White washed.

Theme Week 4: True or False?

Driving on the interstate for hours can make you a little uptight. I remember on the way to Cape Cod, Josh seemed to irritate me a little more than usual. I know how to drive on the interstate, but It's also pretty easy to get lost when you've forgotten where to go.

He looks out the window in slight awe of all the things he's never seen before. I love that about him, his innocense, I wish bottle it up and where it on a chain; it's almost like watching your child grow, seeing him get excited over something you grew up knowing.

We reached Hyannis at some time between 11am and noon. The sun was shining brightly and the weather was perfect, warm, yet not too hot, and the sky was a brilliant robin's egg blue.

I paid quite a bit for the hotel room we stayed in, I thought it would be quite nice. I thought wrong. It was horrible. They didn't even have shampoo!!! What kind of hotel doesn't have little shampoo bottles?! It was a waste of 76 bucks.

All in all, the concert was phenominal. Collective soul will always be one of my favourite bands. I think Joshua enjoyed his birthday gift, however, he was still a snooty, stressed out Joshua.

2.

Whizzing pass me on I-95 South, was car after car after truck after truck, as I actually decided to go 65 for an hour or two instead of 90 mph, like everyone else. What kind of person am I to go the speed limit on the interstate anyway?

I stayed comfortable, slouching forward slightly as the sun shone behind me in the windshield and on the pavement, and turning up "You make my dreams come true" by The Cars, so it blared unpleasantly in my boyfriend's ears. It seemed he didn't mind too much; he was too excited and absorbed in his surroundings to care.

It was August 31st, of this year, 2006. We were on our way to none other than Cape Cod to watch one of the greatest bands of the early and late 90s, Colective Soul, strut their stuff on the rotating stage of the Melody Tent in Hyannis. The tickets were a bit pricey, but we had the best ones in the house. This was his birthday gift. He was turning 20.

As the music blared in my ears, Josh continued to announce random things, as he always does, even though I can see them right before my eyes, he has this annoying habit of pointing everything out as loudly and obnoxiously as he can. I love him, but he's sometimes a bit obvious.

He reminds me of a child, his long curly hair is soft, and his butt resembles the Huggies' baby. He's innocent. That's what it is, really. Living here in one place, under one roof, in one school, in one town, I think leaves him a bit sheltered. I was almost astonished when he told me he'd never left the state.

All my life I've moved around, the highways were not unfamiliar to me. State to state, I grew tired of billboards and big signs and roadside attractions. It was all another reason for me to wish I had a home. But Joshua, being who he is, loved seeing the new things and different people.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love new things and new people, but these things weren't as new to me as they were to him.

Pulling off in the final hour was such a relief. We hit route 6 to Cape Cod and I though I was coming close to sheer exhaustion. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and driving this long had me a bit weary.

We got lost a few times trying to find the motel, which, by the way, was a complete rip off. There was no shampoo, the tiniest bath towels in the world, and the blankets smelled strangely like body odor. What kind of hotel doesn't give you little shampoo bottles? There wasn't even a hairdryer, or a bible in the nighttable. There's ALWAYS a bible in the nighttable! So much for my Orbitz.com deal. The building was supposedly newly renovated, but the towel racks in the bathroom looked to be held up by some strange paste, which closely resembled peanut butter and polydent.

We nearly collapsed into the bed to take a nap before the concert at 8pm. We arrived some time between 1-2pm. We set the alarm for 4:30 and basically conked out right under the covers.

I woke up without the alarm clock for once, and instantly was ready to get up and eat something, perhaps take a shower and gussy myself up for the concert. We had 2 1/2 hours until we would leave.

We arrived around 6:45, all ready to get in our seats and wait fot an hour, unfortunately, we had to wait a little longer than expected. We weren't allowed in until 7:30.

We casually conversed with a few of the ushers, made fun of a few people (whom we later realized were part of the set-up crew), and walked around the tent in circles as it got closer and closer to 7:30.

They let us in right on schedule, and we sat down, eager to see the faces of Collective Soul. The opening band was this years' winner of the American Unsigned Bands Award or something like that. They were actually really good. I don't remember the name of the band. I think it began with an 'E' though.

Whe Collective Soul hit the stage, there was an uproar of applause and beer was flying in the air. Everyone was boozing it except for the two of us. There was a lot of beer on the floor. The band kicked in with a song from their newest album, and played a great show. Ed Roland (the lead singer) was a cocky bastard. you could tell he thought he was the shit. I suppose He was entitled to his behavior after 13 years of rockstardom. He did all sorts of crazy stuff with his microphone, and danced like a madman as he belted out notes and lyrics.

I think Josh was in some state of paralysis the whole time. I could tell he was really excited, but all he could do was stand there and refuse to jump in with the energy of the crowd. I later understood that he felt no need to do so.

After the show, we lingered, searched the ground for a lost guitar pick, and got sent outside eventually. We mosied along the pavement, and by this time it was about half past midnight. Deciding that we might possibly have a chance for autographs, the both of us waited (about two hours) for a few of the band members to come out. By 2 am, two out of the five of them had come out and we got a few autographs and pictures. The other three were inside watching tennis with girls on their laps.

This was the first time ever that Collective Soul had come to Cape Cod. I was royally pissed that the other three didn't come out for autographs. It was low.

Joshua and I headed back to the motel and cleaned up, ate a poptart or two, and then hit the sack. For the first real concert the both of us had been to, it was a pretty good time.

3.

"I'm gonna smack you in the head if you don't shut the hell up!" Joshua was really starting to get on my nerves. We'd been driving 75 on I-95 and his wild antics were driving me crazy. Getting more and more frustrated with his obnoxious comments, I blasted the stereo as loud as I could to drown out his obsessive need to point out every billboard we came across.

We were on out way to Cape Cod. I'm taking Josh to his first concert, for his 20th birthday, but I'm slowly starting to regret it. The tickets and motel costs were friggin' expensive as hell, and he's acting like a jerk about helping out a little. I payed for everything, the least he could have done was help pay for gas and food.

When we arrived at the motel, the clerk there was ridiculous. I asked for shampoo, and all he could do way shrug and say, with his think eastern accent, "I'm sorry but we give it to people who pay lot of money for weekend". I thought I was going to strangle the bastard. Now I had to add toiletries and food onto the list of expenses. Tihs trip was really pissing me off.

We walked into our room, and a sickening stench invaded our nostrils. Housekeeping didn't even bother to change the blankets before we left. I could smell businessman all over the place, and it wasn't pleasant. The bathroom was absolutle disgusting, a dirty looking place. The only thing that looked somewhat clean was the stained white towels hanging on the racks. All the sat in the shower was a mcroscopic bar of soap that smelled like old expired cologne.

I didn't even care, because I was so exhausted. Josh and I just fell asleep amongst all the jerms and smells. We woke up and got to the concert a little early.

Iwasn't allowed to bring my camera in, which I was a little miffed about. What pissed me off more was that people snuck their cellphones in and took pictures the whole time with their stupid cameraphones. A few people actuially stuffed their cameras down their pants and got a few flashes in.

There were drunks everywhere. I was expecting it to be a really great experience, but the whole crowd was made up of sweating, balding, and out of style tourists, mixed in with a few beer-caked locals. I paid a shitload of money for this? Popcorn kernals were stuck to the floor and my sneakers, and I was getting nauseated because the man beside me lifted his arms and killed a few flies. I don't think anyone in the place was wearing deodarant.

The show was great though, I managed to enjoy it despite my surroundings. Joshua was having a jolly old time, jumping around with the crowd, really getting hiped over the music. I felt like sulking at some points.

The lead singer of the band was kind of a combination between gene simmons and david bowie. He was a cocky bastard with bleach blond hair and chose his microphone as a dance partner.

After the show, I was just ready to leave. We got some atugraphs and headed back to the hotel, and by that time it was 2 o'clock in the damn morning. I hit the hay and was out like a light. I don't think I'll be doing it again for a while.

posted by Kasey @ 1:47 PM