To Infinity

Last week I had the privilege of seeing my good friends in Kiros play a show. The first time I saw them, Eli and I ended up getting Taco Bell with them and eating in their van. The second time (2 days later) I drove through rush hour traffic by myself to see them play at some random church where they would be the only people I knew. Somewhere in between, Eli and I joined them for a frigid game of disc golf that involved a lot of embarrassment on my part, which resulted in Neil taking his frisbee away from me so I wouldn't lose it and subsequently throwing it in a half-frozen swamp and losing it himself.

But back to the original story.

I picked up Gill and Cara and we drove out to the show. We got lost, and when we finally found the place it turned out the be the same small church they'd played at before. I WAS COMING FROM THE NORTH THEN, OK? And this time we came from the south. Through the really shady part of town with like, boarded up factories where kids smoked weed all day. No, I'm not stereotyping, jumping to conclusions, or even exaggerating: driving home again, the entire town reeked of Mary Jane.

We found the church and went in. After a minute I spotted Tyler, the drummer, and tackled him with a hug. Tyler has long hair, sweet glasses, and the greatest sleeve ever (it's based on a verse from Ezekiel. It says so on his wrist.) After that we found Ryan, the guitarist, who also got tackled with a hug. Equally long-haired. Less inked. Much sillier (and that's quite a statement if you've met Tyler). Then I found Neil, the lead guitarist, who to me was sort of like the Scarecrow to Dorothy - I got to know him first and thus grew to like him best. The comparison was made perfect by the straw hat he was wearing, which I stole and Gill changed the price tag to read $100.50 (it was only .50 before). At last I ran into Barry, the clean-cut lead singer/bassist. He's got a lot of heart and passion - but offstage, the other guys tend to overshadow him with their antics.

We also met a fellow I dubbed "Buzz Lightyear" because I didn't catch his name and he'd already dubbed us "Mandy, Candy and Sandy" (without anyone telling him my name was Mandii o_O). After that, it was only right that I return the nicknaming favor. He was excited to meet some people that weren't little youth group kids. We were, too. Everyone else there (except the band) was a little youth group kid. I forgot how much that holier than thou vibe drives me insane. But in my impressionable high school years, I was one of them, so I can hardly criticize. They put on a skit before Kiros played, which is only worth mentioning because the kid who played Jesus was later overheard devouring popcorn and telling his friend how blazed he was.

Then the guys finally took the stage. Unfortunately, there were a lot of problems with the audio, and even after a mid-show five-minute break for a hula hooping showdown between Tyler and Ryan, the issue still wasn't resolved. I was sorry Gill and Cara didn't get to see them at their best, but. Water under the bridge.

We hung around after the show and I invited the band to Dairy Queen, promising that we would pay for their ice cream. They wanted to make sure they spent time with all the fans, plus they had to pack up their gear, so it was a while before we got out of there. I was so hungry that Tyler went to find me some pizza, and when he brought back a slice of pepperoni, I devoured it. Someone kept squirting at me with a water gun and it was really pissing me off.

We finally hit the road, with the kids Kiros was staying with in tow, only to find that Dairy Queen was long closed. We ended up at another pit of fast food filth, McDonald's, where Ryan thoroughly infuriated the lady taking orders by asking why certain items weren't on the menu if they were, in fact, available. Then, while we waited for our ice cream, he stuck his finger up my nose. All I have to say about that is, someone recently told me that "unwanted penetration" is the definition of rape.

But maybe I deserved it. I did, after all, try to fish the $20 he stole from me out of his pocket when he wouldn't give it back.

We annoyed the hell out of the Mickey's staff until someone remembered that we had lil babies with us, who needed to be brought home at a reasonable hour, and we parted ways. Ryan made me promise to wear my heart shaped sunglasses to the show the following day and stand in the front row right where he plays so he could take them and wear them during his solo. I promised. I nabbed Neil's hat again and said he could have it tomorrow. Hugs all around, and then Gill, Cara and I drove back to Gill's house, enjoying that delicious buzz that comes from a night full of good music, good friends, and good ice cream (and had nothing to do with driving through Weedville.)