Meant to do this update on my birthday (like, 5 days ago), obviously, but some things prevented me from doing so. Those things include:

1) Concert (Friday- 5/30)
2) Work
3) Music stuff

I will now proceed to update you on all three.

1)Concert- As was noted in Claire's ( ) journal, she, Rachel ( ) and I (along with our friends Heather, DJ, and Chris Tucker- none of whom have dA's that I'm aware of) all went to the St. Louis date for PATD's Honda Civic Tour, held at the Pageant. Rachel and I got there around 6:30 am. I baked like a cookie in the sun 'cause I'm an idiot and forgot to put on sunscreen. I have a ridiculous farmer's tan now, but 12+ hours in the sun will do that to you.

Rachel had meet and greet with the Panic boys, so we had a little idea while in line for something for them to sign, but I'll get to that in a minute...

The concert itself was pretty fantastic. I got a little close to passing out a few times, and the bitches behind us in line pulled a nice little slide right by us in line. Suffice it to say I was pissed at their tiny-skirts and heels-wearing asses, but that's neither here nor there.

Back to those items I was referring to- yeah. Rachel had a plastic tambourine with her- to play with the music I suppose. I never did get a clear picture WHY she brought them, but she did. So, bored in line, she asks me to draw Justin Pierre (lead singer of Motion City Soundtrack: [link] ) on it in Sharpie. So I do. Then she gets the idea to call her mom and have her bring another tambourine with her when she comes so I can draw Panic on that one, and have them sign it. XD

The Justin one took me about 5 minutes, and the Panic one took me about half an hour...and lots and LOTS of stress. XDDD Photos will be posted at some point.

Back to the concert synopsis:

Phantom Planet was first, and I was both entertained and amused by them- I shall have to look into them further.

Hush Sound followed, and were amazing, as I had expected. Greta renewed some of my hope in becoming a female vocalist- she's a great example and role model in that regard, I think.

Motion City Soundtrack was next, and I don't have words to describe how utterly astounding they were. But then again, they're always fantasmically good. XD There are parts of me that liked seeing them better than Panic, but the fangirl in me will deny that until my last breath passes.

Matt Taylor, their bassist, saw Rachel playing the tambourine with Justin's face on it and asked her to hand it to him, where, on stage, he showed it to the entire crowd, gushing about how much he liked it before handing it back. Sure, similar things have happened in the past, but I'm still just as stoked.

Then came the headliners- the Vegas foursome we've all come to know and love. <3 Well, at least I have. XD They had a much more playful air about them- you could tell they were having just as good a time on stage as their fans were in the crowd. I was particularly impressed by Brendon's handling of a shrieking girl with a sign reading "Will you marry me?"- he smiled his killer smile and said something like "sorry, no". She screamed- I LOVE YOU!. And he, calmly, yet still smiling said "I love you too" and I just busted up as the whole crowd went nuts. Expect some Bdon fanarts to come soon. ^^

As I mentioned before, Rachel got to meet the Panic guys- they all signed their tambourine, too. Ryan actually asked her if she drew it and she said something along the lines of "No, my awesome best friend drew it." to which he responds "I want to meet this awesome best friend of yours." He saw her playing it in the crowd later on, but did little more than point.

I think I might make tambourine art a more regular part of my concert-going regimen.

2) Work- I'm sick of never having enough money. I'm thinking this fall I'm going to have a full-time gig teaching at Gibson Brown. That's still up in the air, but I will likely be teaching SOMEwhere this fall while I got to school three days a week. I'm also thinking of investing some time into being a bar back. I'm'a do some more research and get back on this.

3) Music stuff- Had my first bass "lesson" with Mrs. Cacciotoli yesterday. I've got a blues lick in the key of A to learn as well as part of the bass line for "Shadowplay". I'm stoked, to say the least....now if only I could get Claire's mom to teach me to sing... *dreams*

Speaking of singing- for anyone who cares. I think I've got a couple new vocal tricks up my sleeve now, due to some practicing and nonsensical moments. XD

Also, I wrote another song which may or may not get posted. It's a bit angrier, and has parts of a tune to it. Lemme know if you wanna see it.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Claire has started her zine, for which I am super-proud. You need to read her, and you need to read her NOW. IF ANY OF YOU WATCHERS EVER LOVED ME OR MY FOBART, YOU'D READ HER STUFF RIGHT NOWWWW.

But seriously- I'm getting that feeling that this is gonna be big. Like the feeling you'd get if you met Pete Wentz as a kid. You'd go: this is gonna be huge. I'm getting that vibe from Claire's work- no joke. I don't get this feeling a lot, mind you.

I frankly just feel honored to be doing the logo for her. I really want to make sure I don't fuck it up- especially since I know how important this is to her. Please- go read her stuff now.

Kindly visit her page and check her out.

She may not be starting a HeyChris-esque zine, but that doesn't mean she doesn't get a plug: Rachel's got some of her writing up now, so you REALLY need to swing by and check it out. I don't know how I managed to get TWO writers as best friends, but I'm certainly not complaining.

Since I can't think of anything else to say and I need to clean the kitchen, I'm'a leave on that note.

Thanks for reading.
-Mel