32nd birthday celebrations

Saturday was the 32nd anniversary of the day I slid out of my mom's vagina, screaming and covered in blood.

I had also been off work for the week leading up to Saturday, and had debated taking a trip. There were several cities I considered. Austin, because I have never been there, and there were several shows I was interested in seeing. PDX: I've been there before. JJ said he would meet me there for joint bday celebrations, and there were also a few shows I was interested in seeing in PDX. MPLS for NC&TBDB live band karaoke. Chicago for the usual.

I ended up doing none of those things and instead, Matthew and I took a road trip to Normal to see Masked Intruder and Humanoids at Firehouse. I hung out at my folks' house with the dog on Saturday afternoon, and drove into the city to pick up Matthew at a bar in The Patch around 7pm and we high-tailed it to NRML. Drive was uneventful and with hardly any traffic. We had great conversation and listened to some old mix tapes through the aux hookup.

Made it to Firehouse and Humanoids were already on and performing their last few songs!! One of the local openers hadn't shown, so they were first. There was, at least, quite a lot of people in the club even this early in the night. I found David Wiffleballs down by the front with Daren and some other buds. Matthew came in several minutes later and came to the front with us to see the last song.

Then two awful local bands; we all just hung out by the merch table in the back.

Masked Intruder was last, and the place went nutzoid. Blackout Mask was in attendance! The pit was pretty rough with drunk college kids going wild. Lots of pushing. I stayed near the back of it and sang along. Set was great, but the sound in that venue is just awful. The speakers are blown out as fuck. It really is a shame.


Crowd/room shot:


















I had a great time at the show, though. I have been sober for several months, for no specific reasons, and was undecided if I was going to partake at the show. I decided that, yes, I was going to partake and made the choice of Hamm's, the cheapest offering in the house. It was delicious. I really do love cheap ass beer. I had a total of five or six and was nowhere near as drunk as I figured I would have been. Had a nice buzz, though.

STL buds at the merch table:



















Lars lookin' jacked as fuck! Push-ups, Y'all!:



The bands had three comped rooms and Dave invited Matt and I to swing by and party/stay. There was three room between like 17 people, and I ended up just getting my own room. It was only $35. Plus, after another hour hanging out at the hotel, I was ready to lay down and rest and just enjoy some quiet time alone. I fell asleep right away, the heater offering some nice warm air and white noise.

Two hours later, there was a knock on my door and Pat had Matthew with him. Matthew was incredibly BOMBED (oh yeah, he did like 4 shots of whisky right before we left the bar, and this was in addition to the 14 beers consumed that day/night plus some pills). He was bouncing off the walls like a pinball, and pretty much just passed out face first onto the bed. At one point during the night, I just stared at him for what seemed like a lifetime, waiting to see his chest rise/fall. He was breathing so shallowly.

He was incredibly warm next to me. He does not snore, or twitch or move around a lot in his sleep and is one of the few people I have encountered in my life who I sincerely enjoy sharing a bed with.

He was still kinda drunk the next morning, but we still banged out for a solid 90minutes before the housekeeping people knocked on the door that it was check-out time. I nearly drowned him at one point, and we joked about this...me leaving his naked, dead body at the hotel. The police finding my DNA everywhere, not to mention my name on the room registry.

We went to the venue where people were meeting up for pizza buffet before heading to STL. He stayed for pizza, I went across the street to get vegan breakfast. A delicious tofu scramble and vegan pancake. Matthew joined me for a coffee, and we drove home with Velvet Underground playing. Both of us were pretty wrecked, and we just wanted something chill. He was wearing the blackout mask in the car and teasing the truckers. After a bit, we could tell they were all on their CB radios about us, because they seemed to expect us when we passed them.

Blackout Mask is allowed to smoke in the car:













Got back to STL in time for Matthew to brush his teeth, wash his face, and change his shirt before I dropped him off at work. Oh, we did fuck one more time before work. Real quick, but satisfying none the less.

I went home and chilled out for a few hours. Didn't really feel like eating, and even though I was dead tired, I couldn't fall asleep. There was a show at Cicero's, and I planned on leaving for it at 9pm. At 830, I drank 3 cups of mint tea, ate an Adderall, brushed and flossed, and changed my shirt. Matthew texted me that he was getting out of work early and asked if I could pick him up. So I swung by his work and we headed to Delmar. Oh, I also gave him an Adderall, for which he was very thankful.

Venue was fucking packed. Missed the two openers which was the plan. Saw Humanoids, then Intruders again. Totally solid sets. Lots of people going bonkers. Myself included. More friends in attendance (of course) than in NRML, and it was so nice to see everyone out having a great time! And on a Sunday to boot! I had three beers at the bar, but I wasn't really affected by them. The Adderall kicked in about 45 minutes after I ate it, and I was feeling alert, focused, awake. Was def speeding balls by the time the show started. The room was already hot, and I was pretty sweaty.

After the show, I hung out at the venue for a bit, Kristen complimented me on my toned, bad ass arms, then I went to Lemmon's. Two people were there, Wilson was one of them. I sat by him and we talked for about thirty minutes before other people started showing up. Matthew and Do What had to drive Evening Bird home from Cicero's because he was so gone. Puking and shit. Which, that is what 'Hawk does. He pukes. All the time. He was starting his "birthday week" that night at the show and hit it a little too hard, I guess.

Stayed at Lemmon's talking with friends, mostly 'Officer Bradford' until 2am then went home. The effects of the Adderall were starting to wear off, and I was getting tired. Came home, cleaned up, and fell asleep easily and slept until morning.

Am off work today, too. Tomorrow I start back up, first time in ten days. I'm not looking forward to it, but I know once I get there and get back into the normal routine, I will be pleased.

All said and done, as excellent party weekend with excellent friends. 'Hawk is having a rager on this Friday, too, so I'll just keep plowing through this mess.