it's not the right thing for you?

Gah.

If you can't tell I'm a bit exasperated.

BTW

In case you're wondering the title of the last post has to do with The Ten Commandments the Musical....

The voice of God shall be played by Satan

Have you ever had one of those moments when you just need to get away as fast as humanly possible? Where if you stay where you are you think that you just might implode and that implosion would be the singularity that creates a black hole? Well if you have, then you know exactly how I was feeling Friday afternoon. I'm not going to go into detail as to what threw me into the tizzy that I was in, mainly because I'd like to maintain a small bit of my dignity. But a tizzy I was in nonetheless. So much so that I call my other half, better known as Mini, practically in tears. She proceeds to tell me that she needs some Manders time (that's me) and that she thinks that I should come to Oneonta for the weekend. I said I can't cause the guys have a show tomorrow - which was Saturday. But I called Matt, the fabulous boss that he is, and asked how badly they needed me cause I was in serious need of a mental health weekend. He said that it would be cool if I was there, but they'd survive without me.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Off I went to Oneonta in a hasty manner. I was tired of getting by without my favorites. I needed Mini and Devon and Greg and Kyle and Antonia (even though she wasn't there) and everyone else that I randomly ran into back in Oneonta. As crazy as they are, they are my sanity. They know how to calm me down when I'm in my most frantic states. I wish I could adequately describe to you how much they mean to me. Anyhoo....I made it there in about 4 hours and change....which felt like it took forever. But ther farther away I got from Buffalo, the better I felt. When I made it to Mini's apt, we went and bought ourselves some Baileys and watched Nick GaS in nighties. Yup it was a high class evening. But it was kindda perfect though. So the next day we also watched a large amount of GaS while talking about a bunch of random topics sprinkled with the reasons that we so desprately needed eachother. We then went over to Lawn to see who was over there that I could suprise with my presence. I got a great reaction out of Greg "the Phace"....it made my day. After a lil while of chit chat Mini, Sarah, Troy and I got in the car and drove to Pie in the Sky for the best ice cream in the whole wide world. Oddly enough when we got in the car This Day and Age was in Troy's CD player - the only reason I mention this is because I happen to know some of the members of the band. It made me giggle and it was a lil odd...but such is my life.

Oh - a small PSA for all those who are interested....Black Raspberry Ice Cream and Bananna Ice Cream....the best combo EVER!

Mini and I decided that it was time to rent some movies....what did we find you ask? Well....Epic Movie - which in the words of Jared, was serviceable....The Number 23 - which was good....and the movie to end all movies....The Ten Commandments: THE MUSICAL! Yes you read that right. It's a musical kids, starring Val Kilmer as Moses! It was so wonderfully bad with the crappy song writing and dancing...I kindda wanna buy it. But there were 3 songs that redeemed the entire thing...the best of which is still in my head. So if you ever have a few spare dollars and a couple of hours to kill, go to your local video store find this sucker and watch it. Then let me know what you think the 3 best songs are.

On Sunday Mini's mom came up and we went to dinner and decided to bring Meramo along for the ride. It's always amusing to watch him squirm around the two of us. He always tells us that he can't handle to two of us together. One on one with either of us is great, but when we're together it is too much something for him cope with. lol. He'll learn with time though - he is doing better than he was when they first started dating. After we finished our fabulous meal, we dropped Meramo off at his place and Mini and I changed and went over to Lawn for their lil shindig. It was then that I received the best "hello" I have ever received in my entire life. It took a second for him to realize it was me, but once he did he attacked; picked me up carried me in the living room threw me on the floor practically raped me in the most platonic of ways, and refused to let go for a good minute or so. It kindda made my life. I have to admit, Sunday night was one of the best nights ever. I didn't realize how much I missed Devon until I saw him. And the feeling was mutual. When I went to leave we had like a 20 minute goodbye. I was crying, he was teary....he told me not to leave him....it was all quite emotional. But that happens when you give a guy the best massage EVER. You get kindda close. But there is a love between us that I can't really explain...and I think I like it that way.

Anyhoo....I drove home the next day to see mom for a bit before I drove back to Buffalo today. All in all it was a pretty amazing weekend. The only thing that would have made it better was if Toast was there. I miss her lots.

Well....I've been typing this thing for about 98 years now and I suppose I should post it. So to all of you who read this and have been reading....DANKA!

Boxes everywhere I look....

So here I sit....pooped. And I still have a butt load of junk to do.

See the beauty of blogging is how wonderfully it fills the time when you don't want to do something. Cause really if I just pulled myself up by my bootstraps and went to work - I'd be done in an hour or so. But like I said - I just don't feel like doing it right now.

At this very moment I am sitting on my super-deeee-duper futon that my newfound little/big brother not only put together, but man handled it up the three flights of stairs to my apartment. He's suuuuper. So if he reads this - YOU ARE SUPER! Let's find you a lady!

But I'm sure all .5 of you who actually read this are curious about Kingdom Bound. Am I right? Of course I am. Well..........it was amazing. So very much work, but so very worth it. Looking back I know there there were moments that I said that this is blog worthy, but I can't for the life of me remember what one of those moments were. So I shall do my best to share all of the entertaining moments. Where to begin...let's start with my giant bag o' random junk....well just about everything in it came in handy. What was in it you ask?

4 types of tape (red duck tape, black duck tape, shipping tape, masking tape)
nail clippers
rubber bands
sun block
asprin
ibueprophine (how the heck do you spell that)
Benedryl
antacids
band-aids
All important band info (parking passes, credentials, tickets...ect)
band schedules
random stuff that people didn't want to carry (i.e. Karl's jacket that I still have in my possession, and will forget to give it back to him if he doesn't remind me or come get it.)
umbrella
merch money
camera
pens
a whole baby wipes box full of Sharpies
notebook to write out set lists
glossy photos
random notebook of information
keys
sunglasses

I know there was more than that but I can't really remember....but 99% of the stuff in there was used...so I felt pretty good about that bag as massive as it was. I love that I got it for 5 bucks at Wal-Mart!
Anyhoo....entertaing moments of

Day 1......Funny moment - we had set up on the stage and went back for food I had just gotten my burger and we get a call that the rain is comin and we should go pack up some of our stuff to save it from the rain...so we the crew jump in cars drive over to the stage, and pack up all the super important stuff in a very speedy manner just to watch the storm blow over. So we hung out on the stage for a while. There was cuddling, and banter, the usual among the boys. But I'd have to say one of the highlites of day one would be Late Nite. It was pretty much a laid back worship acoustic jam session type thing. I loved hearing acoustic versions of the Relevant songs....and it was nice seeing Karl out from behind the sound board and on stage playing for once. The best part was the silly banter inbetween songs. I swear to you there were moments when I thought I might pee my pants. I'm sure the exhaustion played a large in the silliness, but that was some funny crap. Like the moment that a guy walked into the tent with no shirt on and Anthony said "Hey! No shirt, that's ok too. Come on in!" It was a good time. Funny mildly inapproprite stories were told - it was a grand ole time that was repeated the following night. What else happened that day - I was attacked by Karl and spun around on his shoulder. Oh and I slept like poo that night. But I had a fabulous roommate! I heart Michelle!!!!!

Day 2......
Woke up early to call the boys to make sure they were awake for a TV interveiw. Turns out the woman doing the interview was an idiot and didn't do her research, but whatever. That's her problem not mine. Walked into the guys trailer for food to find that it already smelled like boy in the worst way. After that went back to the Merch table, aka the table to which I was married, and hung out there for a while...sold som CDs, sold some shirts..hung out with Karl's Mom (who has declared herself my Buffalo Mom)...then I went back to the trailer cause I got bored...Hung out in the trailer for a bit after making lunch for Karl and I, then some more of the posse that we had there showed up and chaos ensued. There was a fly killing war between Karl and I - it was a tie in the end if you were wondering. There was a wrestling match on a bed between Karl, Anth, Jer and Pete...got that on tape. And then we were off to the show for that evening. I feel the need to point out the best/silliest/most random thing about the Mid-Way stage. Front of House...it was a whopping 12 feet away from the front of the stage. Now for those of you who don't know any better....that is ridiculously close to the stage. I laughed. Karl rolled his eyes. It was good. After the show I went back to the merch table. Everyone left about an hour after the show to go make dinner. I asked Karl to bring me some back at Merch cause I couldn't leave the table. I was busy selling stuff...making millions...yadda yadda yadda. He made a 70% promise to bring me some chicken. An hour and a half later I text him "FOOOOOOD" and he suddenly realizes that that 30% chance that he was not going to bring me food became a 100% failure in bringing the intern food. He felt bad for a second. I didn't really care that much cause I wasn't especially hungry at the time, so I went and met Claire and Karl back in the sound booth of the Casting Crowns Concert. It was a good time. We then left to go to the Late Nite tent and have another highly entertaining evening with the Brothers Acoustic, Jer and Karl. It was this night that I gave Karl a brief piggy-back ride due to his fear that we was going to break me. He wouldn't have - I was fine.

Day 3....
I got to sleep in a bit. I was up a 9. Went back over to the guys trailer with Michelle for breakfast...the trailer didn't smell AS bad this day, but it still smelled like boy. So we ate and then I went back to the merch table. Karl's son Ethan came this day. We played in the dirt. I liked it. He's a good kid, and super adorable. The Jake, Karl, Suzanne and I went to go watch Fireflight....then it downpoured. In a crazy sort of way. So we ran back to the merch table and that was some refuge. I stayed there for a spell until I decided that I was going to shut it down because we weren't really selling anything because we weren't playing that day. So back to trailer I went. I don't really remember what else happened that day.....OH! I finished heating up the chilli that Karl had started, and I handed that out. Then I went somewhere, and eventually ended up at the Chris Tomlin concert. He dresses weird. Saw Chris Tomlin play, called Jess during the show cause she loves him. Hung around a bit for Toby Mac. Hated myself for that, but I've never seen Claire so excited. It was cute, but I wasn't sure we could be friends anymore after seeing that. Karl, Kevin and I left early. And that would be when I got my piggyback ride from Karl.

Day 4.....
I got up early to go make the boys breakfast and coffee. We had an early radio interview. Come to find out, there was a live audience and we had no merch with us. GASP! So I ran across the park to go get the merch bag and walked back in a brisk manner. lol. It was a good interview, but I was tired by the time I got back and it was only 8:30am. We got a ride back over to the Park Stage - that was nice. I wanted to take a nap, but no such luck. I had intern stuff to do. Like take pictres, run merch, take video, be fabulous....stuff like that.
After the last show I went back to merch, and then back to the trailer to clean up after the boys and finish packing up everything in there. Once that was done I hopped in the car with Anth, and we drove back to Evangel, where I picked up my car to drive back to my room to go drive back home. SO yeah - that was a loooong day. But a good one. A very good one.

So pretty much I went home to pack up the rest of my junk to go move into my apartment. And like I said at the begining of this post...I'm pooped.

I have to go unpack.

BYE!

T minus 15 hours til departure....

So here I sit - more accurately, lay - on the eve of Kingdom Bound. I have done nearly all I can do, save on final shopping trip tonight before I meet the boys at the church to load the trailer and roll the freshly printed t-shrits. Can I just say I am pooped. I spent my day packing. Not only for the next few days, but packing up the rest of my room here at MaryEllen's because I will be moving into my apartment in about a week. I'll be spending maybe 18 hours of that next week in my room so I thought it was best to be packed before I left for KB.

That's about it for now. I'm too tired to think of something else intereting to say - or at least that I am willing to spill to the entire world. lol. Let's just say that there are some interesting thoughts running through my head every now and then and leave it at that.

Keep us in prayer as we go - especially since thunderstorms are in the forecast all four days.






Hey! Is there even anyone reading this thing?

Boys with no budget....

Oye.....I don't know how a day can seem so long when I didn't even go into the office until noon. It could have something to do with taking boys, who have bottomless pits for a stomachs, food shopping for a four day music festival. And dealing with all the torture that accompanies hanging out with the guys who have assumed brotherly roles in my life. Use you imagination I'm sure you'll come of with at least one form of such torture - especially those of you who have brothers. I think the worst part was how they would just throw things in the cart and not even care how much it cost. We have limited funds! Granted as Matt so kindly pointed out to me we could easily have another check written if we went over and come back tomorrow.....well another check was written, and a few more things do need to be bought - such as Karl's special order of wavy chips and bison french onion dip. So if you were wondering...yes my duties as band intern, girlfriend and mother continue.

Aside from the poor bargain shopping skills of the boys today was actually quite productive. We got 90% of the food we needed, I just realized that I forgot to get the freaking 9 volt batteries, and we are about 80% ready to go. So my stress level has dropped, but I still have so much to do personally. Saturday I will pack for KB, do laundry and pack for the move in to my apartment. Saturday night I will be sorting and rolling t-shirts for the band so I'm all set to go by the time we leave. We leave for KB on Sunday morning where I will give the speech to end all intern speeches. We are then off to spend 4 days doing out thing and come back on Wednesday. I drive home on Thursday to pack up the rest of the stuff that I want for my apartment and run any last minute errands that I need to back home. I will drive back to my new home Saturday or Sunday or possibly Monday depending on what happens with my apartment and when I can pick up my keys. I will then move all the junk I brought from home - including my bed - into the apartment with the help of Anth (who owes me for the girlfriend hunting), and then make one final stop at MaryEllens (where I am now) to pick up the rest of my junk and complete the move into my own place. Once that is complete the following day I will go and fill out and turn in a job application at the Cheesecake Factory where I will hopefully be hired as a waitress so I can pay bills.

But I don't have that much to do.

You know as much work as all this has been....it's been one of the best summers on record for me. I've had a lot of fun. And for that I am unbelievabley grateful.

Peace out boy/girlscouts!

I'm listening to 'the Loaf'

So last night I had a bit of a breakdown.

Not the bad kind that requires medication...just the kind that requires tissues. I think it was a combination of signing the lease, which officially meant that I was never moving back home, Kingdom Bound stress, and talking to a few people over the past few days who I discovered I greatly miss. I had that moment when I realized that there are people I have come to rely on I won't see everyday anymore. And as much as I hate to say it....I kind of need them. That's what sucks the most about all this...being so far away from everyone. I'm 4 hours away from home, 4 and a half hours away from my other home and if I'm lucky I'll be able to get back there one or two times a year.

So yeah basically I miss my favorites.

And when did this crack in the armor decide to open up you ask? Try at the end of band practice. Claire brought me an iced cappuccino and I just started to lose whatever composure I usually have. And it was all done when someone asked if I was ok. That's when the tears started and I was crying. I pulled it together pretty quickly though...so I managed to maintain so dignity. Just a little. I hate it when I'm that crying girl. gah.

Ah well....we got a lot done today as far as KB is concerned. Now all that really needs to get done is food shopping and random crap shopping and t-shirts. And with the grace of God it shall all get done.

OH! And I talked to Matt for a couple hours last night....which was absolutely fabulous. I love that kid - he kindda makes my day. It was great to talk to him. That was the first real conversation we had since he got home. But now because he has to go and have a real life he may not be able to come to KB and see me. So help me if I have to wait until September to see this kid I may freak out.