Friday, August 8, 2003 11:37 p.m.

Currently listening to: In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction, Idlewild

Be warned, this is looooong. It's taken me, all together, about three hours to write. I hope there aren't too many mistakes. Anyway, on with the show.

Candice called me about Brisbane and Sum 41 at around 5pm yesterday. So I went to her house, but then there were people fighting all over the place, and I was really stressing that we wouldn't end up going. We went to bed fairly early just in case we did go, and I had multiple dreams about all the different ways I could end up not going. One of the dreams involved my ending up in Brisbane, being being unable to meet the boys anyway; so I start wandering around, and I end up at a spontaneous Good Charlotte gig that hadn't been advertised so that hardly anyone was there. By the time they were done playing though (can't remember any of the songs they did besides Bloody Valentine) there was a huge crowd behind me that had gathered during the show. After the band were done playing they kind of just stood around on the stage, not really doing anything, for about ten minutes. In fact, the only reason I knew the show was over was because there was no way a break between songs would go on for so long. So I'm sitting on the floor of this big hall, staring at the stage because hey, there's Good Charlotte!, and for some reason I'm looking at Joel a lot and smiling. Then he's, like, looking at me as well, and because I'm smiling he smiles back. Then he gestures to me to come closer, and when I step up to the stage he hands me a clear plastic divided container full of guitar pics. I'm obviously meant to keep it, so I take it from him, extremely grateful. Joel then jumped off the stage and gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek. I remember vividly that he was much, much taller than me (like, over a foot) and this seemed to prevent me from entering groupiedom (I actually remember Joel being all "damn! You're pretty cute, if only you weren't so short!" but in a really nice way). I was about to introduce him to my family, who had mysteriously shown up, when...

Daniel woke Candice and I up (at 6:30 for early leaving) and told us that their Mum had decided that she would drive us to the train station after all. So I'm half asleep and trying to get dressed, saying hi to Lauren because she was coming with us and arrived earlier than I've ever left home before, and all the while thinking that Joel might not be as much of a bitch as I thought. In case it matters, for the trip my outfit was tributing Billy (pink eyeshadow, black and white striped shirt, arm stockings, emo bands) and both Benji and Johnny Knoxville (black hi-top Chucks, eee!). So everyone got dressed, fought over the train timetable, and we left... only to miss the train we were planning to catch. So we hung around in Palmwoods for half-an-hour. Don't go into the Palmwoods newsagent unless you have to; the woman that works there is a shit. We took our business elsewhere. No, we actually just went back to the train station since the train was meant to be arriving soon.

Candice and Beau bought mine and Lauren's train tickets because we like to beat the system (and get on for half price), and so we totally, like, got on the train. Whoa, that was unnecessary. Anyway, on the train we met these two guys who were trying to catch a train to the Coast by going south because some people, including them, are special. We were telling them all about the planned meeting of Sum 41, and about how we were going to get pissed (though I dislike that term because it sounds stupid) and they were totally into it. When they got off the train, Lauren told me that they were both *ahem*staring at my chest the whole time*splutter*, and although I noticed the one across from me looking at me strangely, I didn't see the other one look once. So I dunno. As on any train trip to Brisbane, the best part was passing the station named Geebung.

We arrived in the City at around 10:30, and headed straight out to first locate the Queen Street Mall, stopping at Woolworths for a cheap, late breakfast (I got a single stick of celery and a bottle of water; cost of water: $1.30, cost of celery: 10 cents). Once we found the Mall we went into HMV because it was rightthere (space purposely missing), in which there was nothing I wanted besides the Hedwig soundtrack. I couldn't bring myself to spend that much money that quickly, so we left. Beau bought the GC poster I was going to buy in Canberra, on which Billy looks beautiful. Since it's also rightthere we went to Rave for T-Shirt purchasing. As I explained earlier, my Must Buy list featured four items. I found out yesterday that the Mest DVD was no longer around, so that was one down that I couldn't get. And at Rave, there was another devastation: No GC shirts left. No Sum 41 badge either, but I can deal with that. But the lack of GC shirt really upset me. Candice's Marilyn Manson shirt was gone, too. It was sucky. But they had a badge with the cover of Razorblade Romance on it, so now my bag is prettied up with Ville.

Next we headed to Skinny's so that we could do some CD shopping before the Yay Sum 41ers arrived, after stopping at a souvenir store so that Beau could buy postcards with naked women on them for each of the band members. He wrote them each a message, and included his phone number, and it was so funny I was totally, like, cacking myself. What exactly is "cacking", anyway? After my devastations I wasn't expecting to have to spend too much money. Shit was I wrong. First I found the freakin' Mest album I ordered in on Monday, for $28.50. So I got that, and still have to cancel the order (and hopefully get my deposit back). Then I grabbed AFI's Sing The Sorrow, because nowhere else will I get it for $19.95. International Velvet by Catatonia, which I've wanted for ages, was $19.50, so I had to get that. Then Daniel found HIM’s Love Metal for $26.50 (or $26.95... I can't remember, and can't be bothered checking) so that was gotten too. Candice got a copy as well, when I got mine, and Daniel got a copy when we went back for Sum 41 later on (We're like Ville's Australian sponsors). And then, even though I'd pretty much accepted that I would never own a copy of it and everyone was telling me to hurry my shit up, I checked the Idlewild section; The Remote Part for $19.50. Fuck yeah, baybeee! So I had to get that too. All up it was $113 worth of CDs in about half an hour. I felt kind of bad, but all of my comrades felt it was best for me to make the purchases so I did. I don't know whether or not I'm glad yet.

We went to Gypsy Rose and got bitchin' make-up (mine's purple glitter, for $6.50), then to JB Hi-Fi (found a HIM single for $16.95, got that) then The Rockinghorse (got nothing, whinged about the Mest DVD some more since that was where I was meant to be getting it from). We went to Hungry Jack's for lunch, and while everyone else watched a one-man band I ran to City Beach and finally, after talking about it for weeks, got a Benji-flavoured pyramid belt. Then it was off to line up at Skinny's for the meeting of Sum 41.

The wait for us was about two-and-a-half hours all together. The hugest wanker was right near us in the line. First he started bragging about how when he had to decide whether he paid his phone bill or went to see Avril Lavigne, he chose Avril. Then he started talking, to anyone who would listen, about how he hated Sum 41, and loved Iron Maiden, and how he'd made a certificate thing that took him an hour to make, and said "We Officially suck compared to Iron Maiden, signed Sum 41", with spaces for all four members to sign. I think everyone within a ten metre radius was feeling strong hate for this guy, but Daniel saved us all with "Iron Maiden sucks, you poofta!", which got a whole lot of claps from people we didn't know.

When we actually got into the shop, and they were right there? Guh, major nervousness. Cone is as beautiful, if not more so, than I thought he would be. Deryck is weird, because he looks like he's older than the other three, but is embarrassingly short. Dave is just Dave, same as I thought he'd be. Steve is much thinner and cuter in person. Seriously, I never cared that much for him, but he's quite good looking. The way it worked was the guys were all sitting at a table, and the line just filed past them so that you could get each of them to sign something. I got them to sign my In Too Deep single. Now for the story of my shame. The first person everyone came to was Steve, and when he thanked me for coming I freaked out because he just sounded really Canadian, you know? So I, being an arse, said "Great accent! Really Canadian!” and he looked at me like I was insane, and was all "Really? Imagine that!". I tried to save myself, but just dug a deeper hole when I said, "Well, I suppose it could be more so...". He just stared at me like I was an utter moron (which I was), but at least he shook my hand, which is cool. At least I didn't point out the fact that he was wearing the same shoes as me, because I was really tempted to ask him how he tied them. Now that I think about it that would have been a lot less stupid than what I did say. Candice was at this point getting Deryck and Cone to lean towards each other so that she could take the one picture left on her camera, and I kind of just... stopped... talking, because hey, there's Mr Jay McCasslin, the most beautiful thing I've lately seen up close. His hair was a pretty orangey red, and he was wearing a baseball cap. I honestly have no idea what I said to him, because beautiful people are hypnotic like that. Candice was feeling it too; when she took her picture her hand was shaking so much that she had to put her bag down and hold the camera with both hands. When I got up to Deryck, he seemed too professional. Didn't really say anything, just signed my CD and moved on. Sad, because I'd always thought he'd be one of the more talkative band members.

Candice and I probably made the best "connection" (obsessive groupie type alert!) with Dave. He asked us if we were coming to their show, and I was like, "Nah, no money, and it sold out". He told us we should sneak in, but I said we had to go home, which was far, far away (no, I said an hour-and-a-half away; by car an over-estimation, by train an under-estimation). He was like, "Damn! Oh well". I just like the way he was actually, you know, making conversation. Not that I didn't have a conversation with Steve, but it wasn't exactly the kind of conversation I want to be having, is it?

We got away from Skinny's at 5:10pm, so we had to hurry our arses back to Rave so that Beau could see if he wanted to get a T-Shirt. Well surprise, surprise, some fucking bitchin' (heh, bitchin') GC shirts had arrived since we were last there. Not only did they have the one I'd been planning to get (black, "Good Charlotte" on the front, the birds on the back), but also the one that had only been in guy's sizes last time I'd been in the city (red, "Good Charlotte" in the fancy writing, "est. 1996, Waldorf", etc.). They were both my size too, so I tried 'em on, and for some reason the red fit better (and honestly, I think it was nicer anyway), so I paid my $40, and I now have a GC shirt! Beau got an AFI shirt, and it's hella nice one. I kind of wanted it for myself. He was stressing that it made him look gay (it was a little on the small side, what with it being a girls shirt), and although we convinced him otherwise, I think he looks pretty gay most of the time.

After purchasing, we headed back to Hungry Jack's where some people had dinner and others (read: me) had DC. Then we walked to the train station, missed the train, and had to wait until 7:10 for the next one. When we finally got on the train I was extremely tired, because I was coming down from a major fuckin' Sum 41-related high. After we changed trains at Caboolture, we found Katherine Ross from school, so Candice and I sat with her and she told us about people we used to know. That's how I found out about the girl that killed herself. Katherine got off at Landsborough, and then we got off at Nambour. Candice's Dad drove me home.

And that (thank God) is the very End.