I would like to begin this by saying Megan and I aren’t the
kind of people who go around spreading lies. Way back when (in July) we had to
make the decision of whether or not we could swing a trip back to Atlantic City
for the PBS taping. When it came down to decision time we went for it, stating
that we would just make sacrifices come Fall tour time (The Mohegan Sun show in
CT, specifically) We figured that a 2-hour drive (on a “school night”) coupled
with the fact that we couldn’t get great seats (we hadn’t done the presale and
could only get balcony seats) for that show would be enough to make us feel
less guilty about missing it. Well, we were wrong. After we had some time to think about what a rash decision
we had made we definitely regretted it (missing CT, not going to PBS). I can’t
give you exact dates but we decided we couldn’t miss that show. As luck would
have it, we were able to score some excellent floor seats for the show. That,
my friends is called fate, we were obviously meant to be at that show.
The
show wasn’t until 7:00pm and I was up and basically ready to go by 9:00am. This
SNC depression was seriously hitting us hard. I’m not sure how we ever went
from New Years Eve to Gettysburg in the beginning of the year because honestly
the wait from September 4th to November 13th was SO hard!
Since I have my own apartment and no one living with me to judge what my
apartment looks like after a night of crafting, that is where Megan and I do
all our SNC handiwork. This usually isn’t a problem because MOST of the time
Megan is at my apartment to help me carry everything. This was NOT the case
this time around. I had to get all
of the stuff from my apartment to Megan’s house alone. I had 2 bags, one filled
with posters, (only 5) photo mosaics, cameras, glowing necklaces (4 to be
exact) and another filled with my shoes, confetti party poppers (to be used as
part of a highly scientific experiment at Megan’s house, NOT at the concert),
glow sticks, and all sorts of other random paraphernalia I may have needed. I
looked foolish coming out of my apartment because I flat out refused to make
multiple trips. Picture this: Me, in my Sunday’s best for SNC while rocking my
sneakers, carrying two bags of stuff, 5 photo mosaics (because they were
fragile and I didn’t want to try and force them into the bag –Don’s frame had
already been replaced once), all while trying to hold my screen door open so I
could lock my door. Pretty funny, right? Great, now picture me walking down the
sidewalk of a main street (I live next door to the hospital and there is a lot
of traffic driving by) trying to get to my car, unlock the doors and get in. I
looked like a crazy person but I didn’t care… no one really saw me except the
entire town of Norwood, MA. I then grabbed some coffee and was on the road by
11:45.
About
one hour later, I arrived at Megan’s house. She was already outside waiting to
help me carry the stuff from my car to her car (since she’d be driving to the
venue) but since everything we needed was mixed up in the two bags they both
found their way inside the house. We showed Megan’s parents our highly
impressive (humble brag) photo mosaics and then proceeded to carry out our
experiment. If in the market for some mini confetti poppers we’re now highly
qualified to help you decide the best brand to use. (Just something to keep in
mind.)
With a few touch ups of hair and make up we were on our way
to Connecticut. We were giddy with excitement (and caffeine) and the ride
consisted of poorly sung songs (on our part, not theirs), craisins, and mostly
nonsensical banter.
Once
we were inside the casino we had some time to kill (shocking, right?!) but due
to our earlier error in judgment regarding tickets we needed to pick up our
tickets at will call. When we got to the venue we found a woman sitting at the
box office and even though it was super early we figured there was no harm in
asking if our tickets were there. We walked up to a very friendly lady, I gave
her my ID and she went to go look for them, she came back empty handed with the
promise that they would be ready soon (but we were given no set time to come
back.) We wandered aimlessly
around the casino until we decided just setting up shop in front of the ticket
window would be our best bet. We
waited about an hour and then went back up to the window. We got a different
person this time, and this kind sir told us we needed to go to the other side
of casino to pick up are tickets. We gathered our belongings and made the long
trek over. When we got there we told him that we had tickets waiting for us and
that the box office had sent us here to pick them up. The casino worker then told me that the original guy had
been incorrect and that this office only dealt with tickets that had been comp
from Mohegan Sun (that did not include us). We picked up our stuff and headed
back to where we came from. I went to the SAME guy as before and explained the
situation and he said, “oh, okay. Here are your tickets.” He turned around
grabbed the FIRST envelope on top and handed it to me! Why good sir, if you had
them all along, did you make me walk all over the world? He had the pile right there the first
time and my name was on the first envelope (seeing as my last name begins with
a-b-a, I’m usually always first on lists) and he had checked my ID the first
time. All I could do was laugh, when really I wanted to climb over the counter
and strangle this man.
Our
next mission was finding Terry and Tracy. Our plan was to go to Johnny Rockets
since it was close to the venue entrance and Terry’s injury made traveling on
foot an issue. We had planned to meet at 5:00 and so at about 4:45, Megan and I
hopped in line to get a table since the line was starting to get long. We never
expected it to move as quickly as it did, so when we got to the front Terry and
Tracy weren’t there yet and they wouldn’t seat us until our whole party was
there. At this point Megan and I had both had multiple coffees and a handful of
craisins so we were starving. There is a small chance I threatened to kick
Terry in her other leg if she didn’t hurry up. (Kidding, of course…maybe)
Threats, as empty as they were, seemed to work because soon after making them
Terry and Tracy arrived and we were finally able to have something to eat.
When
we finished eating we headed over to the venue figuring it would be easiest for
Terry and the doors should be opening soon enough. Megan and I had worried
about the sign we made for the show. It said “Wicked Stoked!” earlier in the
week Ryan had asked us how stoked we were for the show. In New England, the
word wicked is used as a good thing, so instead of we’re so stoked, we’d say
we’re wicked stoked. I’m sure other places may use it as well but it’s a pretty
common practice here in MA. Back
to my original point, on their website, Mohegan Sun listed signs and posters as
“restricted items” and the night before the SNC show, Megan had been there to
see Trans Siberian Orchestra, where she said they DID do bag checks. Unsure of
our signs fate, we snapped a picture of it and sent it to Ryan in a tweet. When I got to the person checking bags
I held mine open and she looked at the sign and all the other stuff in there,
looked back at me, and with a confused look on her face she said “ummm you’re
all set?” I WIN! When we found our seats, which were fabulous, we noticed two
people sitting at the other end of our row; those people would be the only two
people, other than us, to occupy that row for the entire concert. The two people sitting behind us most
definitely hated us, but I’m certainly okay with it. Megan and I started glowifing ourselves for the show and we
heard Terry yelling to us from her seats, naturally we yelled back. That caused
another man sitting in the balcony to start yelling hello to us (clearly,
mocking us) what he wasn’t prepared for was us to turned around wave and yell
“HEYYYYYY!” He immediately slinked down into his seat…hmm don’t dish it out if
you can’t take it my friend. As we were getting ready and geared up for the
show the staff around the venue seemed to be giving us some suspicious looks so
we decided against taking out our sign. We really wanted to keep it around.
Almost every person who walked by us gave us an odd look or stopped to ask us
what the deal with the Christmas lights was.
The
lights went down and the show started and Megan and I quickly became “out of
control” I could often be heard yelling “WOO!” when everyone else was already
quiet. My bad. There comes a time
in every show when Charlie asks who is seeing SNC for the first time. This night
was no different. Obviously we didn’t cheer when he asked but had he asked who
was seeing SNC for the 15th time I would have cheered. Instead, he
asked if they had any repeat customers. I nearly jumped out of my seat when I
started cheering. Seggie saw this, pointed at me and then just shook his head
no. Sorry Seggie, it was an involuntary reaction. We learned (via Walt’s introduction) that it would be the
first time premiering their Christmas set list. As the festivities of night
went on I was more and more thankful that we were able to attend this show.
As
the show neared it’s end the guys started introducing themselves, I usually
take this time to watch what’s going around me or do a little dancing
(considering I already know who they are and there is a very slim chance, as in
no chance at all, that I would ever forget them) This time though I’m glad I
was fully concentrated on the stage because when Ryan introduced himself he so
graciously gave a shout out to Megan and I, accompanied by a point and wave *
yay *. I had another one of those
involuntary reactions when I almost jumped out of my seat and then almost fell
out of it. Not gonna lie, that would have been so funny! When the show ended
all the odd and confused looks we were getting from the people sitting around
us turned into people stopping and saying, “Oh, I just love your necklaces!” I
also had quite a few people stop and ask about the buttons I was wearing and
one woman asked if we were friends with the guys. I’d like to think the answer
to that is yes, but my answer ended up being more along the lines of “Nope,
just really big fans”
At
this point in the tour, Mohegan Sun had been their largest crowd and getting to
the end of the meet and greet line can be a surprisingly difficult task when
there was right around 4000 people in the audience. We got as far back as we
could then decided this spot would have to do. It was at this time that we
began pulling things out of bags and the looks from the people around us were
just of utter confusion. I’ve gotten pretty used to that look though, so I pay
it no mind. One of the ushers
happened to walk over to us and began chatting. We were telling her about some
of our other adventures and she said, “So, you guys are pros at this, huh?” you
bet we are! She then took a peek at the pictures we had made for the guys and
said “WOW! Those are amazing. I’m staying with you in this line, I want to see
their reactions!” Sure! We don’t
mind new friends! We were all chatting in line and I’m sure Megan and I were
spewing inappropriate comments. We spotted Richard and we naturally had some
questions for him. First thing we wanted to know was if the guys happened to
carry around their buddy holly glasses. He said some may and some may not. I
then asked “Can you make it happen?” his response was “No, I can not.” Fair
enough. He did tell me if I sent out a memo to the guys for the providence show
he would notarize it for me. I’m so glad he doesn’t mind putting up with our
shenanigans (and if he does, he doesn’t let it show). We love him for it! By the time we were done
harassing poor Richard it was nearly our turn to say hello to the guys. There
was a young woman and her mom who had been chatting with us during the line and
right before their turn they looked at us and said, “We want to watch you go
through the line!” I’ll never
understand why so many people wanted to watch us go though the line, but we
gladly stepped in front of them and approached Jerome. Here’s a disclaimer for
this meet and greet…There wasn’t a whole lot of conversation other than “wow,
these are cool” and “How did you do this?!” Usually after that conversation we
had to move onto the next guy because the security people were rushing us
along. * sad face *
Jerome: “Hey, It’s Amanda and Megan!” -that brought an
instant smile on my face, but that doesn’t even compare to the smile that I had
when he stood up and gave me a hug (as well as a kiss on the cheek to Megan) No
lie. I gave him his picture and he was amazed by it. He told Megan and I that
it would have a place in his new home.
Tyler then greeted us with a “Hey
Girls!” Megan gave Tyler is picture. We had used a picture that Sara had caught
of him jumping right before they sing Gaga because he had said he really liked
that picture. It was one of the harder ones to figure out up close but once he
realized what it was his expression was priceless and I’m SO glad Terry caught
it on camera.
Up next was Walt and as soon as I gave him the picture he said
“Is this one of those Magic pictures?!” before I could answer Walt, Seggie
caught my attention with a question. “Sooo, What’s the name of that place
again?” (Union Oyster House) We had brought him some reading material from our
adventures and his question was a perfect segway we needed to give it to him.
It was a map of Fanueil Hall (because we didn’t want him to get lost) and a
placement we had stolen from the Union Oyster House. I also made sure to tell
him that Megan did all the chowder tasting and if he didn’t like it, it was her
fault! Megan proceeded to give him his picture and upon looking at it he said
“Oh man, you got THAT guy in my picture!?” When I gave Mike his picture I HAD to
tell him that I thought his was my favorite one, I don’t know why, but
something about it just made me super happy! While we were talking to Don, he
said to Megan, “For all we know they have their houses wallpapered with these.”
Naturally, Megan’s inappropriate response was “You don’t even know!” Don- just so you know, we do NOT have
our houses wall papered with them. At this point, and I’m not sure any of the
guys noticed, but Megan and I were silently getting the “move along” signal
from the security guard, so I got semi distracted by that and by the fact that
somewhere down the line someone was yelling “Look at it cross eyed!” followed
by a “I see a dolphin!” so my conversations with Randy and DR are a little bit
fuzzy. After all the distractions had ended and I finally refocused on what I
was actually doing, I found myself standing right in front of Charlie, where there
were hugs all around! Megan gave him his picture and he turned to Ryan and
said, “Look at this!” followed by what seemed to be a brief quiz. Don’t worry; I
can answer all those questions for you even if Ryan couldn’t.
Q: “Do you know what this is a picture of?!”
A: Yes, I do, a picture of Charlie (duh) singing at the end
of “End of The Road” from this summer at Harrah’s.
Q: “Do you know who I’m singing to in this picture?!”
A: Megan!
He
then added, “I believe this was just after a slow dance together as well.” Yes
it was. Soon after, our “Wicked
Stoked” sign had made it’s way down to where we were. I’m really not sure how
it got so far behind us but we’re just happy it found it’s way home safely. Charlie
held it up so Terry could take a picture of him with it but before the picture
was taken he asked, “What are some Boston signs?” Megan and I were legitimately
speechless. If you’ve ever met us you’d know that we’re not ones to just throw
up signs and so he was totally asking the wrong people.
I’m pretty sure there could be some kind of obscenity going on behind that sign in the picture. It is used a lot
around these parts, especially when driving.
Last
but certainly not least was Ryan.
He had a picture a well as a little something extra we found while we
were out in Boston hunting down clam chowder. We brought him a travel cup that (since he loves saying it so much)
said, “Hahvahd, Making you Smatah since 1636.” How could we have seen that in
the store and just casually leave it behind. There was no way it wasn’t coming
with us. He asked us which shows we’d be attending and AT THE TIME, the list
was as follows *: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Boston, Baltimore, and both
Atlantic City shows. *subject to change* Ryan told us that there next
stop was Maine, where he was “gonna get some chowdah.” We had to tell him that
we could not attend the Maine show because as awesome as it would have been to
go, we both had to work that day. Ugh, that pesky work getting in the way of
all my fun stuff. We then said
good-bye, gave out more hugs, and stepped over to wait for group pictures.
Megan
and I waited patiently in line for group pictures tossing back and forth some
witty banter and the occasional inappropriate remark. Finally when it was our
turn, we tossed our stuff over to the side, walked to the guys and asked if
they had their Buddy Holly glasses with them, the ones that did put them on for
the picture. We were also fortunate enough to get a little Gaga in there
(Thanks, Walt) and Seggie quenching his, what we have now learned is, a
constant need for liquid.
We were the last ones in line for group pictures so
the guys started to disperse as we started walking away. We heard Don call out
to us “Don’t forget your bags. We’ll take them and go through them.” My
immediate reply was “Don’t worry, its probably just stuff for you guys
anyways!” Still, he was right, I did not want to leave my stuff there.
I
picked up my stuff and started walking away. After a moment I realized that I
had just spent an uncomfortable amount of time talking to myself because Megan
wasn’t standing next to me as I had thought she was. I turned around to see her
being held hostage by Ryan and they were both waving me to come back for a
picture. As I made my way back to them I was told by the security guard that I
had to leave. So my choices were pictures with Ryan or listen to the guard and
leave the venue. Let’s be honest, you all know what the resulting decision
would be, but incase you’re unsure……
After that picture, we did finally do as we were told and
made our way to the exit but certainly not before hassling them a little bit
more. I pointed to the door that the guys had just walked out of and said,
Me: “Oh, I think I parked this way. We’ll just take this
exit”
Security (with a smirk on his face): “Not unless you have
black suit on”
Me: “I have a black sweater on, does that count?”
Security: “Nope, I said suit”
Me (calling out to an empty venue): “Does anybody have a
black suit I can borrow!?”
We left the venue, said good–bye to Terry & Tracy, and
made our way to the car. It was a long drive home (about 2 hours for me) and we
both had to work the next day. The conversation mostly consisted about how excited
we were for Wednesday. All we could do was wait patiently for the Rhode Island
show, and that is exactly what you have to do right now….
Up next: Providence RI!
I was asked if I would post the mosaics....I sure will, although unfortunately, because they can't be seen at their actual size (8x10) it's kind of hard to see the little pictures that make up the larger picture. I will tell you that there is 716 small pictures that make up the larger one( you have NO idea how many hours I wasted on Facebook trying to get them all.) I tried to remember everyone I grabbed pictures from (for the small and large pictures) so I could give credit but honestly, I made these back in August and I can no longer remember. If you see a picture that belongs to you, let me know and I will add a caption to the picture ;)
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