Happy Birthday to me, my twin sister, my brother in law and the key board player from My Chemical Romance

Last Saturday was my birthday. That would obviously make it Tori's birthday, too. Her husband's birthday is the day after ours. To celebrate our birthdays we had dinner with family and friends at The Spaghetti Factory. Fun and spaghetti was had by all. Tori and I ordered chocolate martini's. Unfortunately when they were delivered to us they were clear. I have had this trick pulled on me before and I don't appreciate it. For some reason there is an unwritten joke in the universe that if you pour a glass full of iced frangelico and call it a chocolate martini no one will notice there there is not a drop of chocolate in the glass. A couple of times I have accepted this act of maleficence but I was not about to do so on my birthday. Tori and I marched up to the bar and we were promptly ignored by the bartenders. Did they not SEE the ribbons dangling from our shirts declaring that we were birthday girls? It took us about 10 minutes but we finally got a drink with chocolate involved. In my, & Tori's, quest to find the perfect chocolate martini...The Spaghetti Factory, along with Princess Cruises, are both out of the running. Not even an honorable mention. Anyway...I digress...the salad and spaghetti were wonderful. I stopped just short of licking my plate and was shocked to see that most of my neighbors had to request "to go" boxes for their spaghetti. Amateurs.

I got a lot of beautiful gifts...an outdoor solar lamp with kitties on it, a trip to San Diego, flamingo pajamas, lounge wear, an outfit including SHOES, a picture frame, bathroom accouterments, and a gift certificate for See's Candy with a warning that I was not to share this box of candy with Ashleigh and Lorenzo! (new post about them to follow, but after the way they've been acting it will not be difficult to not share my box of candy with them.)

The day after our birthday dinner I took Rebekah to see "My Chemical Romance" at the Anaheim Convention Center. As per usual we had to park in the east 40 which is basically in Garden Grove.
We had to pass many doors before we could find the proper door that would allow us access to the "pit". I knew we had finally found it when I saw this sign posted, "MOSH AREA. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK." This was one of those moments where the question, "Am I too old for this?", crossed my mind. The opening band was playing when we got there and unfortunately for Bek we got there just in time to hear them play the very last note to their very last song. When the lights came up the crowd kind of burped as people headed for the restrooms and the bar. Bek and I were salmon swimming up stream as we weaseled our way toward the front of the stage. We were about 5 rows back at first but after a very few minutes enough people had crowded in front of us and that put us about 10 rows back. Of course "Fatzilla" wound up standing in front of Rebekah, and I was next to a bunch of squirrely, shrieking girly girls. Psycho Mike from KROQ came out and got the crowd pumped up before the band came out and that was all it took for me. It instantly got too hot and too crowded. I told Bek to ring my phone so that we were sure we could find each other. It worked like a charm, and with that I told her that I would be standing in the back of the pit where there was sure to be more air and less people. Once I found a nice spot right next to the sound board I text messaged her so that she would know where I was in case the crowd got to be too much for her. She didn't respond to my text. I texted her again. No response. I thought about trying to go back into the mob and finding her and just then the music started. There was no way the crowd was going to let me back in, and plus there was no way of knowing that Rebek would be exactly where I left her. She had sworn to me that she would make it up to the front of the stage and I really didn't doubt that she would.
The music was loud and wonderful. The band was amazing. Their last album is called, "Welcome to the Black Parade", and apparently they fancy them selves as members of a marching band in the black parade. They were all wearing black band uniforms. It was amazing to me how they could rock like maniacs, jump and sing and dance while wearing long sleeve jackets all buttoned up to their chins. I was wearing a tank top and I was not standing under the lights or near the pyrotechnics and I was too hot. I could feel the sound reverberating off of my stomach. There were strobe lights flashing and fire pots bursting. Each song was an audience sing-a-long. There was dancing, there was moshing, there was "floating", (this is when the crowd picks someone up over their heads, horizontally, and people keep him suspended over their heads and move him all over the room by moving him from hand to hand,etc.) There were several people doing fast and furious punk versions of swing dancing. The band sang "Happy Birthday" to their key board player and of course as I sang along I put my name in there, too.

I saw kids as young as 5 years old out there with their parents. That never ceases to blow me away. It is amazing to me that they can tolerate such loud music but I guess some people are just born to rock and roll. And at the price of tickets I just can't help but think that a baby sitter would have been much, much cheaper.

The band sang every song I wanted to hear and yet when the concert was over I thought that it was over too soon. They ended with "I'm Not OK" and "Helena". Even though I was standing among a couple thousand of my closest friends I danced and sang, "I'm Not OK" as if I were in front of my bedroom mirror with a hair brush for a microphone. I was awesome and I will be waiting for the call from the band asking me to join them on the road.

When the concert was truly over I stood at the only door and waited for Rebekah to emerge. My phone rang and I heard her ask me where I was...I told her I was standing at the door and we stayed on the line until I saw her tiny figure emerge from the crowd. I was not prepared to see what I saw next. The bright eyed, hair straightened, meticulously made up, neat and tidy little daisy now resembled something along the line of a banshee. Her hair was standing on end. Her cheeks were so pink that I thought she had been slapped. Her shirt was completely soaked and her mascara was running down her face. "OH MY GOD AUNTIE!!!!", she said. A total wave of panic washed over my body. What in the hell was I thinking leaving this little girl out in a mosh pit all by herself. She'd obviously been tattered and torn and it was all my fault because I was not there to protect her. She continued to talk in a voice that only dogs could hear and was showing me her shaking hands. I am the worst aunt in the world. She will never recover. Once we got a couple of steps outside of the arena I realized what she was telling me. Apparently as soon as I left her she managed to weasel her way to the front of the stage where she proceeded to rock her socks off. "Gerard spit on me!!!", she said with glee. "HE SPIT ON ME." (Uh, yay?) "And did you see when he threw his arm band out to the crowd?" (yes, I did.) "I caught it. I had it in my hands and then this old lady, who looked like Sue from Survivor, ripped it out of my hands. I grabbed it back and we were FIGHTING over it. Her boyfriend grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards the woman's arm was in front of my face so I BIT HER! She pulled my hair and the only reason I let go of the arm band was because there was an open safety pin on it and it was cutting my hand." I was so excited for Rebek that she actually caught such a coveted item but I was instantly incensed that someone would have the nerve to snatch it out of her hand. I wanted to find that woman and climb up her back and beat her until she gave the arm band back to Rebek. Why are some people so selfish and thoughtless? As we walked through the halls of the arena Bek pulled WADs of hair off of her arm and shirt. I was hoping that it belonged to the woman but Bek was pretty sure that she was the original owner.

We had no idea how to get back to the car as the crowd was being ushered in one direction. Oddly enough everyone had to walk past the souvenir stands before they went out of the building. Bek wanted a tee shirt. We stood in line for about 45 minutes. (yay, more standing!) I told her that this was her birthday present so she could have whatever she wanted. I honestly thought she'd pick 2 tee shirts and a jacket and a flag and her very OWN arm band, but she decided on one jacket. Everything else had skulls on it and she was certain that she wouldn't be allowed to wear them, but it still surprised me when she decided on one item.

A good time was had by all but I don't think I will buy general admission pit passed for myself again. In fact I think I will start a petition that they should now implement a "Lazy Boy" section. Cuz that's just how I roll.