o0o 12:44am Sunday, September 13, 1998 o0o

Sorry I've been quiet for so long. Time has always been a tricky thing for me. I went to bumbershoot last Sunday. (this is where I inform you that this is the closest thing I have to a journal and warn you that the following probably will only make since to me or maybe a person who went to bumbershoot on Sunday the 6th.) Misty's bumbershoot experience:

I went with James and Sean for the third day of the festival. we arrived at 10am and putted around downtown before going to the Seattle center sometime around 11. the whole downtown area was covered in a thick layer of white smoke. after much discussion we decided it was from the wild fires to the east and that the smoke had gotten trapped between the hills. it had cleared by the time we arrived at the Seattle center.

Nothing really exciting was happening until after noon so we played with the legos at the kids area. I built two transport vehicles. Sean built several things including a yellow space ship. James found parts for us to use. I love legos, but this was the first time in a least two years I've actually built something with them. Hmmm, we were the oldest non-parents playing there.

after James started getting really bored we went to the rock arena to see gas huffer. We had a fun time finding it (it was hidden in the back and looked like an exist) and when we got there gas huffer was half-way through their set. It was fun, but there was beer and ?urine? on the floor. oh, I just love those Seattle music fans.

For breakfast I had ice-cream. I really do not like the woman who owns the shop that sells the ice-cream. She exudes a bitter impatient and down right nasty (as in mean and inconsiderate) nature. I've only seen her scowl and I frequent that place a lot. I think she hates her job, the people who work for her all seem nice though. Her attitude has made me consider going elsewhere quite often, but her's is the only shop in the center that sells ice-cream. I just try to not let her faze me. I think she is evil.

Back to the rock arena I went. Next I saw ? and the mysterians. James said that the lead singer scared her, I was amused and recognized quite a few of the songs. We sat like wall flowers on the sides and watched the people. There where a few people who where dancing, among them was a girl who is one of the most enchanting dancers I have ever seen. she was completely uninhibited and was in constant motion. She only took breaks to drink something out of an orange juice container -- let us not speculate. I saw her several times through out the day at different places and she was always dancing. She was wearing a faded black outfit.

Here is the fun part. After ? and the mysterians God lives underwater played. Now I had heard of god lives underwater before, but was really waiting by the barricade nearly a half hour before their set started so that I could be right at the barrier when the next band, harvey danger, played. I did not expect what happen next.

I was 3 or 4 feet right of center and only one row of humans away from the absolute front. In the beginning I was right next to James, but shortly after God lives underwater started their first song James was swallowed by the crowd when it surged forward, presumably making way for the mosh pit that opened up. I had a great view, but barely enough room to stand. later I had just barely enough room to breath. This crowd was wild, hundreds of sweaty bodies packed in a small space.

At least a dozen crowd surfers passed over my head and one tall and mildly scary teenaged girl tried, no, did dry hump me and there was not enough room for me to do anything about it. I don't know for sure if she was trying to molest me, but given my height and hers there had to be some conscious effort on her part. she pressed herself hard enough against me that I could feel that she was a girl through my thick and extremely baggy army pants.

After my glassed got bent by a crowd surfer and I had to put them in my pocket I had security pull me. what is the point of being in the front among many sweaty fanatics if I can't see any thing?

After that experience I found a seat, section 35 seat c, and watched from afar as harvey danger played. The crowd was even wilder for them and I saw several injuries. The crowded exploded into jumping beast when harvey danger played flagpole sitta.

We left half way through harvey danger's set because it became to much for me to handle; the heat, the smoke (it wasn't just cigarette smoke either), the smell, and I was really hungry. When we left we saw many (at least two hundred people) waiting to get in to the packed arena so they could see they might be giants.

We headed for the center house hoping to find something to eat, but every line was at least 12 people long so we ended up siting in the far hidden corner and discussing our experiences in the rock arena. I our conversation drifted to how much fun it would be to urinate on the crowd while crowd surfing. Becky, a friend from school, came upon us about then and begged for my wrist band that would let me go to the squirrel nut zippers concert in the stadium later that night, we laughed. they had run out of the wrist bands long before Becky came and they had forty thousand bands for that day alone.

We left the center house after Becky started eating and I was reminded how hungry I was. We wondered around for quiet a bit, even looked in on the bumber club, the electronica pavilion, but the crowd was so lethargic that we had to leave.

I then found a huge strawberry shortcake being sold at a stand with no line. James got some congealed curly fries and we went to the fountain to eat. I shared my strawberry shortcake with Sean and ate some of James' fries; they really needed some salt.

After an exhaustive search we finally found the way to the stadium. they had blocked off all the ways we knew to how get there. they didn't even check for the wrist bands. From the stands on the left side I watched the last half of morphine's set.the skeloton poem was truely captivating. For the squirrel nut zippers I joined Sean and James on the field.

We tried to get a good spot, but we couldn't and figured that as soon as the squirrel nut zippers start thier set everyone would be dancing and then seeing the stage wouldn't matter. after waiting for quite some time they finally started thier set and the crowd we counted on to make the experience worth while continued to stand around like lethargic slugs seeming even less animated than while they were waiting. We couldn't see anything and the crowd made it really depressing so we left before they had even finished their second song of the evening.

after a relaxing ride home I was ready to fall asleep, but as soon as I laid down in my bed I noticed how dirty I felt. I was completely covered in grime and even my nails were dirty and my nails are never dirty. so I had to shower I didn't get to sleep till 1am then I woke up at 10am to Sean calling. we talked for over an hour (as usual) about nothing in particular. I went to sleep after his call and didn't wake up until 6 pm.

I was so sore. I had escaped with only a small crescent shaped bruise on my arm caused by someone's nail while in the rock arena. I have no idea why I was so sore and the soreness wasn't completely gone until Wednesday I think that it must have been caused by what happened to me during the god lives underwater set.

- I really did have a good time though.

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