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Just got home from an awesome show. Still slightly drunk, was damn near to the point of having trouble walking earlier. And with as much Irish heritage as I have, that's an impressive feat in itself. Helped a bit that after my second drink, the bartender knew what I wanted.

4 bands, only 1 of them that I didn't enjoy. First band was basically part of the new-school screamo metal trend, of which there's very very few bands I enjoy, but they were talented. And to top it off, I don't think anyone in the band was over 18, most of them were 16. Definatley have a ton of potential. Second band was whiny ass new-school punk type crap IE Good Charlotte, Newfound Glory, My Chemical Romance, and all that other shit that's pretty much a disgrace to music in general. Yes, that's going to piss a lot of people off. I could give a fuck less right now. If you listen to it, fine. Personally, I despise most of it. I have less respect for most of those bands then I do the boybands and bubble gum pop girl singers of the late '90s through the past few years. Third band was one of my favorite local bands, old friends of mine, one of the most intense and high energy bands I've ever seen. Rocked the fuck out. Threw my voice out, I can barely talk right now, especially on top of all the Jagerbombs. Was also the only person there not dating one of the band members that actually knew a lot of their stuff. So I was screaming along and acting like a general hyperactive metalhead idiot all by myself. Couldn't even get a pit started. But it's all good. I could give a fuck less what other people think of me. And a few of my friends from the band, and a few of their girlfriends all thanked me after the show for being at least one person to show some enthusisam. And fuck that's spelled wrong, but I'm not about to bring up a spellcheck right now. Fuckit. Last band I had never heard before, but from their first song on stage, they brought the feel and style of one of the greatest eras in music back from over 20 years ago. They would have fit in perfectly with Motorhead, old school Metallica, old school Megadeth, Pantera, Slayer, all the classic bands that brought metal into the industry as a major force. And it was all original material. Damn near brought tears to my eyes. Was so fucking great to hear a band actually truly doing justice to a lot of the bands that brought metal to where it is today, a lot of bands that seemingly have been forgotten and swept aside by the music industry. Long Live Metal. Metal from when it was just metal. No industrial-metal, nu-metal, screamo, speed metal, black metal, death metal, Just Pure Fucking Raw Metal. And now only 4 days untill the Gathering. Granted, I'm going to be broke, don't have money to pay bills as it is, and still no job untill I get back, but as a great quote I remember says "Take care of the luxuries, and the necessities will work themselves out." I sure as fuck hope so. If something doesn't work out, I'm going to be in a world of hurt. But, it will work out. If it doesn't just work itself out, I'll make it work. After the Gathering, it's time to get shit straightened out. Find a job, no matter what I have to resort to for now (As long as it's not a call center again), get my ass back into school, and work on getting financial aid and all that shit. Time to stop playing. I'm 21, it's time to start settling down some, getting my ass stable, and all that fun shit. Still a few more things I want to do before that happens, a few of them I may manage, a few of them I doubt I'll have the chance for. But I'm past being a kid and teenager. Time for reality. Time to push myself into being able to have fun making something of myself instead of having fun being young. Because overall, the most important aspect of life is to enjoy it. If we don't enjoy the time we have here, it's been wasted. Shit gets rough, things aren't always, and usually aren't, easy, life is not sugar-coated, and there will always be problems, will always be difficulties. We have to make the best of it all. Not just the easy times, the things people usually call the good times, because you often have to go a long time before anything really gets easy. We can't wait for the easy shit to enjoy it. If you don't enjoy the hard times as well as the easy, find the good in the worst of situations, then you're bound to lead a miserable life. That's a waste. Being down on yourself because shit isn't the way you want it, because shit isn't easy, is fucking ridiculous. I learned a lot of that the hard way. Any of you kids out there reading this, Enjoy yourselves. I know you've been told this by your parents and other adults for years, that you're in the best parts of your lives, and I know you don't want to believe it, you think school is hell, you think the world is ending because your highschool sweetheart broke up with you, but I'm here to tell you that your parents really are right. I'm far from really being an adult. In a lot of ways, I still consider myself a kid. I drink, in major excess at times. I smoke. I use drugs, a few of them anyway. I'm only 3 years out of high school, and still vividly remember how much I despised my school and my classmates. Which was quite a bit. I was the only openly non-christian in a small redneck school in the Appalachian part of the Bible Belt. Read as small-minded righteous hypocritical conservative redneck assholes. High school was hell for me. Middle school even worse, becuase I hadn't even begun to learn to deal with being picked on constantly. But trust me, you're in the easiest part of your life. Try to enjoy it as much as you can. It's not the end of the world because your boy/girlfriend broke up with you, or cheated on you, because you can't have the boy or girl that you want, because your parents won't let you go the the party that "everyone else is going to", because your parents won't buy you, or let you wear the clothes that you want, or any of that shit. I've been there, trust me. It's cake compared to the real world. So forget the self-pity, because nobody really gives a fuck. All it does is make you miserable, and probably aggrivate the hell out of people around you. Fucking enjoy yourselves. Have fun. Be careful. And enjoy life. Remember, each moment you live, you'll never have again. Make the most of it.



Rock On, Rock Out, and Don't Get Caught!





Drew