November 24–26, 2001 — There was nothing that I ever wanted more

I like it when days write themselves. Everything just happens and I don’t find myself sitting in front of the computer for several hours killing time.

By this criteria, Saturday was a fantastic day.

Jeff called and woke me up at 10:00 am or so. I was a touch delirious when I answered the phone; I hadn’t fallen to sleep until five hours before. I went back to bed and woke up again a bit after noon. Johnston told me when we were leaving for Buffalo, but I wasn’t really awake, and by the time I was out of the shower, Johnston had left for downtown and I had forgotten what he’d told me.

I talked to Amy on the phone a bit before 2:00 pm to ask when I should try to arrive at their house for. It turns out that I was already running a bit late, so I caught a streetcar and made it there at around the time that we’d planned on leaving from the beginning.

We stopped once on the way to Buffalo for food. I had a salad at Wendy’s, which amounted to more vegetables than I’ve had in weeks and weeks. Crossing the border was as uneventful as it had been for KrazyFest during the summer, and we found the venue without incident.

We had some time to kill, so we walked to Top’s Friendly Market to gush over the zany foods that are for sale south of the border. We also found a Homies vending machine with a new series of Homies figurines, so it was rather important that we buy something to make change. We began making our way through the store.

American grocery stores are great. Highlights included the recycling machines that crushed up cans and spat out your deposit when you were finished, the unbelievable selection of peanut butter, the bottles of pickled lambs’ tongues and pigs’ feet, and the aisle that was beer on the left, ice cream on the right, and pork rinds at the end.

I ended up buying a package of watermelon-flavoured licorice to break a twenty-dollar bill. Then I worked up the nerve to ask for extra quarters. The cashier didn’t get upset and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I got five Homies and only one double. As far as I was concerned, the trip was already a success before we’d even started on our way to the show.

We saw a lot of kids from Ottawa and Toronto while standing in line. Then, on our way back to the parking lot (littered with a totaled Pontiac Sunfire and large amounts of broken glass) where we’d parked, Amy and I saw a car drive by with a dead deer tied to the top. Nothing could have done a better job of saying, “Welcome to Buffalo.”

After returning to the line and eventually making it inside, I bought a copy of the Hope Conspiracy 7" with an engraving on one side and music on the other (mostly for the engraving). I talked to Tracy and Liam for a bit as we staked out a spot in front of the Hope Conspiracy merch area. Tracy said they might be returning to Buffalo for Saves The Day on Wednesday, so I did my best to express interest in tagging along if there was an open seat.

I eventually found Johnston, Jeff, Bri, and Amy again. We watched American Nightmare and the Hope Conspiracy from the safety of a raised area near the bar. Bri, Jeff and I went a bit closer for Converge.

Converge played a great set. They played my favourite song from Jane Doe this time around, and, at the very end of the set, Jacob Bannon dove across the barrier and hit me quite squarely in the side of the head. He took me down with him, and I ended up stumbling off to the side and kneeling down for the rest of the song as the dizziness wore off. I found that I’d somehow lost both the front and back elastics holding the plug in place in my right earlobe, but that the plug itself hadn’t gone anywhere.

(It hurt a lot to move my neck for the rest of the night, and I assumed that it would be plenty stiff the next day. As it turned out, though, it felt almost completely normal by the time I woke up on Sunday. Go figure.)

The drive home was as uneventful as the drive there. We weren’t stopped at customs and, since the show had ended at 11:00 pm, we made it home for 1:00 am. I went straight to bed.

I kind of remember doing something during the afternoon on Sunday, but I can’t remember what it was. When I went back online, though, there was an email from Tracy saying that there was a seat to Buffalo for Saves The Day with my name on it. I emailed her back saying that I’d definitely like to go, but I haven’t heard back from her yet. I’ll be holding my breath until Wednesday.

I wasted the rest of the day.

Sometime during the night, the girl who’d stopped talking to me last week started talking to me again to call me an asshole for what I’d written in my last journal entry. We ended up talking for quite awhile, and it seemed like we were friends again by the end of it all.

Then I went to sleep.

While I slept, I turned twenty. I don’t feel much different, but I don’t like not being able to call myself a teenager anymore.

I woke up at around noon. Elaine and I eventually stumbled downtown to do some errands. I dropped off my résumé at Blockbuster and Elaine picked up some negatives that she’d dropped off for processing. And we went comic book shopping for a little while, too. Good times.

I didn’t have anything to eat until mid-afternoon. By then I was feeling a bit lightheaded. I ended up having a headache for the rest of the day, even after having plenty to eat. I’ve got to stop letting that happen. It’s been all too common lately.

I got home and slept until the doorbell rang. Nathan dropped by with pizza and a birthday card. We played a game of Scrabble even though Nathan and Johnston both had things they should’ve been working on. I went back to bed after Nathan left, leaving the lights on.

Andrew came home late that night, bringing a graphic novel that I’d told Elaine I’d been planning to buy. Clever reconnaissance work, that. It’s a collection of Neil Gaiman’s earlier work. I haven’t read all of the stories yet, but I got through “Hold Me” and a couple others, and “Hold Me” is one of the best stories I’ve ever read. Even if the rest of the stories are awful, I’m already very happy with the collection.

Still feeling a bit out of sorts, I set my alarm for noon and went to sleep. One of these days I’ll convince my body not to need an alarm to wake up before the day is already half over...