As Promised

Ok, so I promised to update with how my trip went. It was a lot of fun, actually. Enlightening even, but I'll get to that in a minute.

We left on Monday morning and drove out to Lexington, Kentucky to see a show. It was a long ride, six and a half hours each way, but it was fun nonetheless. It was just me and Abby in the car, and we talked the whole way there and the whole way back. Once we got there we only had a few minutes before the show started. I felt bad because I didn't help Abby with the DVD's and Cookbooks like I thought I was going to, but it didn't seem like she needed me and I was worried I would just be more in the way than anything if I went over to help. If she had asked me to take over the table for her so she could have a break, I would have done so in a heartbeat, though.

Anyway, the show was awesome. There was a brand new band there called "The Wands" who were these two adorable high school students who really reminded me of what I was like back then. They write songs from the point of view of a wand. lol that's exactly something that me and friends would have come up with when we were 17. They also do another band call "The Literatures" in which they write songs about all books. They played two songs they wrote about Julius Caesar which made me cry I was laughing so hard. They were really good. Everyone was really good, actually. Tom Riddle and Friends were hilarious, as usual, The Remus Lupins were energetic and lots of fun, as usual, and Gred and Forge got me really pumped about Wrockstock since the next I see them will be there. It was a good show. ^_^

I also had a nice chat with Stephanie- Gerald of Gred and Forge's wife- about the Beatles and the movie Across the Universe. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, though I've had the links to it for months now. A few days ago, while I was at Virginia's, Opra had the cast on her show and they did a little medley from the movie. It was horrible and I was really, REALLY worried that this movie was just going to piss me off. Stephanie is also a huge Beatles fan, and claims that one of the guys in the movie was good enough to balance out everyone else, and that over all it was really good. So, maybe I will watch it... I'm still nervous though. You just don't fuck with the Beatles. o_0

After the show we all went out for pizza, and I have to say, I nearly died when they put the pizza on the table and it had a crust. The cracker-crust pizza they have around here is just... gross. It was nice to have some real pizza again. lol The best parts of dinner were (a) it was near midnight and I hadn't eaten since 8am so the food was AWESOME and (b) getting to watch Cassie click so well with Jen and Bobert. I knew they would get on famously, and they hadn't had a chance to meet before. It was great fun to see my friends having such a good time with each other.

After dinner we went to the hotel, had a little party- at which Cassie, Jen and Bobert got nicely drunk- and just hung out. I was really tired and bit burned out from all the socializing I've been doing, so I mostly kept to myself and watched everyone else. Bobert made me take a sip of his Vodka, Amaretto, orange juice drink thing- which was actually much better than it sounds- but other than that I didn't drink anything. I still had fun, though. I like watching people, so it was cool to see everyone interact, to see the band members getting a chance to just hang out like normal people without worrying about crazy fangirls and the like. Oh, and Abby and Gerald did "bible diving" which was hilarious. ^_^

After that it was all rather fast going. We went to bed, got back in the car and drove home. Again, I was in the car with Abby, and, again, we talked the whole way, Which was perhaps the most interesting part of the whole trip. Actually, it was the conversation with Abby that I really wanted to write about here. It was, enlightening, to say the least.

So, some background for you, in case you either haven't heard or don't remember. I don't particularly get along well with Abby. We clash because of our personalities. Not our opinions or anything- at least, not often on our opinions- but our personalities are very different. She's strung rather tightly, very emotional, very in-your-face. I'm not. She annoys me with the way she acts, and I come off as weak to her, which is something she can't stand, weakness.

Beyond our own issues, there has also been an issue with my friend Cassie in the mix. Abby has been very... well just not nice to Cassie recently. They were getting along famously, as they are very similar, but then suddenly it seemed like Abby had it out for Cassie. Anytime she could set something up in contrast to what Cassie was doing she would. If Cassie invited people go out somewhere, Abby would invite the same people to go out with her somewhere else at the same time. When we would all get together it seemed like Abby was trying to isolate Cassie from the group, changing plans to something that Cassie wouldn't be able to do. And then once Abby had Cassie friends away from her, she would complain about Cassie and try to make it seem like she was trying to protect us all from her. No one could figure out WHY she was acting like this, but it seemed that everyone noticed it.

I was very worried that Abby was going to go off about Cassie during this trip and it would become an issue. Cassie is the closest friend I have made out here, and I don't do so well when other people are mean to my friends. I was worried we would get into a fight, her complaining about or attacking Cassie, and me jumping on her for doing so. Amazingly, that didn't happen.

We did talk about Cassie a bit, and I think that I understand Abby a lot more because of it. Abby is worried about Cassie, this is true, but there is more to it than just that. Cassie reminds Abby of what she was like at one of the worst times of her life, if more hiding behind a bubbly exterior than an angry one as Abby did. I think that beyond being worried about Cassie, Abby is made uncomfortable by the constant reminder Cassie has become of Abby's own issues. I can't say that seeing this excuses Abby's behavior at all, but it does help me to understand it better, and hopefully it can help me to help them understand each other better.

Aside from the Cassie thing, being alone with Abby for so long was enlightening on its own. We have a lot in common actually. We've been through a lot of the same things, albeit mine to a much lesser degree than hers, and we hold a lot of the same views. Even the differences in our personalities didn't become and issue once I figured out how to talk to her with out making her feel like she needed to be defensive. I have to say that it seems that Abby is the type of person I could be very good friends with when it's just me and her. We still clash a bit in a group setting, but I did notice that the dynamic between the two of us was different even then after our six hour conversation on the way there. I think we are both more aware of who the other is, and better equipped to deal with each other.

I'm actually really glad for it. Like I said, I think that Abby and I could be really good friends on a one on one basis, and I'm looking forward to that. If she were more laid back, or if I were less laid back, we'd be damn near the same person in a lot of ways. It's funny, because Cassie and I are like that, too. It seems like I'm the half way point between the two of them, Abby being on the aggressive side and Cassie on the bubbly side, me in the middle. We hold a lot of the same views, have a lot of the same interests, have similar pasts etc. but we express ourselves in completely different ways. I think if we can all learn to look more closely at each other we could make one killer of a trio. Cassie and I figured out how to see each other through the hazy that is 'personal appearance' rather quickly, but approaching Abby has been more difficult for the both of us, and vice versa. If we can put forth a little effort I can see the three of us being very close and becoming one hell of a force to reckon with. ^_^

Alright, there are a few more things that went on this weekend, but in all honesty, I don;t feel comfortable talking about them here. Really, you most likely don;t want to read it anyway. ^_- If you have to hear about it, call me. ^_^

Until next time, my friends,
~Swanky