I went to bed Friday night feeling a bit of anticipation for the DC 101 Chili Cook-Off on Saturday. Slated for the day was good food, lousy beer, good friends, and good music. I opted out of my usual Friday carousing, and instead stayed in, had a beer or two, cleaned the house, and went to the store to get breakfast for the crew Saturday morning.

Last year’s Cook-Off was a clusterfuck of lines, lines, and more lines. Two hours standing in line just to get in. Another hour lost standing in line to get beer tickets. More time lost standing in the beer line. Absolute insanity. This year promised to be different, with fewer lines and more room to wander around. Remembering last year’s hassle with parking, I suggested we take the Metro in.

Cue stupid o’clock Saturday. The alarm is set for 8:30, but at 6:00 I’m wide awake, practically bouncing with excitement. Knowing that not another soul in the group is up, I force myself to snuggle up with my teddy bear and go back to sleep. At 7:00, I wake up again, peeking at the clock and hoping it’s time. Alas, not yet. With a deep sigh, I roll back over and pull the blankets over my head.

Finally, at 8:00, I bounce out of bed, unable to take it anymore. I go through the usual morning routine - coffee, shower, Twitter, Facebook, gmail - barely able to contain myself. Knowing that a couple of folks are prone to sleeping in, the wake up calls begin. And boy are some people grouchy at a quarter to nine in the morning! *hmph!*

Eight people are scheduled to leave from my house in the morning, meeting up with three more at the Metro. And trying to get everyone in this group moving is akin to herding cats. Finally getting six of us (that six being Jim, Drew, Steph, Bill, Jennifer, and myself) together, after hearing from two who weren’t making it in time, we all head off to the Metro. We meet up with John T., wait in a huge line to get our fare cards, and head back to the parking lot to wait for John B., Jeff, John K., and Andy. While there, a little pre-game action was going on, but given that the bottle being passed had the letters J and D on it, I chose to pass. Suffice it to say that remembering someone else living on Jack is enough to ruin it for a woman forever.

Finally, we have everyone together and all wander down to the platform to wait for the Metro. And wait. And wait a little more. As the train arrives, I can already feel the shove to get on. It doesn’t take long before our car resembles a sardine can, but I was too excited to care. Most of the Grumpy Grumpersons have settled down and everyone is having a good time. Of course, once we arrive at the fairgrounds, there’s a bit of waiting in line still, but nothing compared to last year.

We got inside, got our beer tickets, located the beer trucks, and got some much needed refreshments. We lost part of the group pretty early on, and all the back and forth text messaging in the world couldn’t get us back together again. Throughout the various shows, people from our group were in and out, here and there, but most of us would catch up again between acts.

I watched Puddle of Mudd from the back, and Jim and I agreed that it wasn’t nearly as good as it was at the 9:30 Club when we saw them there, but it was awesome all the same. I got some much needed shoulder time from John K. and John T. during Papa Roach and Shinedown and was able to get a few decent shots of the bands and the crowd. Sadly, I lost everyone a couple of times making my way as far to the front as possible. I did, however, make more than a few new, um… friends, yeah, that’s it, friends on my way up!

Rain had threatened to drown us for the good part of the morning, but it held off and the sun came out long enough to lighten my recently dyed hair to a strange reddish brown. And maybe a little too much sun on my chest, but it felt good. It did finally rain for a bit and yours truly ended up resembling a drowned cat. I missed Third Eye Blind, but they weren’t one of the bands I was bouncing up and down to see, anyway. Thankfully, someone took pity on me and lent me a brush to unknot the mess my hair had become.

When The Offspring went on, Drew was going to come up with me to the front, but somehow I ended up losing him. I kept losing everybody! I got as far as I could go and while standing on the perimeter of a mosh pit, attempting to get around, I felt someone grab my hand and say “Follow me.” I looked up and found myself staring at a couple of the tallest men I’ve ever seen in my life. With one dude on point pulling me forward, and another behind me holding me up, we made our way to the front. I’ve never seen a crowd part the way it did for these guys, it was amazing.

We made it to the front, and just as I was fumbling for my camera, one of the crowd surfers came down on top of a guy slightly to my right. He was completely trashed and ended up going down, taking me with. I landed flat on my back and was unable to right myself. My white hoodie which had been wrapped around my waist was completely covered with mud. I was pulled up and righted again, but I couldn’t hold it straight after that. My back was wasted and I didn’t get a single picture.

Security pulled me over the fence and brought me to the side of the stage to get my bearings. I got myself somewhat straightened out and was escorted out of the show, barely able to walk. After getting a lemonade and finding a chair to sit in, I was located by my adopted family and we all made our way out. I barely made it to the Metro. I couldn’t stand up straight to save my life. At this point, whatever buzz I may have had from all the beer earlier was completely gone. All I knew was pain, pain, and more pain. I think I was crying trying to walk, and Jim, John, and Drew all took turns holding me up.

We made it home, and I spent the next day in bed with my best friend Prince Vicodin and my teddy bear. I did manage to catch the Blackhawks game, but every time I’d get excited I’d twist myself up again. I still can’t walk very well, but it was worth it just to get that close to The Offspring.

Funny thing though, I don’t think any of us actually ever ate any chili!

This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Family, Friends, Just Another Day in the Life, Random Amusements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.