Around Town

Beer, Bourbon, BBQ= Burnt

Most of my friends who know me know that I’m not much of a beer drinker so for me to go to the Beer, Bourbon + BBQ festival was kind of a big deal.  To celebrate this momentous occasion we went big- VIP tickets.  Go big or go home!  Having VIP tickets meant you could gain access to the Beer, Bourbon + BBQ Festival at noon, which meant we had two extra hours to get a head start on drinking before it opened up to rest of attendees at 2pm.    Let’s just say I was there for a solid six hours.  Six hours of drinking, six hours of getting sunburned, and six hours of pure fun.

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Y’all like my Beer, Bourbon + BBQ souvenir glass?
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I’ll confess. I bought one of those cheesy necklaces that holds your drink. It actually came in handy.
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With my friend Natalie before things got a little fuzzy.

I learned to things in attending the Beer, Bourbon + BBQ Festival:

  • I love pumpkin ale.
  • I hate bourbon.

One of the guys that went with us pretty much peer pressured me into drinking some of the bourbon.  Yes, at the age of 31 I was peer pressured.  Regardless, I did not celebrate drinking bourbon.  Had it been mixed with Ginger Ale, I probably would have handled it better than making a hideous face whenever I tried to drink it straight up.  As I’m typing this, I’m cringing at the thought of drinking bourbon.  Did I mention it was hot as all get out?  Hot bourbon, y’all.  Ick!

By the time the festival opened up to the rest of the ticket holders at 2pm, I couldn’t feel my brain.  (Not being able to feel my brain = being tipsy).  The rest of the day was a bit of a haze, due to the heat and alcohol consumption…. and no I did not get white girl wasted where I couldn’t remember the rest of the day.  Although I did discover I had bought an $8 jar of jelly.  That’s correct, an $8 jar of jelly.

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I present to you my $8 One Screw Loose jelly. Someone go find me some high-end peanut butter.

That’s what happens when you drink all day, you go home with high-end jelly.

I’m going to leave with you one last photo.  Don’t be like this guy who passed out beside the trashcan, otherwise someone like myself will come along and snap some pictures of you.

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Trashcan fail.
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My Bucket List of Bands

Make It Rain

This is a belated concert post.

Maybe I’m still trying to process the L’il Wayne + T.I. concert or maybe I’m in denial that I was at a concert venue with filled with hot messes.  Nonetheless, this is a belated post.

I suppose I’ll start from the very beginning.

Of course there had to be a torrential downpour before the concert. Not cool.  Luckily we came prepared with ponchos and raincoats.  As we sat in the car at Walnut Creek Amphitheater waiting for the rain to ease up we couldn’t help but watch in horror all the tragically dressed girls getting out of their cars.  (A little bit about Walnut Creek; it’s a massive outdoor venue which I despise and it’s like walking through the shire like on Lord of the Rings).  Like I said earlier, it was POURING rain… girls were emerging from their cars in stripper shoes and what looked like outfits from 5-7-9 or _____.  Most of them were wearing sizes that were too small or too short.  My deer in the headlight expression made me realize, this is what’s wrong with society… it’s going downhill. Then again, maybe I’m getting old and that’s my age talking.

So as we were making the long trek to the gates, two girls fell. One of the girls was wearing heels… in the rain… walking on grass.  She should have known better.  The other girl was wearing white shorts and literally fell on her butt in a puddle.  When she got up, let’s just say it looked like “oops I crapped my pants.”  I laughed at both girls.  I always laugh when people fall and I give permission to people to laugh at me when I fall.

Once we approached the gates… it was still raining and our feet were wet from all the rain (maybe my choice of wearing Havaianas flip flops wasn’t the smartest decision I made).  As we were hanging out waiting in line a surge of people started coming towards us and I was sandwiched in a mass crowd.  I’m still surprised I didn’t have a massive panic attack, I get claustrophobic easily.  It was pure chaos.  I had a couple to my left smoking cigarettes and blowing their cancer stick smoke into my face (apparently they weren’t raised with proper etiquette… don’t do that) and I was literally sandwiched between two dudes.  I was pretty much violated.  There was no such thing as “personal space” while we waited.  While standing there, I thought to myself I’m going to get trampled and die.  My parents would have to tell friends + family that I was trampled to death while waiting in line to see L’il Wayne + T.I. and that all was left of me was my North Face raincoat.  Alas, I survived and made it safely in.

After we all got beers (we needed them after dealing with all the chaos), we decided to hangout in a gazebo to regain our composure and strategize our next move.  It was there we met Gilligan from Gilligan’s Island.

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Before Gilligan went on a 3 hour tour

Once we found a spot on the lawn everything was much better.  T.I. put on an amazing performance (he’s my jam) and L’il Wayne is quite the talker.  We left early because 1. We didn’t want to get caught in the mass chaos and, 2. We had a hankering for empanada and wanted Calavera.

Final Thoughts:

I doubt I’ll go back to Walnut Creek.  It would have to be someone absolutely amazing for me to see to go back to that hell hole and I would purchase seats, not lawn seats. Speaking of Walnut Creek, they really  need to work on maintaining their bathrooms.  Not only did a majority of the toilets didn’t work, but I also saw a sink hanging out of the wall. Classy.  I’d like to thank those I got to witness who fell down, thanks for the laughter.  I needed it.