Holy crap, what a weekend. I don’t even know if I can come close to summing it up, so how about random tidbits instead? Yeah, that seems pretty close to normal.

Listened to metal on the way to Portland with Nathan and Davis. We practiced metal faces and did different parts of the music. I laugh so much when I’m with those two.
There’s something completely magical about sitting and reading while live music is being played. And not performance but practice.
I think by this point I owe Coral my firstborn. Seriously. She drove an hour (one way) to get me to my LSATs Saturday morning with a smile. And there was chocolate milk and breakfast.
Took my LSATs. By no means a perfect score, but I feel pretty good about it, all things told.
Had the awesome feeling walking out of the test of having *no* idea of how I was getting back to Portland. I love having actual things to deal with, and it helped me remember how trivial the test was so I didn’t freak out.
Saw some amazing musical exchanges (including throat singing along with violins, tombstones, drums, guitars, bass), some epically bad performance art, retied the MC’s tie, and mussed the lipstick of the lovely Unwoman.
Petra seriously makes the best cake ever, which just so happens to also be vegan. Good lord woman. She also picks out way rad restaurants and is an incredibly gracious hostess. Thank you.

Yesterday was spent getting together the LRS space for the concert. It was so fucking amazing. I love seeing people I care about for emotionally as well as wanting to share their musical abilities be received so warmly. The audience was amazing, the music was amazing, everything was just awesome. Everyone was incredibly helpful and engaging, and knowing that I have competent friends that will actually get shit done without prodding is enough to make me sane.

Many thanks to Red, first of all. She did an incredible amount of work within her very busy schedule and also keeps me structured and stable. I couldn’t do it without you, and I don’t think I’d want to. (so what’s next? 😀 )
Mel was kind enough to bring me up to Seattle so the gentlemen could spend more time practicing in Tacoma, and to run me around in her car so everything got done, no one had to walk terribly far, and I didn’t hyperventilate.
Jim came in as sound guy as a favor to Nathan with no knowledge of most of us or even what kind of music would be played. He did a fantastic job.
Michael made chocolates again (Naftali) which blew everyone away. I love his face when someone says “oh! You’re the chocolate guy!” He also looks fabulous in a suit. Le growl.
Thanks to Cristobat, Cameron, Kaleen, Danny, and Baron for helping with set up and break down, covering me when I had to do something (or just wanted to cavort through the fields), and helping to maintain sanity and capability levels.

It’s rare that I can find someone to be so chill around who I can also count on to pull through no matter what the circumstances. Every person involved with this project has shown themselves to be just that. I’m so lucky to have you all in my life.

Qais played some killer music for us while setup finished and the crowd got to know each other. It’s a blessing to have someone who covers all their own bases. You’d think it would be common sense, but I assure you it is rare.
Magpie had never played for a seated audience before and did a stellar job. He had them laughing at anecdotes and songs, visualizing his life without feeling alienated by something so different. Plus I’ve never heard “Sunshine” played so well.
Brandon was up next on cello, and for someone Nathan and I found on the street, he was incredibly professional, despite bow and pick-up troubles. At one point he was pulling out a song with the cello across his lap and the connection failed. The room went dead silent so everyone could still hear. Pretty damn magical.
Jill Tracy is Jill Tracy. She’s so cuttingly honest about all the pain that relationships can cause you, and yet you keep going back for more. How such a sultry voice comes out of such a wiry woman I’ll never know. I’m glad to have had the chance to get to know her.
Davis and Paul are on another planet. I don’t know how they pull it off, but the way they talk to each other without words on stage will forever baffle me. It makes my heart feel full and achy at the same time. If you ever have a chance to see these two, I cannot possibly encourage you enough to do so. I’d be willing to hog-tie you into a trunk if necessary, and not in that hot way. Well, ok, maybe in that hot way. And when they invited Brandon up on stage and he and Paul had it out, I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head. Fucking hell.
Nathan has also been up to crafty times. Not only did he back up The Ghosts and Jill on guitar or bass for some songs, he also wrote some new music for the event. You talented fuck (love youu). Jean-Paul backed up on bass, and Nathan and Paul had at on violins while Davis went nuts on drums. Finn danced in a cleared space. I drank some gin.

And then.

And then they went acoustic.

Everyone.

And there aren’t the words.

I had somehow forgotten how much I run around at events I’m running, which was hilarious. For whoever didn’t know that about me: I apologize. It wasn’t you. And I feel really good about this event and my abilities. Which doesn’t happen very often. Maybe I’ll wallow in it.

So now I’m not quite sure what to do with myself. I’d say I’m taking a week off, but you and I know that’ll last a whole 2 days before I start doing shit again. I guess it’s time to start looking at law schools, figuring out Indiana in December and New York/Boston in January, ECCC and SEAF, and more Transhumanist stuff. Holy crap, I may start getting 6 hours of sleep a night again. That would be exciting and new.

Thank you all.