Me? Nervous? How could I be? After all, it would be my first going time west in general and...on a airplane!

Not to mention by myself! Okay, for half the trip.

I surprised myself that night by almost immediately falling asleep. How is that possible? I think I only went into wild thinking for about 45 minutes and got 5 hours of sleep. :O I got up at 3:30am my time (central) and got ready for the airport. I had everything packed the night/week/two weeks before.

About 3:50am, my parents and I headed off for the airport. We all talked about how it felt like we were heading for Chicago again since we left around that time. We went to the airport and checked in at the America West counter. There was no one in line there! Checked in...She told me to go to Gate 11 and that was up the escalator.

Went upstairs and run into...a gate. We had to wait til 4:30 for me to go down to the Gates. Waited and waited with my parents...Finally the Security guard opened it and I hugged my parents good-bye.

I did the normal airport stuff. Though, it was all new to me. I went to my gate and waited...I read a book while I was sitting there. At 5:40 they started calling for people to board the plane. Not that many compared to the other flights. I sat in my seat and sat there. I couldn't believe when we took off! Kinda felt like a roller coaster.

Pretty uneventful...I saw mountains! Snow! Yes, the first time! I was getting bored...I read, I thought, I read, I stared out the window. Bored! I did keep my free soda...Free 5 cents when I get home!

We landed and I got off and saw Karen sitting in front of the gate. Yay! We exchanged presents and sat and chatted...then went for some food. I think it was this Steak and Potato place...They weren't really serving fries or anything potato-ish yet. :( So we ordered some breakfast sandwiches and sodas. We left and one of the last people to board our flight.

That part didn't take nearly as long. The flight goes rather quickly when you have someone to talk to. We talked on how much we couldn't wait and this was gonna be a blast.

We went downstairs and went to the baggage claim. I asked Karen if she could watch out for my bag (which had Al pics on it). Called my parents quickly from the payphone, using a phone card. Turned out my friend who usually picks me up for work everyday was there on Thursday morning. It completely slipped her mind! Oy! And me bouncing for weeks didn't remind her?

I said, hi, bye and hung up. Then I went back over to Karen and she had our bags. Yay! As we walked away from the baggage claim, it occurred to us that we didn't know where exactly Cid would pick us up! :O Bad thinking!

So we wandered around the airport, looking for Cid. Found a restroom (Thank you!!) and asked a security guard what to do for paging a friend. He told us to go to a white phone...Karen paged first with the operator....Waited about 10 minutes or so and then I paged too. A couple minutes later...Cid!! There she is!

Went our to her truck and put our luggage in there. We listened to Even Worse, straight on the way to our Lynwood trip. We were gonna try the RWS track, but we were running late. We went for the mail room that Al use to work at! We drove past...That can't be it. Did it again, it looks like a blank wall! One more time...Right place...So we got out and Cid rang the doorbell and explained to the man that we were big fans of Al and we wanted to see the place he use to work at...

We got one strange look! ;) He got someone and Cid explained it again. We got to go inside, we chatted with him a bit and took pictures of the same mail room Al worked in! Yay! Very glad we went inside!

We finally met everyone in a parking lot and headed for Al's middle school. We took lots of pictures of our group and ate some nice food. There was a park connecting with it...And a bathroom...That's the most disgusting bathroom I've ever seen.

Frank from the Bank joined us! Yay! He helped us get to Al's high school (now middle school) and we love the looks we receive for the explanation of why we want to tour the place. But the principal of the school gave us a tour! And also Frank did, explaining what everything was. The Senior Square and we also posed for pictures on the staircase that the Volcano Worshipers hung out at.

Yay!

Then we went to Al's boyhood home. I love it! We took pictures of it. Yay! Where Al lived!

Then we all went to Cid's house for some burrito-ness and did some karaoke. MegBob wowed us with her ability to do Albuquerque perfectly. I do mean perfectly. Oh, I can sing it, just I usually have to take more breaths than that.

Oh yeah, and we were surprised when we got there. Kim and her son was there! Kim! Kimita! She came for the Thursday concert! I was amazed to see her!

We all had fun and then it came time for the concerts coming! We left and then halfway there, Cid realized she forgot her and Kevin's tickets! :O So we turned around and Cid ran in to get them...We drove all the way there, no time for The Weird Al Experience that day...:( Oh well. Time immediately for the concerts!



I got in my seat. Section 2, Row C, Seat 4. The guy to my right had never been to an Al concert before, but seen him on TV plenty of times. So I went into the glorious life of Al and told him he wouldn't be disappointed by this.

And yes, the concerts polkaed to no end! I had a blast! I screamed every lyric and I love his new song! Party at the Leper Colony. I couldn't believe I was really there! And the seats! Wow!

I just couldn't believe my eyes! Al even sang to me! I swear he did!

Oh yeah, the little kid to my right is probably scared for life. I kept swinging my arms all over the place, right in front of him. But the guy to my left thought I was cool! Even said so to me after the concert!

I did quickly realize how fast film goes...8 rolls of film wasn't going to last me 3 days.

I followed the crowd, wanting to jump all over MegBob, telling her how much fun I had, realizing it's the spot where they've been waiting for Al to do autographs and such! Al hadn't done any yet. But all we all stood and chanted with the help of Big Mike. He's cool! Also, Miles came out and did some autographs. I had him sign my spork and got a hug from him.

Mmmm. Miles.

I'm not sure how long we waited but then Skip came out and told us that Al will sign autographs and line up over somewhere. Single file, one autograph per person, pictures allowed, anyone does something bad, it's over.

Waited, waited, waited. Couldn't believe it. I was bouncing all over, chatting with MegBob, Karen, and others, going nuts.

MegBob was in front and told him she came from Iowa to see him and there was a pause and a "...Thanks." He couldn't believe that.

My moment of glory came. I went up to Al and in fast talking speech I went, "Hi! I came all the way from Omaha, Nebraska just to come see you! And I got a job to pay for everything and threw away a lazy summer here so I could see you! Oh yeah, I'm Cindy!"

Al stared. His eyes went wide and his mouth hung open. I can't believe that expression. Just one of the most amazing expressions ever. Al inspires me to get a job! :O I think I scared him...

I asked him to sign the spork and he did, coming out of his shock.

Then I asked, "I know this is gonna sound odd but...can I have a kiss?"

His eyes lit up. "Sure!"

:O Yay! I danced around the table and Al kissed me on the left cheek and it still tingles! My knees went weak too. The line behind me went, "Awwww!"

I guess I just hugged him or he hugged me. I dunno who went first, I can't remember. I just know the hug happened and I buried myself in him. MegBob even took a picture, you can't see my face, I'm just trying to mold into the man, it looks like.

As I was leaving, I heard Al go, "Bye, CindyBob!" :O :O

How in the fuzzy did he know the Bob part? I introduced myself as Cindy, not CindyBob as I usually sign my name at the clubs. We're insisting Al lurks now. ~eyes dart around~

If you saw a girl walking and running around, cupping her cheek, all wide-eyed in a daze, that would be me.

Oh yeah, Karen and I also talked with Jay Levey and he made sure he had met Al and had pictures taken with him. He was very nice! He also signed my snorkel.

By the time everyone got done, the Al Experience was closed and it was 1am or so. Time to go back to Cids!

DebBob and Ali called too! It had to be 3:30am their time! We all told them about the time we had! :D

We chatted and went to bed about...2:30 to 3am or so, I guess. Sleep...Though, I slept for about 4/5 hours or something. I know I had a dream cause I could hear all their voices in my head!

Friday