Laura and I woke up and bummed around the house while I packed my stuff since I was leaving the next day to go back to school. We made sure we had done everything on our list which included Pick Up Amy, Pee, and Eat. See Pella was noticeably absent from the list because apparently we would sooner forget to pee than to see the Pella. Sounds about right. Amy caught an earlier train so I quickly finished packing and we were on our way. I decided the Yahoo map directions I had were stupid and tried to make us go a more direct way but apparently I was wrong and it ended up taking much longer to go my way than the yahoo way. Oh well. We still had plenty of time. The ride up was fun but uneventful. We ate at Friendlys and I was happy. We had major problems finding the venue and the guy in Dunkin Donuts was of no help. Luckily we found the police station and the nice lady there helped us. According to Laura that is why the police exist. Not to stop criminals and enforce the law, but to ensure we get to see the Pella. Again, sounds about right.

We were about an hour early so we went in, met Alexis’ mom and got our tickets and directions to a gas station. Went to get gas and came back. Amy and I went in while Laura parked. Phil, Sean, MJ and Ross were standing in the lobby when we got there. Said Hi to Sean and that was about it. He kept looking at me like I should say something else to him but I had nada. Amy commented that her phone looked like Phils. She took hers out and I took out mine. Phil: “What is this? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” Me: “Yes it is.” Then Sean went to eat, Laura came, and Phil decided he should pretend to work. I believe those were his exact words. Laura, Amy, and I plopped ourselves down on the floor against the wall and waited. Phil visited a few times. 3 of the Pella walked by at one time and John smiled and waved down at us. Suddenly I became 8 and giggled like a school girl. Amy and Laura died. Phil heard us and was like what’s going on. I managed to say nothing, nevermind in between giggles. Then Alexis came over and said Hi. I love her. She’s so sweet and nice. It was so good to finally put a face with a AIM name. After a bit she had to go do other stuff and soon after we went and found our seats. Jenn and Madelin arrived soon after and we talked a bit til showtime

First Alexis’ dad came out and talked about Casey and they played a message she taped for everyone. I was *this close* to crying. Not a day has passed since I went to the Orlando show that I haven’t thought about Kyle and now not a day will pass without me thinking about Casey as well. No child or family should have to go through what they’re going through. It’s just not fair.

Sean was wonderful as always. I hadn’t seen him do Sean stuff since the summer. I missed him and hearing him. The audience absolutely loved him, especially Taller than Jesus. Jeff came out and sang Left and it was pretty. They blended really well, not like Elliott, but damn close. I kept trying to pick out just Jeff cuz I still really don’t know what his voice sounds like but it was really hard. Then My Home and I knew Scott would appear. They made sure to have the lyrics this time. Weird seeing Scott on stage in jeans. Nice, but still weird. Satan traumatized me again. He wasn’t supposed to say it but seeing him mouth the words and move away from the mic was just as bad. Then short intermission.

I expect the guys to be half dead because it was their 4th show in a row, but they had a lot of energy. Guess they musta summed all their energy because it was for such a good cause. I remember they were off the wall insanely funny most of the show but I can’t think of stories now. The only one I remember is about the PW. She was a high school student (yes, Kevin did his I’m gonna sing from over here again, but she looked like she was 16 so it wasn’t the shocker of Blackwood)and Kevin said "Nice choice John." Kevin asked her what her favorite subject was and she said science and from backstage Sean yelled, ‘Science!” the way he would on Carmen, during the middle round when theyd pick some science center to flip over. Laura and I died. They asked if she drove and she said a Buick and Scott? Was like yay America! Then something else happened, but all I remember is Scott talking about her watching Barney. George did his usual Hey Baby and Kevin looked all upset and did the usual, “Hi” in his nerdy voice that I love so much. He played that one up and kept saying different things in the high voice. Funny since I had commented to Laura that the previous two shows he didn’t do it as funny as he normally does. That made up for it lol. Then Kevin’s little song:

“Oh Kim,
We were in the lab one day,
You told me not to drink it,
I drank it anyway”

He paused I guess to think of more lyrics or to launch into the song, but Scott who was standing behind him, said “And then he ripped off his speedo.” Kevin started laughing but you could tell he was trying to control it at first but then he gave in and lost it. So he’s on his one knee next to Kim on the stool with his back to Scott. He jumps up, turns around to face Scott and walks like some Frankenstein/Big Foot/Idontknowwhat thing ate Scott going “RAAAAAWWWWR” arms and hands positioned to attack, stops, does an about face, and returns to one knee next to the stool like nothing happened. It was the funniest thing ever. Ok, not ever, him saying dawg still tops this, but its close. Again I almost fell off my chair.

Rest of the show was uneventful from what I remember for now. Scott knew all the words to People Change again. They did Change in My Life, not off mic, but I was still very happy to hear it again. Oh and before Papa George did his Whitney Houston but added that he sings it in the shower and pretended to be washing different parts of his body. Probably not something he should be doing in front of the Diehards. Then he kept looking backstage to see if the others were ready, but apparently they weren’t…I think they were talking to Sean. So we got Old Man River which made me SO happy. I love when he does that.

M&G: Be prepared, this is gonna be a long one. They didn’t want to leave for some reason, but I ain’t complaining. Just means I have a lot more to type and you’ve got more to read. We waited for the line to go down as usual and this time I made Laura go infront of me since I went first in Blackwood. She talked to Scott and I listened. I handed Scott my postcard from Connecticut (I forgot to get one for NJ, damng it). For some reason the rest stop in CT only had 4 postcards from CT, but like 10 from NY, Massachusetts, Boston, Niagra Falls, and other places not anywhere near where we were. The CT ones were all ugly so I just got one of the state house. Scott saw it and said, “Hey, we sang in front of there just after 9/11” I swear if I was a cartoon character a light bulb would have gone off above my head. I turned to Laura and said, “that’s the radio interview we have!” and got all excited. At first I wasn’t sure if I should tell Scott that cuz I didn’t know if Jade would care if he knew we had it or how he’d feel about it, but then in my head I thought Big Bad John and that I could use this to lead into my telling them they should bring back BBJ. So that’s what I did. Luckily John was sitting next to Scott so he heard my idea too, which was the plan. So I told Scott “George needs to do it and you can act it out cuz they now have a John in the group *turned to face John* although your not big or bad *HUGE grin from John*…and we don’t want you to die either” *Funny face from John and a little chuckle* Scott said George didn’t wanna do it. I said well he’s been with the group 3 ½ years now he deserves another solo. Scott: “Down woman!” Holy crap. It was so funny. I pretended to be scared of Scott and hide behind Laura and peeked out from behind her all scared. She goes, “Why you hiding behind me, I can just move out of the way.” Scott and John cracked up. I asked Laura what she was good for then, but they had lost interest in us by then, so it was only funny to me and her. And since when am I considered a woman?

Laura was at Jeff by now and John was talking to whoever was behind me so I listened to their conversation. She told him how pretty his voice is and stuff like that, everything I was gonna tell him too, so when she stopped I said, “I was gonna say that, so what she said.” He thanked us and said something like “there are a lot of words in that song.” I said, “It’s Sean, of course it has lots of words?” Then we moved down. I announced to George that I made sure to have something to talk to him about tonight. I told him to do BBJ, and he was all NO! OK then George. First you criticize me for having nothing to say, now I finally say something to you and you don’t like it. Picky, picky, aren’t we? :-P He said something else about it but I couldn’t understand what it was cuz they all stood up and started coming around the table for pictures. I moved back from the table so they’d have room to walk by, but apparently that meant Kevin should come over to me. I ain’t complaining. He said, “Hi Igloo for Sale” (I was wearing my penguin shirt that’s selling an igloo” and hugged me. All on his own. Twice in 3 shows! Yay! If I had been thinking on my feet I woulda said “Hi grey blue” since that’s the shirt he was wearing. They took group pics and I debated whether I wanted one since I don’t have one with John yet. I decided yes, but I couldn’t find my camera. By the time I did half of them had walked away, but Phil or someone called them back. I went to stand by George and backed up and stepped on his foot. Sorry George! Picture came out well. I’m happy.

I’m tired of writing in paragraph for so the rest is just stuff I remember happening. Most of it is Kevin cuz Madelin, Jenn, Amy, and I spent almost all of the M&G talking to him.

-Kevin said “This one time at band camp” for some bizarre reason.

-Madelin commented that Kevin’s shirt looked like there was something under it. Kevin said, “Oh there is” and gave this very sly look and started stroking his chest. Jenn and Amy touched and stroked but I made myself refuse. I don’t feel comfortable crossing that line. I was happy watching though lol.

-Kevin showing hole in knee of jeans and fringe on back pocket, pointing out he paid extra money for them. When showing us his back pocket his ass was literally 6 inches from me. Cuz I needed him to present his ass to me.

-Amy said something about taking Phil home with her. I claimed Kevin. Madelin and Jenn claimed each other. Phil said he was going with them instead. My filter needs to return.

-Madelin was talking about how she could wear her shoes to work, with dress pants, with jeans. Kevin: “You can wear them naked. Then you’d walk like this” He walked away from us with his legs widely spread. Madelin said she wouldn’t walk like that since she was missing something that Kevin had. Kevin: True, so then I’d walk around naked like this. Does funny walk again.

-Kevin: I used to be a shoe whore

-Me: I live in my sneakers. I’ve had them since my freshman year. I have maybe 10 pairs of shoes. Kevin looked at me like and your telling me this because?

-Madelin said she needed to Clean Sweep her shoes again. Of course I think of the tv show and said yay Clean Sweep. Kevin looked at me like I had 20 heads.

-Kevin asked Mad if she was doing any shows and she talked about that. Somehow that led to Kevin doing his jazz hands dance. I’m sure it has an official name, it’s in like every dance musical ever, but I don’t know what it is. Regardless of its name, Kevin looks absolutely adorable doing it. He did it like 3 times. Way more than necessary so I’m sure he was eating up the fact that he had the attention of 4 females, 3 of which are his. And I wasn’t about to object to seeing him be cute more.

-I finally asked Kevin if he had been in Pippin. He said no, he did some reading or something like that at some point though. I said told him its my favorite musical of all time and I was surprised cuz it’s the perfect role for him, especially since there’s never been a Pippin without curly hair. Then Madelin thanked me for getting Magic to Do stuck in her head and I told her she should have Corner of the Sky in her head instead cuz it’s the best song ever. And when I say ever, I actually mean it this time. As much as I love Pella’s music, no song of theirs will ever top that song.

-Waiting for picture with Kevin and Madelin pointed out he had a flat spot (ie, no curls) Jenn pointed it out to him. Kevin: “God forbid” The way he said it was SO funny. We took the picture and according to Laura after the pic Kevin pretended to pick his nose. Not sure why exactly, but my guess is that I or Amy said something about how well the picture came out, so he was pretending like he had messed it up. I dunno. It’s Kevin.

-Told Kevin about how I met Laura because a “certain someone” didn’t drive me to the train station and Laura had to instead. Then we roomed together in STL and we clicked. Kevin was BEAMING.

-When I went to say bye to Kevin for the bazillionth (ok 3rd) time, Kevin said good to see you again. Awwww, I love him.

-Phil told me to take care and hugged me.

-Scott dropped a box of his food on the way out. Kevin came out with all his stuff and looked confused as to how to get out of the building. We told him where to go and he had this bizarre backpack. It was all shiny silver metal. It looked like it should sprout booster rockets and he would blast off.

We talked to Alexis and her mom some more. They are seriously the sweetest and nicest people ever. They felt bad that we couldn’t come back to their house because the show had run late. I was like you don’t see me objecting to seeing the Pella for longer. Then we left, got Wendy’s, and saw half the Bronx because Amy had to pee and apparently nothing but Pathmark is open past 11. Amy wasn’t gonna make the next train and the follwing one was 2 hours later, so we just drove her home. Laura and I got back to my house at 3:20 and crashed. Woke up way too early to go to the airport and flew back to school. And that’s it. No more Pella til…who knows. But it will be sometime. I can’t not see them again.