tiredWhen last we left our intrepid hero, he was on his way out of Houston with
eirefaerie. Let's switch persons and tenses and continue the story.Erin was playing a mix CD
wastedfairy had sent her, and the first three songs were songs I loved on the very first listen: "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" by the Arctic Monkeys, "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" by We Are Scientists, and "Munich" by the Editors. The girl has good taste in music. Almost as good as mine!We hit mad traffic when Erin decided to try a "faster" route. Good job, whore. I decided to occupy myself by writing dates on the mix CDs I'd made for the VIPs. My ulterior motive was to be able to play them for Erin, and it worked. She wanted to hear Jason's, so I obliged.
At this point, in order to keep you all in the loop, I repost my explanation of said mix CDs:
Kristen gets an alternate VM soundtrack. For every song on the actual soundtrack, I chose a different song by the artist, if I had one, or a song that sounded similar to it. Similar is a relative term.
Kristen’s Alternate Veronica Mars Soundtrack
1. The Dandy Warhols - I Am a Scientist
2. Mike Doughty - Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well
3. Tegan and Sara - Where Does the Good Go
4. The Boy Least Likely To - Be Gentle with Me
5. The Faders - Whatever It Takes
6. Stereophonics - Jealousy
7. Keane - Somewhere Only We Know
8. Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945
9. Jets Overhead - No More Nothing
10. Ivy - While We're in Love
11. Something Happens - Kill the Roses
12. 46bliss - Three Days to Live
13. Emm Gryner - Beautiful Things
14. Songs: Ohia - Farewell Transmission
Enrico's mix is derived from Kristen's mix in some sort of symbolic father/daughter thing. Each song title contains a shared word with the corresponding song on her mix. He also gets a bonus track at the end.
Enrico’s Who’s Your Daddy? Mix
1. Aimee Mann - The Scientist (Live)
2. KT Tunstall - Other Side of the World
3. Sam Roberts - Where Have All the Good People Gone?
4. Snow Patrol - How to Be Dead
5. Rose Polenzani - Whatever Remains
6. Liz Phair - Jealousy
7. Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains
8. Eddie from Ohio - Minnesota 1945
9. Postal Service - Nothing Better
10. Frou Frou - It's Good to Be in Love
11. Metric - Hustle Rose
12. Jump, Little Children - All Those Days Are Gone
13. The Servant - Beautiful Thing
14. Dar Williams - Farewell to the Old Me
15. Apollo 440 - (Don't Fear) the Reaper
Jason is known for being a profane motherfucker. I think the theme of his CD is obvious.
Jason’s Cut—“Fuck.”—Print—“FUCK!” Mix
1. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back - Jay Rap 2001
2. Fatboy Slim - Fucking in Heaven
3. Liz Phair - Fuck and Run
4. Kill Hannah - Welcome to Chicago, Motherfucker
5. Smashing Pumpkins - Fuck You (An Ode to No One)
6. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut - Uncle Fucka
7. Tenacious D - Fuck Her Gently
8. Magnetic Fields - How Fucking Romantic
9. System of a Down - Fuck the System
10. KMFDM - Fuck Me
11. Nine Inch Nails - Starfuckers, Inc.
12. Marilyn Manson - This Is the New Shit
13. Placebo - Brick Shithouse
14. Prodigy - Funky Shit
15. Stroke 9 - Kick Some Ass
16. Garbage - Kick My Ass
17. Jet - Cold Hard Bitch
18. Blink-182 - Dammit
19. Hot Hot Heat - Oh, Godamnit
20. Green Day - Platypus (I Hate You)
Michael likes me and thinks we should be BFF, or something. So I'm giving him a mix of songs from my top twenty most-listened-to artists according to Audioscrobbler, in increasing order.
Michael’s Top Twenty Countdown Mix
1. Snow Patrol - Wow
2. Filter - The Best Things
3. Ivy - Undertow
4. Visqueen - Lovely Guilty
5. Chevelle - Another Know It All
6. Everclear - Local God
7. Ladytron - Blue Jeans
8. Our Lady Peace - Automatic Flowers
9. Ash - There's a Star
10. Rose Polenzani - In the Middle
11. Nirvana - Very Ape
12. Eddie from Ohio - Good at That
13. Emm Gryner - Revenge
14. Green Day - Give Me Novacaine
15. Incubus - Warning
16. System of a Down - Cigaro
17. Tegan and Sara - Underwater
18. Of Montreal - Disconnect the Dots
19. Nine Inch Nails - The Perfect Drug
20. Garbage - So Like a Rose
Rob is a music fiend. Thus, I decided to give him music with a variety of sound. All kinds of different styles and sounds. A true mix, as it were.
Rob’s Smorgasbord o’ Sound Mix (Disc One)
1. Butterfly Boucher - Life Is Short
2. Metric - Combat Baby
3. Rasputina - Transylvanian Concubine
4. Cibo Matto - Birthday Cake
5. Straylight Run - Tool Sheds and Hot Tubs
6. Guster - Barrel of a Gun
7. Hawksley Workman - Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off
8. Drain STH - Klotera
9. The Decemberists - 16 Military Wives
10. Eddie from Ohio -
11. The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
12. Ladytron - Playgirl
13. Joanna Newsom - Sprout and the Bean
14. Jump, Little Children - Violent Dreams
15. System of a Down - Bubbles
16. The Distillers - Dismantle Me
17. Of Montreal - Will You Come and Fetch Me
18. Poe - Not a Virgin
19. Morcheeba - The Sea
20. Emm Gryner - Young Rebel
21. Jets Overhead - Sun Sun Sun
22. Hot Hot Heat - Elevator
Rob’s Smorgasbord o’ Sound Mix (Disc Two)
1. The Dresden Dolls - Girl Anachronism
2. The Peasall Sisters - Rushing Around
3. Eisley - Brightly Wound
4. Nellie McKay - Sari
5. Lacuna Coil - Halflife
6. Kathleen Edwards - Back to Me
7. Sarah Slean - Day One
8. Joydrop - American Dreamgirl
9. Songs: Ohia - Farewell Transmission
10. Soul Coughing - Misinformed
11. Tsunami Bomb - Count Me Out
12. Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
13. KT Tunstall - Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
14. Apocalyptica - Quutamo (Wie Weit Version)
15. Tegan and Sara - Freedom
16. Nickel Creek - When in Rome
17. Visqueen - Sailor
18. Toadies - I Come from the Water
19. Rilo Kiley - Accidntel Deth
20. Sam Roberts - Brother Down
21. Neutral Milk Hotel - Naomi
Anyway, I mentioned that Jason's wasn't really the best, musically, but it was fun. She commented on some of the fun, angry ones like the Smashing Pumpkins and System of a Down. After Jason's, I put in the first disc of Rob's. She was honored to get to listen to music I was giving to Rob Thomas himself. She said this to Jenn (
carpedi7) when she called. She also told her she had killed me and put me in the trunk or dragged me into a ditch or something like that. This will become important later. Kind of.We got through the first three songs on Rob's second disc before we reached the Embassy Suites. Erin began the checking-in procedures. They needed some plastic to secure the room charges, so she called me: "Come here, Moneybags." I provided my check card, which was covering the marathon on Sunday anyway. *pets PayPal account*
The Embassy Suites is one of those hotels with a hollow middle and rooms all around the perimeter. On the bottom were many tables and chairs for eating and drinking. Above them was only air and more air, surrounded by pseudotrapezoidal hallways providing access to rooms. The elevator was half-glass, allowing a view of our upward flight to the sixth floor. Room 608 was at the first corner on the left, not far from the elevator.
Holy crap, the room was huge. Maybe I'm just not used to staying in hotels, but I thought it was pretty sweet. One room with a couch and a chair or two and a TV and a table or two. A teeny little fridge and, I think, a coffee machine across from a sink. A bathroom. A bedroom with one large bed and another TV. Somewhere in all this business was a thermostat, and Erin charged me to find it while she parked the car.
I called the front desk and got my answer: it was behind the frickin' door to the bedroom. I tried to make the room less cold.
My cell phone rang. It was Jenn, who was surprised that I picked up the phone, being dead and all. "Braaaaaaaaaaains," I answered. She informed Jandy (
faithx5) that Erin had killed me and I was a zombie. "Braaaaaaains," I said again. She noted that she didn't have any brains and so would not be, as they say, crazy delicious. "Siiiiiiiiiiiix oooooooooooh eeeeeeeeeeeeeight," I said. Again. And again. And again. Until she finally understood what I was saying. By that time, I had exhausted my repertoire of clever zombie dialogue (which is...quite sparse). I remained silent until I was allowed the opportunity to deliver a final "Braaaaaaaaains."Soon after, Jenn and Jandy knocked on my door yay! There were hugs involved. Jandy was wearing Veronica's green jacket, the one in my icon! So cute! There are too many exclamation points in this paragraph!
When Erin got back, we headed downstairs to meet people. I could see
txtequilanights's hair from the sixth floor. Right by the aquarium, I met ethanvahlere, who was wearing a sign that said "TWOP" on one side and "I Used to Be Cool" (or something like that) on the other. VM4 represent!Then I proceeded to meet like FIFTY THOUSAND PEOPLE. After, you know, slipping on one of the stairs in order to make an entrance. People did not flock to meet the great and amazing Polter-Cow, so I introduced myself to everyone there to suss out who I might know and/or recognize.
txtequilanights was wearing a Neptune Pirates hoodie. And I think that was, like, the only time I even saw her all weekend. tlynne75 (Tracy) had really pretty hair. Joslynm wanted to take her picture with the king of the boards, so I posed for one right then and there, which was a good call because I don't think I ever saw her again.Who else was there? leila6, who was very cute. I finally met
dkissam (ostentatious on TWoP, Donna on Earth), who looked very professional and spoke very articulately with a distinct accent. There was beppergirl/Moonlighter/Gaby. lunarmars, whose name I wouldn't remember the next three times I saw her. The same went for lex_83. To make matters more confusing, there were many more people than I expected who were either lurkers or didn't post online at all! How was I supposed to remember them, too? Funnily enough, one of those people was a woman named Heather who had a take-charge attitude that totally overshadowed the fact that I had no idea who she was or where she'd come from.If I met you there and didn't mention you...I'm sorry. Pipe up and slap me.
I always introduced myself as Sunil, because that's who they were meeting. That Polter-Cow bloke is just a front. Pity he's way cooler. It was strange to meet so many people who knew me when I had barely heard of them.
After I met everyone, I went back up to the room. I have a feeling my chronology may be off here, as the discovery I am about to describe may have occurred before I went down. In any case, I had planned a viewing of Battlestar Galactica tonight in our room. I flipped through the channels so I could leave it on SciFi. ESPN, ESPN2, CourtTV....
They didn't get SciFi. This $119 hotel room did not get the fucking SciFi Channel. I mean, maybe this was something I should have checked into beforehand, but WHY THE FUCK WOULD THEY NOT GET THE FUCKING SCIFI CHANNEL?
I called Joran (
joranbelar) to tell him the bad news, and he was dismayed as well. He wondered if we could watch at iheartbridges's place, so I put her in on a conference call. She said it could be a last resort. I called Jacob (mostlikely2), who suggested finding a bar close by or breaking into one of the student unions to hijack a TV. As a last resort, he also offered to let us watch the episode at his place the next day, since it would be on his TiVo until he did the recap.I should note that Erin was having a total cow while I was talking to Jacob because she hearts him so much and here I was talking to him on my phone like he was just some guy, which...he is. So I drew an "Erin + Jacob" with a heart around it on the mirror.
Erin didn't think she could get us into any student unions, so I went down to the front desk to see what they could do for me. First, they said I should try asking the restaurant for control of the big TV in the Happy Hour area, but that area was going to be closed off soon. Then they named a couple bars within walking distance that could work. They also sent me over to the bellhops, who were more familiar with bars. But not familiar with bars that would have SciFi. So I called some of the places the helpful ladies had given me, and the man at Aussie's said he would check to see if they had SciFi. They didn't expect a big crowd, so they could accomodate us.
I walked around outside and noticed that Aussie's really was right across the street, just as the ladies had said. I sauntered on over to see what it was like. It was like a volleybar and grill, that's what. They had a lot of TVs, and I found one and flipped through the channels, looking for SciFi. It didn't jump out at me. I called them again as I walked back to the hotel, and they said they did get SciFi and didn't mind giving us a TV. It was a bar, and there would be music playing and people talking, and it wasn't optimal, but...it was something.
Back in the room, Erin had been wondering where the hell I was. It was about time to hit Trudy's, so after whatever happened in the room, which may or may not have included Jenn giving me a whole lot of Hershey's dark chocolate and my giving Laura (Agent Laura/
schnappycat) a whole lot of British chocolate, we went downstairs. I met and hugged Rae (raelee), and then we all sackhed off like Katee.Erin ran about fifteen more red lights, which confounded poor Jandy, who was following us. When we arrived at Trudy's, we found out that "Hey, you don't need to make a reservation; we'll have room for you" meant "Hey, we have no fucking room for you guys! What the fuck is up with all the people?! Let's put you under heat lamps and stick you outside and throw you to all four corners of the establishment!"
So Trudy's was kind of a mess, but I met more people, including Joran (
joranbelar), who was not a dog-faced boy; in fact, he was quite a fetching young lad, as the ladies will attest. The Trudy's folk assented to seating us in the non-restaurant section but still letting us order from the full menu, and after we stared down some couples sitting around and talking and drinking water, we snagged one table. Some people stood outside while they waited for another to open up.Rae and her peeps had come early and been seated in a corner downstairs, so I went to see what was up with them. Heather and Rae had chicken quesadillas, and the table already had chips and salsa. The outside people also had chips and salsa. Our table didn't have chips and salsa. I explained our situation to them. Heather said there was no way she was going to finish her entire quesadilla and offered me a piece. Like, she didn't know who in the bloody hell I was, and she was still offering me food. Props to you, Heather, wherever you are. After eating my piece, I took the chips and salsa back to our table since they didn't need it anymore.
I fluttered back and forth, outside and inside. I sampled conversations and conveyed information. I didn't really have a...place, per se. You might describe my actions as being that of a social butterfly, but I'm more of a social caterpillar. Also, I was trying to organize my BSG viewing, and I didn't think we'd get fed in time. I began gathering intel regarding after-dinner plans.
That's girls in the corner. That's girls in the spotlight, eating their spiced chicken. Heather gave me another piece of her quesadilla, and Rae gave me a piece of her non-spicy chicken quesadilla. Rae was interested in the BSG viewing, whereas everyone else was going to Stubb's afterward for the "As Heard on VM" concert. I didn't know everyone else. Who was this attractive young female in green? I introduced myself, and she shook my hand and introduced herself in a very friendly manner as
sincerelysummer. And my brain nearly fell out of my head in disoriented astonishment.WestCoastLovin, see, was my VM4 archnemesis. She had gotten me warned for a Meet Market rant about Logan/Veronica 'shippers (that I frickin' apologized for) and had been randomly bitchy to me many a time. I had resolved to punch her in the face. But from my two seconds of interaction with her, I thought she seemed like a nice person who was not being bitchy to me.
Another group of people had found a table, so I introduced myself to them, and they were names I recognized!
lissa_triana! sometimescrazy! lovelife! I didn't really know any of them, but I'd seen them around.You know who I did know, though? The people coming back from the hockey game, like
violet4120, shutterbug1, petunia846, and iheartbridges. I gave bridges a hug, and it was one of those hugs where both your arms go around the other person's stomach so you get a good squeeeeze out of it. I also hugged petunia for finally meeting her.I had ordered the chicken flautas, which was also what Joran, that fucker, had gotten. But we'd gotten different beans. I chose refried black beans because I'd never heard of them. The food was pretty good but not spectacular.
The BSG viewing seemed to be falling apart, as the prospect of watching the show in a bar wasn't very appealing and time was not our friend. Tracy defected to Stubb's. Laura was considering defecting to Stubb's, but she wasn't really interested in the concert. She just wanted something to do after dinner. It seemed like everyone was going to Stubb's. I hadn't been planning on going because I didn't know any of the bands. But there were going to be cool VM giveaways. And Rob was going to show up eventually. Then again, I didn't feel like meeting Rob in a dark room with loud music. It should be some sort of momentous event, with light and the ability to have a conversation!
Joran and I finally decided that, okay, Stubb's it was, then. I didn't really know what I'd do just staying at Trudy's. bridgey wanted me to stay, and she was one of the people I most wanted to hang out with this weekend. Courtney (
dachelle) had arrived, and it was good to see her again. The Trudy's environment just wasn't doing it for me. I vacillated long enough that my decision was finally made for me, as everyone who was going to Stubb's had left, and bridgey had made Joran stay.I listened to conversations, not really participating. I listened as Joran commented on the iPod instruction manual and how it referred to the iPod as if its name were iPod ("Turn iPod on." "Remove battery from iPod."). Somehow, he strung words together in such a way that he had to clarify that his name was not iPod, at which point Courtney promptly told him that yes, yes it was. And thus Joran became iPod, and the name has stuck, in no small part due to his propensity to burst into showtunes.
I put my head down on the table and closed my eyes. It's always interesting to hear what people say when they think you're asleep. It's my way of hiding.
I moved to the other side of the table and sat next to bridgey. She said she wished I would smile more. I gave her my patented "Eh." I was in A Mood. The Stubb's/no Stubb's debacle had cracked my soul. I like plans. I like following them. I use order and structure to make my life possible. This was the kind of thing I feared would happen to my socially dysfunctional self. Unable to integrate, I have to withdraw.
bridgey was one of those girls who can pick up when I'm in A Mood and who have an honest, sincere desire to see me happy. They try their best, but it doesn't really seem to have any effect. Here's a little secret: they're more helpful than I'll ever let on.
iPod began singing some Gilbert and Sullivan, but it wasn't a song I knew well enough. He switched to another one that I recognized from Butter Battle, but I couldn't remember how it went either. Lips should...curl, yeah. Eyes should flash, that was it. Brow should furl. We couldn't put it all together, though.
Then bridgey and I sang "Fuck Her Gently" for Courtney, which helped my mood a little. When we left Trudy's, I rode with bridgey because I try to ride in as many different cars as possible. She put in a mix CD that began with "Fuck Her Gently," and we sang along to it. The next song was Dynamite Hack's "Boyz in the Hood," and we both sang along to that as well. That right there is one of my favorite memories of the weekend. Singing along to music is a very powerful bonding experience for me.
Up in room 608, we watched "Lazy Sunday" on Adam Clayton, Courtney's video iPod. This would not be the last time we watched "Lazy Sunday" this weekend.
Then we had a pillow fight and I hid under the covers.
Erin and I tried to figure out how to hook up the DVD player so she could introduce us to Spaced. After we messed around with many cables and I pinched my hand underneath the television, she called a tech.
Larry (heretofore referred to as Larry the Cable Guy) arrived. Erin greeted him: "Oh hey, we've got some trouble here, we can't figure out how this is supposed to work. Here, it's in THE BEDROOM." Cue the porn music, guys. We don't know what the hell they did back there, but after a few minutes, he came back out and told us he'd hooked us up. Then he taught us the sign for "money" or something like that, which is what he thought he deserved for coming up here after his shift had officially ended. Erin dropped a Hamilton.
We all squished onto the bed to watch the Spaced pilot, which was very funny. My favorite bit was this line, complete with fucking hilarious graphics: "You're scared of mice and spiders, but oh-so-much greater is your fear that one day the two species will cross-breed to form an all-powerful race of mice-spiders who will immobilize human beings in giant webs in order to steal cheese."
I was very tired, so I was semi- to unconscious for whatever Spaced and Black Books episodes we watched after that. But I got to cuddle with Erin, so there was that.
Finally, a night was called, and people went back to their respective rooms/hotels/apartments. I went to sleep on the pullout couchbed. I needed to get some rest.
Tomorrow was the big day, after all.
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