the arizona bar crush story pt. 2..

off we go then.. i tried to get someone to go wing for me, but there weren't really any takers and billy made a good point that i needed to just fly solo and fucken do it.. true enough, but as i've said i puss out so a wing is good to push at the right time and then know when to get the hell out.. seemed solo would be the way to go tho so i was trying to gear up for it.. ok, so off to the party..


we had one of the hotel shuttles with driver all to ourselves for the night so i hopped a ride over on the shuttle.. he took a really weird route in order to avoid bar traffic on the main streets so i got a little turned around.. (another imprtant detail..) then i had him run me to get a pack of smokes so i got even more turned around, but i figured i was only gonna have a couple drinks (so as not to lose my senses but still gain a little liquid courage) and could at least get pointed in the right direction.. none to worry, right??

so in i go and cailen decides he's gonna go wing after all.. awesome.. plus he knows better how to get there so i won't get lost (which has been happening a lot lately).. i get a couple drinks from the bar, talk to a few people i want, and a couple people i don't, and quite randomly, minnie (just thought of my aunt minnie for some reason and figured that would be a good substitution), who was one of the cast, beautiful, very cool, but who i had not exchanged more than a few pleasantries with, and not ever partied with that i can remember (before this obviously) says, "hey head, you want some shrooms??" it's closing night.. yea i want some shrooms..

fork in the road anyone??

she had already eaten some, so i went and got a drink to chase mine and off we went.. good, good shit my friends.. homegrown botanist cross-bread grown on straw awesomeness.. half hour later ate some more.. 15 minutes later it was on.. and minnie and i were hangin out and smokin and whatnot and bein all touchy-like you do when you're trippin (kj i loveded you!! even if you aren't on myspace yet)..

now it's about 12:30 am, and i'm already half an hour past when i wanted to hit the tiki.. i send cailen a couple texts tellin him to come out and get me so i could gracefully leave the presence of a beautiful girl who got me seriously fucked up so i could hang out with another beautiful girl who i wanted to intellectually fuck.. physically would've been nice to, but i was really looking for that good banter again.. turn on my brain, turn on the rest of me.. go gemini!! well of course...

no cailen..

no cailen..

and no cailen.. little did i know he was fall the fuck down drunk and couldn't even text me back..

12:45 and billy comes out.. "head!! you have somewhere to be.. go.. by yourself.. now!!" well, the boss gave me an order..

"minnie i have a thing i gotta do.. catch up with you later.. billy, i'm turned around.. which way do i gotta go??"

he points me in the right direction and i'm off like a shot.. a slightly confused shot who is now tripping balls, but a shot nonetheless.. i plug my headphones in (which i've started carrying around with me at all times.. like it used to be.. like it should be cause i always need music) and off i go..

now, i'm still a bit turned around, but i know the general direction i need to go, but misjudged exactly how far.. it was much, much closer than i realized.. after only a couple minutes in fact, i was on the same block, the same side of the street even, jammin out to matisyahu, when i turned left.. now i'm walkin fast here friends cause i'm excited, and i blaze about a quarter mile in the wrong direction when i was only maybe 100 feet from the bar to begin with.. it's now something like 1:05am when i realize my mistake and i, not knowing when the bar might close or when she might leave, take off running full tilt.. here's to two months at the gym starting to pay off.. visualize: me, in linen pants, a shimmery button shirt, and teva's, carrying a bouquet of flowers and running flat out down university boulevard.. after i give out from the sprint and start walking again the gate next to me suddenly looks familiar.. and so does that banner.. and that bar which is locked up and CLOSED!! it's just after 1:00am and the bar is fucking closed.. a phone call is immediately made.. i get voicemail..


"it's closed billy.. the bar is fucking closed.. i got lost and i ran.. RAN!! and it's closed.."

i stopped.. took a drink of water.. unbottoned my shirt cause it was fucking hot (arizona in august does not of course, cool down at night.. crazy desert..) and decided that i wasn't gonna let it ruin my night.. i had just had one hell of a journey but the trip wasn't over.. besides, just because i didn't end up where i wanted to be doesn't mean i didn't end up where i needed to be..

minutes later, a text.. minnie: where are you?? i need you right now!! so i ran ass back to the hotel and tripped it out with my now friend minnie who i wish i could've had more adventures with.. also wish she hadn't just started dating a new boy days before this but whaddaya do.. (remember kids, head is not looking for a relationship.. this is a relationship free year[3 weeks to go!!].. and it's about time really.. still doesn't mean celibate tho).. had an excellent rest of the night but not much worth the telling.. good times, good conversations, lots of laughs, too many cigarettes.. a really good night.. carried those flowers around all night as well.. they got flopped down uncaringly on the nightstand around 5am and i passed out..

saturday morning, for no reason at all, i trim the flower stems, put them in a makeshift vase, and nurse them back to health.. figured i could at least have something pretty in my room for a couple days.. the rest of the day was surreal.. day after a crazy trip.. and two shows to boot.. strange day.. thought about going to the tiki that night to see if courtney would be there on her night off, but i was wrecked, we had two more shows sunday and then final load out and i needed sleep..

sunday went well.. good day.. recovered from my adventure, had a good couple shows, a good final load out and was back in the room at 4:00am monday.. by 5:00 i was stoned and had developed a final scheme that had to be accomplished before 8:00 when my shuttle left for the airport, and really before the sun came up and anyone caught me hopping fences.. i took the semi-revived flowers which still showed signs of how rad they once were but had definitely seen better times, and some twin palms hotel sationary, wrote a note, and safety pinned it thru one of the larger stems.. the note read like this..

"i'm sad i didn't get to take you to prom.. even more so that i didn't get to give you these in person.. if you're still here in a year i will sit at your bar and tell you a tale of why these flowers didn't make it to you on friday .. it's somewhere between john hughes and hunter s. thompson.. good story.. until then, cheers.. head.."

i walked to the tiki, hopped the fence into the courtyard, left the used flowers and the note on a bench by the main door, climbed out and walked out of the sunrise and into the next adventure..

more to come.....