Lollapolooza

I got into Lollapalooza this weekend. Well, two of the three days. On Friday evening, Frenchie and I went down to Grant Park in search of wristband pieces. It took an hour and half of searching to find enough remnants to make two wristbands. It was much harder this year as there seemed to be a dearth of pieces. We flashed our bands and got in. It was a proud moment! Victory was ours. I felt a rush of success. If this is my greatest life accomplishment, so be it. We made it in time for LCD Soundsystem which was great. All I wanted was to hear my fave song of the year, "All My Friends" live and it happened. Then, we serendipitously ran into a couple of my friends. There are thousands of people at the fest, but sometimes you run into people you know (like some chick I interned with last summer and my friend's uncle. Random). We watched Daft Punk perform and it was the most amazing thing ever for various reasons. Frenchie came just to see them (they are French) and he was so excited I thought his head was going to explode. I'm glad I could help the kid out. I was feeling quite euphoric myself. It was one of those moments where I'm standing at the biggest music fest in the world, having conned my way in, it's Chicago in summertime, the August sun setting over the Sears Tower while I'm hanging out with cool people and simply feeling alive as Daft's electronic music gaged through me. I realized that my life is pretty good and I shouldn't get so upset all the time. Sure, it's not always what I want it to be, but at the moment all was right with the world.

On Saturday, I went back for more. Once again, I got in okay. Two out of two. I got there in time to check out three of my fave bands all playing back to back: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Spoon, and Interpol. All three were fabulous and worth the risk. I wish I could've been closer for Yeahs, but I had a pretty good spot for the last two. I hadn't seen Interpol live since 2003 and thought they kinda sucked back then, but last night they blew me away. So fucking good. The weather was muggy and rainy, but at least it cooled things off. I was feeling quite out of it last night mainly because of sheer exhaustion. The night before I didn't get much sleep and I spent the whole day walking around. In my daydream state, I began to feel the gravity of the situation. Here I was at Lollapalooza in Chicago listening to bands that have emotionally affected my life and I felt lucky to be alive and be present. I keep wondering how things will turn out for me, if all this is fleeting, but for that exact second I couldn't really think about the future too much.

Today, the third and final day, I got caught. Fuck. It was a bad omen when I attempted to take the train and there was a delay. I only wanted to see two bands today, so I went kinda late. When I got there, I noticed they were thoroughly checking the bands. I was screwed. Mine looked very fake. I took the risk and here's what happened:

Security Checkpoint Guy: (looking at my band) Uh oh.
Me: (referring to the inevitable) It [wristband] broke so I glued it back together.
Guy: It's a fake. (proceeds to rip it off my wrist)
Me: Can I at least keep it for a souvenir?
Guy: (waving goodbye) No. Bye, bye!

Well, at least I didn't get arrested, but I'm throwing in the towel. I'm going legit next year. Hopefully I can get a real pass. My days of wristband crafting are over. That's okay. I'm going to see PB&J tonight so I don't want to be too tired because I know it's going to be a late night. I had a good run. It was awesome and I'm glad I got to experience it again.

Tomorrow I start my internship. This week is going to kick my ass with interning, working, writing, and maintaining social obligations. I hope I'm able to balance everything. I may be forgoing sleeping, but that's okay. It's all up to me now. I've gotten this far and I just can't fuck it up. I feel things shifting, changing, progressing. Even though a lot of things are still the same from a year ago, I'm a different person. Most of the people I hang out with now are ones I didn't even know this time last year. I really hope they aren't fleeting friendships, that they are friends I'll still talk to in 5-10 years from now. It's times like these that make me feel grateful for living in Chicago and knowing the people I do. I've been given a lot of opportunity lately and I need to come through for myself. I hope I won't let myself down. Just gotta prioritize and focus.

Finally, a post wouldn't be a post without a relationship mention. Friday night I ended up spending the night with the guy I'm kinda-sorta seeing. It's funny how we don't talk much during the week but always end up seeing each other due to the natural progression of events. Saturday afternoon I left his place feeling slightly confused. There are some issues there and because of these issues, I have a feeling it's not gonna last. I'm prepared though. Earlier Friday night I spent some quality time with another certain someone. I definitely feel more of a connection with this person, but there are also a lot of issues keeping us apart as well and if I was smart, I would stay away from them. But, this person fascinates me to no end and like a moth to a flame, I always gravitate towards those off-kilter ones. I realized if I could somehow take both of these guys best traits and meld them into one person, I'd have the perfect guy. But since I haven't mastered cloning, I probably should keep searching. Like I've said before, guys aren't my priority now. They should be secondary, but I also can't help thinking about them. First I need to get my career together, then I can be in a relationship. But I also don't see anything wrong with having a little fun once in a while.

In an hour I will be meeting up with two of my crushes. Interesting.

UPDATE: Peter Bjorn & John. Simply awesome everytime.