Thinking in vain...

and a $35 tab.

Yep. I had to test that quote. Still funny to me and now I'm sober. I can't claim the quote. That was my twin.

I believe some of our escapades from this weekend will still only be funny to me, so I'll refrain. Promise.

It was a nice weekend - not long enough. And I needed to tend to the ever growing number of dandelions in my yard. Thank G-d it rained or my flowers wouldn't have been watered.

Friday was quiet and Saturday Cat and I headed up for Blacksburg for a benefit concert. The "all day music festival" usually raises money for Push America, but this weekend they also used it to raise money for the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund. It was a lot of fun.

I was surprised to see a huge line outside the venue to get in. I'm just not used to lines and I'm not a fan of large crowds. I'm not claustrophobic or anything, I just prefer to not deal with large groups of people. We got there in time for Carbon Leaf, but the place was packed already. There was no way to get down to the stage area because the stairs were lined with people (who were NOT going to move) - I'm sure that was a fire hazard. The balconies were lined 3 - 4 rows back with a tiny walkway between them and people standing on tables behind that. Yeah, I wasn't fighting that.

They put on a great concert, as they always do. They dedicated songs to the victims and sang Gloryland. Terry told us that they'd donated their fee (which is quite large nowadays, I'm sure) and any money they would have made from the show to the Memorial Fund. That's how nice they are.

Some were very surprised to see us. Although, I guess I'd be surprised to see me too.*

We hung out for a little bit and then headed over to Squires to look at some of the memorial materials. It was amazing. Paper lined the hallways and hung from the stairs - all with signatures from colleges, universities, elementary schools, and other countries. We then tried to hike our way to the drillfield but it was a little far for us**, we got to the War Memorial, stood there for a second then turned around and went back to the concert (fully intending to get the car and go back later).

There was still a good number of people there, some guy complimented me on my lipstick. Found out that there's a new book being put out by Tolkein's son using his unfinished manuscripts - kind of excited to go get it and read it (yes, I'm a dork and I'm proud of it). Hey, I'm not getting through Underworld*** so I might as well start something else. Hung out for a little bit - it was really... nice, really nice. I think nice describes it well.

Then it was getting late and I'm getting old so we walked to the car and headed for the drill field. We also went up to the memorials Sunday with my mother, but I think I preferred being there late at night. It was more peaceful. The only lights on were the street lights, some spot lights on Burruss and the candles flickering, the only sounds were the rustling of the plastic wrappings on the flowers and occasional sniffle.

They also have the white boards in the middle of the field covered by a tent. There are memorials for all the victims (including Cho's family - the most powerful message there was on a single index card - "I forgive you... "). There were still the large, white boards for visitors to leave condolences. Cat and I left ours and headed to Backstreets for some food before we headed back home.

Sunday we took my mother back up there and then I spent most of the day avoiding doing the stuff I needed to do - i.e. filling out some forms, working, cleaning, etc.

Should be a good week.

There are no pictures from this weekend - another memory card error.

*If you don't know why, I'll tell you later.
** It's actually not that far, but I think you understand why it was for us the other night.
*** I don't know why the book is taking me so long, I honestly love the subject matter and his other books, I just can't seem to get into this one.