Tour blog #7

Decatur, GA - I absolutely loved our show in Georgia. I had never been to Georgia before, and everyone was super friendly and super excited, which somehow just really energized me for playing another week of shows after the insanity of VidCon and then Infinitus back-to-back. There were almost 200 people there, and they also brought us a lot of really nice presents (including delicious cupcakes, stuffed sparkly snakes, and this adorable little pink haired rocker girl figurine that I love).

The show was supposed to be in the library but it got moved last minute to the basement of a church (on account of broken air-conditioning, so this was a very good thing). The highlight of this show for me was that I met the girl who was the first one to tell me about the hilarious phrase that is the "5head". We took pictures of our 5heads together.

Apex, NC - This was the start of our two-show stint in North Carolina. The funniest thing happened there; Luke and I started talking to this super nice couple that came to our show, and I kept thinking the guy looked familiar, but I didn't say anything. He and Luke were talking music production, and the girlfriend and I were talking about how we always just smile and nod when our boyfriends are talking music production.. and then FINALLY, the guy (Scott) turns to me and says, "You probably don't remember this, but you know the YouTube username fiveironscott?"

And then I FREAKED out. THAT'S why he looked so familiar! Back when I started on YouTube (before I even had my first 1,000 subscribers or anything) this guy fiveironscott used to leave me video responses and comment on everything I did because he seemed sure I was going to be famous on YouTube someday (and I just thought he was crazy). It's been over a year since I'd even heard from him, and 3 years since he used to leave me video responses, but yet I still recognized him. It was awesome to meet him, and it occurred to me how many people from my past on the internet I have encountered on this tour.

I forgot to mention this in the relevant blog post, but at Infinitus I was hanging out at the merch table when this girl comes up to me and says, "Hey Kristina, you used to go to the site Portkey.org, right? And you used to chat on that exclusive thread called Wonky, yeah?" I nodded, and she goes, "I did too. My username was TurletheInsane or something." And I was like "Courtney!" because yes, I did remember her, because this weird little thread on this weird little Harry Potter shipping site was a huge part of my life for over a year. There are so many people scattered across this country that I have been getting to meet and I feel so, so lucky.

That night we stayed with the Blibbering Humdingers (well, Matt, Lauren, Eia and Justin stayed with them, while Luke, Kathleen and I stayed at their friend's house 5 minutes away) and we had this amazing feast of macaroni and cheese and chips and salsa and the most amazing pesto (made by Kirsten) that I've ever had. We invented this Triscuit/pesto/sliced strawberry combination that sounds gross but was amazing.

Apparently there was a ghost named Dennis at the house we stayed at that night, and Luke/Kathleen/I were not sure if she was serious about the ghost or not (she seemed pretty serious about him - told us that he hates new people and that he'd try to keep us up at night) but I heard nothing out of Dennis.

Chapel Hill, NC - Before we headed over to the show, Kathleen needed to go to a comic book store to get the next book in some series she's reading, and even though she ended up not finding it there, Luke caught sight of the Magic The Gathering starter packs. He's always trying to turn me into a bigger nerd than I already am, and TCGs have been on his list of things to get me to like for awhile, so he bought one for each of us. I got the blue/white kit with a pretty sweet looking sphinx on the front. The rest of roflcoptour made fun of us. I reminded them that they play music about Harry Potter. They shut up.

Luke didn't actually know exactly how to play (since he used to play the WoW TCG, which is similar but not the same) so we pulled out the directions, and after we set up the merch tables and the sound system, Luke and I played our first match right there in the Chapel Hill library (before they let the fans in) and I totally whooped him. Yess!

Our second North Carolina show was pretty on par with the first one; we played in this cute little meeting room and had a pretty similar sized crowd. We met this girl who was dressed like Luna, and I don't know if she was acting or just being herself, but she was the most like Luna Lovegood that I have EVER met in anyone. Luke an I decided she made the show for us. There was also these two girls who we deemed the biggest ALL CAPS fans ever, who showed up in homemade ALL CAPS thirst and gave us this AWESOME gift basket. I'm looking at it right now on the seat next to me, so I am going to name everything inside.

1. Monsters Inc. activity book.
2. Transformers coloring book.
3. Twistables crayons.
4. Travel sized Hungry Hungry Hippos.
5. Rainbow cookies.
6. Cupcakes in a popcorn tub that LOOK LIKE POPCORN. The girls made them themselves, with little white and yellow marshmallows.

Probably the best gift we've received on tour yet.

With only two shows left, I am starting to get a little sad about tour ending. I definitely went through my "I am tired of this and want to go home" phase last week, when my voice problem was really bad and we still had Infinitus ahead of us (which I knew was going to be an exhausting weekend); but now that we're on the other side of that obstacle, I'm starting to get a little sentimental. Aside from the troubles, aside from the ridiculous amount of driving, aside from waking up early and never getting quite enough sleep, aside from being in confined spaces with the same people for almost a month… this has been an amazing experience and I'm reluctant to let it go. I've loved meeting new fans night after night. I'm not even tired of the other band's sets yet. I've enjoyed playing foursquare all across the country, and spending time in the car with Eia/Justin/Luke, and staying in hotels, and eating at new restaurants, and really, just being part of something like this.

Touring is really fun. It's tiring, and at times it's hard, but it's so, so fun. I'm going to remember this experience forever, and going home (though it will be amazing to sleep in my own bed) is going to be such a lifestyle change after being on the go for this entire month. Especially since I am now done with college, and don't really KNOW what going home is going to mean for me. I'm excited to begin the next chapter of my life, but turning the page on this chapter will be sad for me.

Chipotle burritos: 15
Random street sign right now: Speed limit enforced by AIRCRAFT.