hostess with the mostess

I will now present a completely hypothetical situation.

Let’s say you have a second-favorite band of the independent-label, nationally-touring, up-and-coming variety. This band could possibly be called We The Living. And let’s say that you had no idea this band existed until you and a friend met them by chance about 8 months ago, but through a series of late-night diner adventures, faithful promotion efforts, and surprise trips to shows several states away, you have more or less become friends with said band. Then let’s say this band is playing a show near you, so you offer them a place to stay. They take you up on this offer, and even though you can’t go to the show, you show up afterward and get them all settled. Then the next morning you find them in all sorts of adorable unconsciousness in your living room, and you make them coffee and cook them breakfast and send them on their way, and later wonder how on earth they got your shower so dirty.

Sound fun? Yeah, I think so too. If only things like this actually happened.

OH WAIT…

This was actually my Wednesday night/ Thursday morning.
Sometimes, I really do love my life.

Does it feel weird/ borderline creepy to ramble on about it right now? A bit, yes. But, friends or no, I feel that it is a blog-worthy situation when one of your fave bands ends up in your apartment, so here it is. They know I’m not a creep, so it’s alright. I think. I hope. (Hi guys…)

Moving on… back in mid-January, I saw the guys play in Terre Haute, and afterward we were talking about they’ve started supporting Invisible Children United. As it turns out, my friend Chris is an officer for Purdue’s chapter of ICU, so later that week I told him about WTL and I said that he should contact them. Well, he did, and a few days later, a benefit show was booked. Chris then got the Lafayette Theater to donate their space for the event, a couple openers were secured, and things were pretty much good to go. Unfortunately, I had a BGR supervisor training that night, so I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it. Big bummer.

Fast forward to this Wednesday. I talked to Stefan during the day and find that their van had been broken into the night before in Chicago, right outside the venue. The thieves took Gary! Gary is/was their navigation system. He wasn’t always right, and took a lot of verbal abuse, but once he was gone, his presence was missed. RIP Gary. They also stole JP’s laptop, but I believe that has since been recovered. Anyway, I double-checked that they were planning on staying with me, did some grocery shopping, tidied up a bit, and headed off to training. Right as training got over, I got a call from my mom (she and my aunt attended the show) and she said that the show had just ended. I went over to the venue and said hi to the guys and the various friends and people I knew who were still around. I also went outside for a few to look at the lunar eclipse. It wasn’t complete at the time, but it was an interesting brownish-red. I ended up just hanging around the theater with the guys while they packed up, met their new crew/sound guy Jeremy, and carted some merch tubs down by the stage. (This caused me to jank up my shoulder pretty badly, unfortunately. It’s almost better now, I think). When we were getting ready to leave around midnight, Jeremy and JP decided to run about a block away and recreate the scene from the Notebook by laying down in the middle of the street in downtown Lafayette. Bizarre. Anyway, JP, Ben, and Jeremy went with one of the opening bands, so I got Matt and Stefan back to my apartment and got the van parked. I made some snacks and we hung out w/ a few of my roomies, but the boys got tired and started falling asleep. I tried to stay awake and wait for the others/ work on some homework, but by 2, I was too exhausted to stay awake. I tried to wake up Matt and have him call the others, but he fell asleep again in the middle of dialing, so I gave up and went to bed. Somewhere around 3, Matt woke me up to ask my address, presumably for the others, so I told him and went back to sleep. I don’t want to think about how bad I probably looked. ::shudder::

I got up somewhere around 6:45 to shower and get ready, and fiddle with the homework a little. I went downstairs at about 8 and found all five guys sprawled across the living room amidst suitcases and guitar cases, so apparently the other three did manage to find their way in the middle of the night. I made some coffee and attempted to be quiet, but that wasn’t necessary because I think they could all sleep through a bomb going off. I made cinnamon rolls after that and they still didn’t wake up, so I went back upstairs for more homework. As it neared 10 am, I got a little nervous because I had to leave at noon for class (the required ones… I may have skipped the others) and they still weren’t up. I decided to start cooking the potatoes and finally, JP woke up. He then got the others up and they started taking showers and such.

I don’t really remember all the shenanigans of the morning, which is unfortunate. I do know that they drank a ton of coffee and ate the food. I also know that Matt got on my iTunes and found that the top five most played songs happen to be the We The Living, so that was remarkably embarrassing on my end. Apparently it was a good thing though, and I shouldn’t have worried, because at one point JP decided to gripe about the fact that I still didn’t have one of their posters up in my room. Never satisfied, apparently. They continued perusing my iTunes and we listened to some Thrice, among other things. I also listened to JP and Benjamin argue over who got to poop first and saw them play rock/paper/scissors to decide, and when I muttered something about “boys,” I was subjected to about a minute of exaggerated usage of the words “poop” and “fart.” Maturity level = not high that day. Or ever, really, but that’s fine. I also talked with Jeremy for a bit, and continued to hack away at my homework, which was due at 4:30 that day. One other thing worth noting was Matt’s skill at egg-flipping. I am incapable of cooking good eggs, so I told them they could cook their own. When Matt’s turn came along, he was all about wanting to flip the egg up in the air. His first attempt almost resulted in egg all over the sink, so he let it cook a little more. A few attempts and a careful countdown later, we managed to snag this amazing shot:

As it got closer to noon, they realized that their laundry wasn’t going to be dry in time, so my roomie Emily agreed to take me to class and come back until they were gone. At about noon I did my goodbye hugs (sadly) and Emily drove me off to class, where I sat and finished my homework on my laptop. I think the guys ended up leaving about 1:30 to head to Miami of Ohio. When I got home, I tried to finish cleaning up the chaos and wipe heaven knows what out of the shower. I don’t know how on earth they got it so dirty, and I don’t think I really want to know.

So, that’s the story. I’m still sad I missed the show, especially since it never would’ve happened if I hadn’t told Chris about them, but it’s okay. It was still great to see the guys, because they’re awesome and never fail to crack me up and make me smile… and maybe because they always seem to give me a glimpse into a life I wish I was living.

I swear though, next time THEY are cleaning the shower.