Baby, It's Good To Me

It's been known to me that warped tour consists of chapters--small divides in storyline and emotional experience. It feels like a large chapter has concluded now that we are back from Canada.

In Canada, Chad and I had nothing to do except promo, which didn't come till later during the Toronto show. The show this year was a lot smaller. Usually, Toronto and Montreal are some of our biggest shows, but this year it just wasn't as good.

Since we had nothing to do on those days we helped out our friend Scott who sells miscellaneous items at an inflated cost. He is the man. I had a few items shipped to me as well, and I sold some stuff. I came out with less money than I made last year in Canada, but still a sizable amount.

My friend Justin, who runs the clothing company WE KILL YOU, paid a sponsor fee to sell merch on the Canada dates. Since he doesn't have a tent I let him use ours and, oh man, what a good time. He brought some mutual friends of ours to help him do his thing. One I use to date, which was cool--she's the only girl I've dated that I'm still friends with.

Getting him squared away was kind of stressing. I let all the right personnel know he was coming and to expect him; however, with everyone being busy, there was forgetfulness. But all was squared away and out of it I'm getting some custom WE KILL YOU toys made for me, which I paid for. METAL TOYS!

Montreal is always a magical date. The tour stops on Isle Jean Drapeau (sp?), which is a small island park next to the island where the actual city resides. The view is spectacular. Whenever I'm there I expect a visit from my friend Rose who is one of the most amazing girls I've ever met. She has this way of getting what she wants, and I dig it. All I do is hook her up with a pass of some kind and she goes off. In return, she helps me with FBR, and brings breakfast.

Not to push the rewind button, but lets talk about Cleveland. I was looking forward and dreading this date since the beginning of tour. Excited for friends, and not excited to see my Ex, which in the back of my head, I knew was coming. The day started out well enough with teamers, mediocre sales, and the expectation of a Mustache Party at the Garage. Arthur and Jared (my best friends) made it out early and it was so amazing seeing them. I miss my best friends a lot. They are the best people I know and I'm glad they are on my side and willing to take the heat of the tour to hang.

During the day I had a performance. I put like 30 card board boxes on the ground, flat, similar to a break dance floor and rocked it with my dance moves, honey, bananas, and other disgusting shit. It was amazing. There are videos on youtube. You'll dig it.

Not to my surprise, Maya came to the tent and talked. It was painful as fuck. It wasn't awesome to see her at all. I'm sure in her mind we are friends that can exchange stories about life; however, in my eyes, we are not. We were something that wasn't finished. Honestly, I get into such a rage over it that I keep it out of my mind as much as possible.  I kept things vague, didn't let her in the tent, and gave her a reluctant hug. In return, she gave me Israeli soup. I'm going to use it to wash her from my memory even more so than I have.

My best friend, Jason, came to the Garage that night for the mustache party. We hung and talked about everything that was on his mind. He misses me a lot. Actually, he misses having friends around. All of us, meaning his friends,  have moved away from him. This is rough, and a fact about growing up. I wish I could be there for him. We talked about a lot of things of interest. Most importantly his upcoming wedding, which I'm extremely excited for, and my life changes.

Since tour has started I've contemplated not going to animation school and continueing to tour. I'm good at what I do, I can boldly say that I'm the best, but no one can determine that. This job makes me happy, I'm paid well, and there is always money in touring. What kept me back before was school and potentially my exgf, which at one point I didn't want to leave to wait for me to come back. Without both, I should grab the road and go. Yeah? Or No? I think I'd get burned out on it; however, warped last year and this year have been great, which means I'm indifferent about it ending.  

Hangs with the Bronx have been getting better and better. I was scared coming into this that I would end up not liking or even hating them as people. It's turned out the opposite--they are the coolest guys ever. I mean ever. I don't mean to nerd out, but it's like a dream hanging out with one of the nicest, most rocking bands ever.